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Guardians 10 Reds 5
Guardians 2B Andres Gimenez blasted a two-run homer off Reds reliever Hunter Strickland to break a 9th inning tie and Jose Ramirez followed with a grand slam off Daniel Duarte to power the Guardians a 10-5 win over the Reds before a sold out Opening Day at GABP.
The Reds trailed 4-0 and were being no-hit one out into the 6th inning vs Shane Bieber Tuesday afternoon at GABP. Then the Reds bats came alive. Jake Fraley broke up the no-hit bid with a double to score Kyle Farmer (HBP). Jonathan India bounced an RBI double down the left-field line to cut it to 4-2 and just like that, Bieber was done. Tyler Naquin then greeted reliever Anthony Gose by rocketing a 428-foot two-run homer off the batter's eye to tie the game 4-4. Bieber had retired the first 12 batters he faced until he walked Naquin to leadoff off the 4th inning.
Tyler Mahle needed 81 pitches to get through four innings: 4 IN, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, WP, 81 pitches/55 strikes. He ran into trouble during a 28 pitch 3rd inning that saw Cleveland score three times. Mahle threw 20 more pitches and the Guardians added a fourth run in the 4th.
Thou shall not run: Tyler Stephenson gunned down three would be Guardian base stealers. He threw out two in the first inning, become the first Reds catcher to do that since Jason LaRue in 1999. Prior to today, the last Reds catcher to record 3 CS in a game was Tucker Barnhart in 2017.
Bullpen: 15 outs/6 runs. Jeff Hoffman: 2 IN, 0 R.....Art Warren: 1 IN, 0 R....Tony Santillan: 1.0, 0 R. Santillan threw only 11 pitches/8 strikes...not sure why Bell didn't bring him back for the 9th.....Hunter Strickland: 0.1, 3 H, 4 R, HR......Daniel Duarte: 0.2, 2 R.
What was that? Kyler Farmer led off the 8th with a single. Farmer was running on a pitch that Fraley hit to shallow leftfield for the first out. Farmer lost track of the ball and then lollygagged it back to 1st base. He was doubled up.
Look out! Tommy Pham and Nick Senzel collided in pursuit of a ball in the bottom of the 3rd. Pham would leave the game after batting in the bottom half of the inning. He appeared to be shaking his wrist. He had made a really nice sliding catch to take away a hit earlier in the inning. The trio of Senzel, Farmer and Aristides Aquino (replaced Pham) avoided disaster and another collision the next inning.
Nice day: Naquin collected 2 of the Reds 5 hits (2B/HR), both vs a LHP....adding 2 R, 2 RBI.
Not nice day: Mike Moustakas was 0 for 3 with 2 K. He's now 1 for 13 with 7 K.
Pitch-pitch-pitch: Six Reds pitchers combined to throw 197 pitches/129 strikes.
Walk up: Joey Votto's walk up music was Dolly Parton's Jolene.
Filled: 43,036 were on hand.....a sellout.
Who Dey! Chants of 'Who Dey' broke out around GABP after Bengals QB Joe Burrow fired the ceremonial first pitch to Bengals coach Zac Taylor.
Can't wait: Nick Lodolo will make his ML debut Wednesday afternoon for the Reds.
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