Reds 14 Diamondbacks 8
The Reds piled up nine runs in their first three at-bats on the way to beating the Diamondbacks 14-8 Tuesday night at GABP. The Reds crushed five homers and pounded out 16 hits as every starter picked up at least one hit and seven players collected a pair of hits. Graham Ashcraft was again stellar, tossing six shutout innings to lower his ERA to a microscopic 1.14. He struck out the final two batters in the 6th inning and fired a fist pump. Leading 9-0, and having sat through two long half innings while his offense hit, his evening was over: 6 IN, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K.
Downside: The Reds bullpen surrendered 8 runs over the final two innings.
Smooth Operator: Ashcraft is a joy to watch operate. I'm not sure he broke a sweat on the night. Give him props for dealing with sitting through the two lengthy half innings of Reds offense. He did not allow a hit until the 4th inning. He was pitch efficient, again: 76 pitches/51 strikes. He's the first Reds pitcher to record three consecutive quality starts this season. Pitches: 76 overall.....36 cutter, 29 slider, 11 sinker. His fastball averaged 98.1 and topped at 100.2. His slider averaged 87.4 mph.
Young guns: Greene and Ashcraft combined for 13 IN, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 12 K on consecutive nights. They retired 30 consecutive Diamondbacks before a single in the 4th inning. I love what has to be a fun competition among the young arms to top each other one start to the next.
O: The Reds scored in the first inning for the sixth consecutive game...tacking on four runs (15 total). Eight Reds batters had at least one hit through the first four innings. The Reds plated four runs in the first inning, three in the second inning and two more in the third inning. Senzel 2 H, 2 R, BB, on four times.
Votto 2 H, HR, 3 RBI, BB....6 game hit streak, 8 of his last 9 hits have been EXBH. Farmer 2 H, BB, R. Pham 2 H, HR, RBI, BB, 2 R. Drury HR, 2 RBI. Reynolds 2 H, HR, 2 RBI. Tyler Stephenson 2 H, HR, 3 RBI. Albert Almora Jr. 2 H, RBI. Aristides Aquino H, 2B.
Home Run Derby: Joey Votto crushed a 3-run homer (403 feet/99 mph) to get the scoring underway in the 1st inning. Brandon Drury homered for the second consecutive night....extending his hit streak to seven games. His 11th HR (369 fee/103.4 mph) made it 6-0 in the 2nd inning. Matt Reynolds hit a frozen rope solo shot (No. 2) to make it 9-0 in the 3rd inning. Pham blasted a 401 foot homer (No. 7) off the bat at 103.8 mph in the 8th inning. Tyler Stephenson joined the fun with his 5th HR in the 8th inning (393 feet at 102.7 mph).
Post delay fireworks: The Reds led 9-0 when a 63 minute rain delay hit in the 8th inning. Unlike last night, umpires were on top of things calling for the tarp just in time. Following the resumption of play, the Diamondbacks broke a 26 inning scoreless streak and scored five runs off Jared Solomon to cut the Reds lead to 9-5. But the Reds answered with five runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to make it 14-5. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo turned to outfielder Jake Hager to pitch at that point. The Diamondbacks finished things off with three runs in the 9th vs Joel Kuhnel.
Short night: Arizona starter Tyler Gilbert, recalled with a 10.62 ERA in seven starts at Triple-A Reno, lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing 5 hits, 7 runs, 2 homers,
2 walks, a hit batter and 55 pitches.
Swipe and go: Kyle Farmer walked, stole 2nd base and scored on a 2-out hit by Almora to make it 4-0 in the first inning. He had another two hit night.
Hustle D: With his team up 9-0, left-fielder Albert Almora Jr busted his tail to slide and backhand a single down the left-field line and popped up to fire a one-hop seed to 2nd base to cut down Pavin Smith in the 4th inning.
Chart climbing: Votto's single was No. 1,252 for his career, tying Tony Perez for 7th all-time in franchise history. H/T Twitter handle @VottoTracker
Whatever it takes: Nick Senzel extended his hit streak to seven games. He reached on catcher's interference (6x this year).
He was hit by a pitch, singled and doubled. I wonder who the last Reds hitter was to reach in all those ways in same game?
Down on the Farm:
At Louisville.....
India 1 for 4, 2 RBI, 3 K......Schrock 2-4, HR, R.....Barrero 1-4, R......Solano 1 for 3.
At Dayton:
Elly De La Cruz had a monster night 3-5, 2B, 3B, HR, 2 R, 5 RBI.
The Reds '20 1st round pick Austin Hendrick hit his first HR at High-A and added a 2B.