The Reds (3-0), coming off a sweep of the opening series with the Pirates, looked to continue their stellar play against the team most "experts" pick to win the Central Division. St Louis (1-1) came into the series after splitting two games with the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Its always a special time when these two teams meet up. I absolutely loathe the Cardinals, as anyone who knows me would tell you, but I will try to keep the hate down for this weekend and give a non-biased report.
Jason Marquis, former Cardinal, was slated to make his first start since July 2013 after being out due to having Tommy John Surgery. His opponent on the mound for the evening was John Lackey. It was apparent that Marquis was a little nervous, or anxious, to begin the game. 11 of his first 15 pitches were balls, and Jhonny Peralta quickly made him pay with a two-out double in the first that scored Matt Carpenter. However, it did not take long for the Reds to answer. Joey Votto hit an opposite field two-run homer that plated Billy Hamilton to make it 2-1. In the Cardinals half of the second inning, Randal Grichuk, making his season debut in place of Jon Jay, answered with his own two-run homer that gave the Cardinals back the lead. Votto's second plate appearance, which came in the third inning, gave the same result as his first. Votto hit his second home run of the game, and his third of the season to give the Reds a 4-3 lead,
Marquis would finally settle down. He retired 12 straight batters after giving up the home run to Grichuk, and went to work. He would run into a bit of trouble in the sixth inning with a runner on third and one out. Before the Reds could get a pitcher going in the bullpen, Marquis buckled down, got Yadier Molina to strike out swinging, and Kolten Wong flied out to end the inning. Marquis turned in a quality start that lasted 6 innings. He gave up three earned runs, and struck out seven. He would not factor in the decision.
In the seventh inning, Manny Parra would inherit two runners from Kevin Gregg. Jason Heyward would single to center and score Jon Jay to tie the game up. Parra would be credited with the blown save. J.J. Hoover would strike out Mark Reynolds to end the inning.
In the eighth inning, Brennan Boesch would lead off the inning with a strike out. Jordan Walden would then walk Hamilton, who would eventually steal second base to add to his major league leading steals count, which stands at seven. Walden would walk Votto intentionally, because who would blame him? A wild pitch would advance Hamilton to third with one out. Todd Frazier came on to hit a sac fly that would score Billy and break the tie.
Aroldis Chapman came on in the ninth to try and close out the game. He would give up one hit and strike out two. Chapman pinned his second save of the season, and his 115th of his career. With the save, Chapman passes Danys Baez for the most saves by a pitcher born in Cuba.
The Reds won in their final at bat, again, for the fourth time this season. They are off to their best start since 2011 when they started the season 5-0. They will look to match that mark tomorrow as they send Johnny Cueto to the mound to face off against Michael Wacha. The game has a 1:10 first pitch and should be a capacity crowd at the ballpark. With the weather being forecast as pretty as it is, my advice is to grab a radio, and listed outside while enjoying it.
-Dug
@chansm1th
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