Reds 1 Mets 0
Mike Moustakas ended a good 'ol fashioned pitchers' duel with a bases loaded walkoff sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Mets 1-0 Tuesday night at GABP. After not having a walkoff win all season, the Reds have two since Sunday. The Reds had loaded the bases after a Tommy Pham leadoff double, an intentional walk to Tyler Naquin and a walk to Donovan Solano.
Nick Lodolo and Max Scherzer went toe-to-toe on the night. The Reds bullpen saw four relievers combine to pitch 4.1 scoreless innings. Hunter Strickland picked up the win,
Nick Lodolo: 4.2 IN, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K. 89 pitches/51 strikes. He exited after a two out walk in the 5th. He was making his first ML start in 73 days (April 24) and went toe-to-toe with Max Scherzer. That will play. The heads shakes of Mets hitters showed how good his stuff was. Win or lose, bullpen good or not, the best/biggest thing to happen in game No. 80 of the season was his performance. He threw 24 pitches in striking out the side and issuing a walk in the 1st inning. He struck out six over the first three innings. He worked around a BB and HBP in a 4th inning jam that left him at 74 pitches. Pitch selection: 50 sinkers (56%), 29 sliders (33%), 10 changeups (11%)
Counting outs: The Reds bullpen was assigned 13 outs to get. Kuhnel 3, Detwiler 3, Hoffman 4, Strickland 3.
Strategy session: Scoreless in the 8th, Nick Senzel singled and Matt Reynolds walked. Michael Papierski put down a sacrifice bunt to move runners to 2nd and 3rd. But India popped out and Brandon Drury flew out. It was the Reds 6th sac bunt of the year....equalling the ML average per team.
Max Scherzer: 6 IN, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K. 79 pitches/57 strikes. He came off the IL and pitched for the first time since May 18 (oblique). He retired the final eight batters he faced. He is methodically and aggressively angry when he pitches. Dude is something. The Reds threatened with 2 on, 1 out in the 2nd but could not score. Career at GABP: 5 starts, 0.27 ERA....1 ER in 33 innings, Reds batters are 15 for 114 (.131), 8 BB, 53 K.
Fighting it: Jonathan India had an error for the 2nd consecutive night. He was 0 for 5 with 2 K after 0 for 3 with 3 K last night. He's hitting .204. He entered the game 10 for 65 (.154) with 19 K and a .247 OBP in 17 games since his return.
DDDDDDDD: Tommy Pham got a great jump and covered a ton of ground to track down a fly ball in the 9th.
Rolling: Nick Senzel singled in the 8th. He has a five game hit streak and hits in 11 of his last 12 games....hitting .425 (17 for 40).
The start of the game was delayed 53-minutes by rains that never came (7:33).
Attendance: 13,487