The Cincinnati Reds activated catcher Ryan Hanigan from the disabled list before Friday’s game, and he was in the lineup to catch Tony Cingrani. And he showed that he’s healthy.

Before heading to the DL, Hanigan was miserable at the plate. In 38 at bats, he had 3 hits with a terrible .079 average. With his 5 walks, his on-base percentage was at .182, half of his career percentage.

But in his return to the lineup tonight, Hanigan went 2 for 4, nearly doubling his total number of hits on the season. And one of the balls he hit was the hardest ball I’ve seen him hit all year.

Of course, bringing Hanigan back means it’s time to say goodbye to lovable mustachioed mascot Corky Miller. Miller’s an entertaining, larger-than-life personality who just isn’t quite good enough to be a major league backup. It’s too bad, but I do hope to see him coaching some day.

Until then, the Reds are one step closer to full strength, with pitcher Johnny Cueto and outfielder Chris Heisey both a few weeks away.

It’s been almost a month since Cincinnati Reds ace pitcher Johnny Cueto last was on a pitching mound in a professional baseball game. But today, while the Reds have a scheduled day off, Cueto will be making a start for the class A Dayton Dragons.

“I feel pretty good, but we’ll see tomorrow how I feel for the game,” Cueto said after the Reds’ loss to the Braves on Wednesday. “It’s a lot different in the bullpen than it is in the game. I need to throw in a game.”

The current plan is for Cueto to make two rehab appearances, building up his pitch count and arm strength before returning to the majors. That, of course, requires no further setbacks, which feels like a big if considering Cueto’s rehab was delayed once already due to oblique soreness.

It won’t be Cueto’s first time pitching for the Dragons. Back in 2006, when he was working his way through the Reds’ minor league system, he made 14 starts, going 8-1. Hopefully, he won’t be in Dayton that long for this go-around.

The game starts at 7:00pm. If you’re in the area, tickets are still available.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Braves	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	5	0
Reds	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	5	9	0

Boxscore

It was looking like it was going to be another loss at the hands of a quiet offense last night, but at literally the last minute, they pulled it out to win and even the series with the Braves.

After 5 innings, Homer Bailey left the game trailing 4-2. Despite a completely respectable 3.83 ERA, Bailey remains, even now, just 1-3. Sam LeCure came in to pitch 2 perfect innings, followed by Sean Marshall and Jonathan Broxton with a perfect inning apiece, but it really didn’t look like it was going to be enough.

Not that the Reds hadn’t done anything. Shin-Soo Choo had smacked his sixth home run of the year, a solo shot in the third. In the fifth, Jack Hannahan drew a walk and was moved over by a Corky Miller single, and then Donald Lutz brought him in with a line-drive. In the eighth, Brandon Phillips brought in Zack Cozart on a sacrifice fly.

Then came the bottom of the ninth. Hannahan was out on strikes, Corky was out swinging, and those 6 runners left on base over the course of the game were a painful reminder of what might have been.

Devin Mesoraco at the plate takes a ball. Swings and misses by a mile. Two more balls. Another strike. Then my husband, sitting next to me in bed as we wait out the end of the game before turning of the lights, turns to me and says, “did that really just happen?”

Mesoraco’s solo shot was just barely over the wall in center field, but WOOOOOOOO! What a wonderfully unlikely turn of events. Check out the FanGraph of the Reds likelihood of winning the game up to that point. They hadn’t been above 50% chance of winning the whole game, but Mesoraco took them from 4% to 53% with just that one swing.

Source: FanGraphs

We were braced for extra after that, but Choo gave us a pleasant surprise by contributing his second home run of the night and letting the Reds win in walk-off fashion.

The win brings the Reds’ record to 19-15. Today they try to keep their home-series winning streak alive when they play the rubber match against the Braves at 12:35.