Votto's 8th inning homer sends Reds past Jays

Reds 3 Jays 2

Joey Votto jacked a solo home run off the facade of the second deck in right field at Rogers Centre to break an 8th inning tie and send the Reds to a 3-2 win over the Jays Sunday afternoon. It was Votto's first homer of the season.

With the win, the Reds salvage a game in the three game series. They finish the nine game road trip 5-4.

Debut: Graham Ashcraft 4.1 IN, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 76 pitches/43 strikes. He got 8 ground ball outs. His first major league pitch was a strike at 99.7 mph.
Pitches thrown: 22 sinker, 22 four-seam fastball, 14 slider, 10 cutter, 8 curve. Fastball averaged 97.6 mph.

Votto: 1-3, HR, BB. He collected two doubles and a homer in his return from Covid this weekend.

Early action: Aristides Aquino roped a 2-out, 2-run double to make Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi pay for a 37 pitch, 3 BB, HBP 1st inning. The Reds offense went silent until Votto's blast in the 8th inning.

Well, well: Aquino's snapped an 0 for 25 and collected two hits, his first ML hits since April 14. He added a SB.

Nails from the pen: Tony Santillan replaced Ashcraft in the 5th inning with 2 on and 1 out in a 2-2 game and escaped a bases-loaded jam.
Santillan: 1.2 IN, 0 R. Alexis Diaz 2.0, 0 R. Art Warren 1.0. 0 R.

Settle down: Kikuchi settled after the shaky 1st inning and retired 10 in a row, before a walk ended his day in the 5th inning with the game even at 2-2.

Walk this way: After not walking in the first two games of the series, and just one in their previous three games, Reds batters drew three walks in the 1st inning Sunday.

Brutal Part 1: Taylor Motter made two errors at 3B. He struck out twice. That's three errors in three games since his promotion. He's 32-years old with a career .192 ML batting average.

Brutal Part 2: 2-2 in the 7th inning, Tyler Stephenson was picked off 1B to end a two on, two out threat.

7: The Jays used seven pitchers in holding the Reds to six hits and three runs.

Curtain raiser: Ashcraft became the seventh Reds player this season to make his ML debut, sixth pitcher and third starting pitcher to debut (Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo), 12th rookie to appear in a game and ninth rookie pitcher to appear in a game for the Reds.