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Reds 4 Cards 1
The long national nightmare of a losing streak is over. The Reds (3-13) have won a game after 11 consecutive losses.
They avoided a weekend sweep at the hands of the Cardinals, winning 4-1 Sunday afternoon in front of 23,124 at GABP.
Playing with the lead: The Reds led 2-0 after the 1st inning. They hand not held a lead after a completed inning since April 10, a span of 99 consecutive innings.
Add-on: The Reds made it 3-0 in 2nd inning and appeared to have Cards starter Adam Wainwright on the ropes. The 40-year old settled in and worked to the 6th before Colin Moran's RBI single made it 4-1 and ended his day.
On it: He pitched with a confidence that grew pitch-by-pitch in winning his first ML game. He was challenging hitters and not messing around.
5.2 IN, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 79 pitches/57 strikes. He struck out 7 in the first 5 innings. He appeared to tire in the 6th, his deepest MLB start, when he allowed back-to-back doubles and a run. But Tony Santillan picked him up by getting Albert Pujols and stranding a runner at 2B to end the 6th.
Quality AB's: Votto worked a 10 pitch AB for a BB. Alejo Lopez battled back from down 0 & 2 and lined a single on the 8th pitch of his at-bat. Colin Moran got the job done by lifting a Sac Fly. Tyler Naquin grounded out to the right side to get a run home. The best collective AB's of the season.
The other Nick: Senzel entered the game with 3 hits on the season (3 for 28) but collected hits in his first two AB's. He appeared to jam is finger diving back into 1B when he was gunned down after his RBI single in the first. He was caught stealing and fallen on top later. I've never seen a guy that gets dinged so often.
Pieces in place: Pitching with a lead, the bullpen parts fell into place. Santillan 1.1 IN, 0 R....Art Warren 1.0, 0 R, Lucas Sims 1.0, 0 R, save.
Pitching, pitching, pitching: Reds arms struck out 10, walked one and allowed 7 hits.
Nice day: Tyler Naquin jump-started the two-run first inning with a leadoff double and came around to score. He added an RBI groundout.
Walk this way: Joey Votto walked three times, including a 7 and 10 pitch AB. He saw 23 pitches in four plate appearances.
Phamming: Tommy Pham continues to smoke the ball. 2 hits, run, walk.
Home cooking: It was the first win of the year in five tries for the Reds.
A first: Catcher Mark Kolozsvary made his first ML start.
Power outage: The teams combined for 0 HR in the three games series.
Series attendance: 72,192