After stealing a sweep in the opening series of the season, the Reds are all of a sudden reeling. Losing two of three to the Cardinals seems to have carried over into the beginning of the three game tilt in Chicago. Bullpen woes continue to haunt Cincinnati as they blew their fourth save in seven games. Lets take a look at what happened last night.
Cincy started out of the gate fast. The Reds got a 3-0 lead before the Cubs could blink. Joey Votto tripled, and was brought home by a Todd Frazier double. Marlon Byrd would ground out to bring Frazier in, and Jay Bruce would then single Brandon Phillips home. And all of this was just in the Reds' half of the first inning.
It wouldn't take Chicago long to answer. Mike Leake would get hit up for three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Jorge Soler would hit his first of two 2-run homers and bring Anthony Rizzo in with him. Starlin Castro would knock in Chris Coghlan to tie the game up. Aside from the first inning, Leake showed much improvement from his first to second start. His command was better as he threw 71 strikes in 105 pitches. He would finish 7 innings pitched while giving up 4 runs and seven hits.
In the 6th inning, the tie would be broken. Byrd would double Phillips home for the go-ahead run and follow him in on the Bruce double. Zack Cozart would ground into a fielder's choice that would be just enough to get Bruce in and stretch the lead to 6-3. Phillips had his best game of the young season while going for four singles and two runs. Leake gave up a solo home run to Coghlan in the bottom half of the inning.
After Leake's exit, Jumbo Diaz gave up the second home run to Soler that would score Rizzo alongside him. In the 10th inning, Manny Parra would load the bases. With one out in the inning, Burke Badenhop would come in to try and avoid the damage. Unfortunately for him, Arismendy Alcantara would get his first hit of the season in a big way. A walk off single would plate Soler and end the game.
The Red's bullpen crippled the team last year. It seems like they are still a work in progress in the early part of the season. As stated earlier, the Reds have blown 4 of 7 chances already this season. That could be crucial if they hope to stay in playoff contention. One thing that has worried me is the hitting. The bats were in issue in the last series. In the two losses to the Cardinals, the bats were 2-for-27 with runners in scoring position. Last night was an improvement. The Reds were 5-for-11 in such situations. It is imperative to the teams success to build upon this outing.
Today is a new day. The Reds will need a victory to have a shot at leaving Chicago with a series victory. The Cubs send to the mound "Ace-B" Jake Arrieta. With Jon Lester having early season woes, the Cubs hope that Arrieta will continue his streak of success. The Reds will send Anthony DeSclafani to the mound for his second start of the season. DeSclafani had a no-decision in his season debut, but a strong outing nonetheless. The Reds will hope to have Billy Hamilton back in the lineup on Tuesday. Hamilton missed Monday's meeting with a finger injury and is listed day-to-day.
In other injury news, Devin Mesoraco missed the series opener with a hip injury. He is not expected to go on the disabled list, and is listed day-to-day.
Homer Bailey had a rehab start in Triple-A Toledo on Sunday. Recovering from a forearm injury that cost him to miss the final month of last season, Bailey is expected to be activated from the DL to start on Saturday in St Louis. Rasiel Iglesias was demoted in anticipation of Bailey returning.
-Dug
@chansm1th
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