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Diamondbacks 7 Reds 0
Well, not exactly an inspired effort by the Reds Wednesday night at GABP.
The Arizona Diamondbacks smacked three home runs and got shut down starting pitching from Merrill Kelly to beat the Reds 7-0. The game was scoreless into the 4th inning when the Diamondbacks proceeded to score in each of the next four innings and five of the final six innings. It was yet another rain delayed night at GABP with the start of the game delayed by over 90 minutes.
Blah: Mike Minor 4.1 IN, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K, HBP, 85 pitches/51 strikes. He escaped 1st inning trouble to retire nine in a row until the 4th inning when he hit a batter and then Christian Walker cranked his 15th homer to make it 2-0. It was Arizona's first lead in the series. Josh Rojas roped a solo shot in the 5th to push the lead to 3-0 and Minor's night was over. The Rojas homer came with two outs and two pitches after 3B Matt Reynolds could not haul in a foul pop along the 3rd base railing/netting.
Turnaround: Kelly tossed six innings of 1-hit, 0-run ball. He entered with an 8.47 ERA over his last four starts, after a sparkling 1.71 in his first seven starts.
Robbed: Joey Votto was robbed of a two-run homer in the first inning when Diamondbacks CF Alek Thomas went over the wall to bring the ball back.
Thomas took a line drive single away from Votto with a sliding catching in the 4th inning. Votto delivered a bullet double to start the 7th inning.
Power surge: The Diamondbacks entered the 8th inning Tuesday night having not scored in 26 consecutive innings. They proceeded to hit two homers and pile up eight runs over the final two innings and then carried it over into Wednesday. They have scored 15 runs over their last 11 innings.
Power outage: One night after crushing five homers and collecting 16 hits, the Reds offense was held in check, totaling five hits (Votto,Lopez, Garcia, Reynolds, Almora Jr.). Aristides Aquino 0 for 4 with 3 K. The lineup was missing Tyler Stephenson (night off), Brandon Drury (Achilles) and Nick Senzel (back).
No relief: Pen allowed 4 runs in 4.2 innings and 12 runs over the last 6.2 innings of work. Luis Cessa allowed two runs over 1.2 innings.
Art Warren surrendered a run in 1.1 innings. Hunter Strickland walked in a run in the 9th inning.
Then/now: 2021 Cessa w/ Reds: 6 ER in 26.1 innings. 2022 Cessa: 14 ER IN 21.2 innings.
Noah and his Ark: Rain delayed the start of the game for about 1 hour and 40 minutes. The third consecutive rain delay for the Reds.
Busted: The Reds streak of scoring in the first inning ended at six games.
Scratch that: Drury was scratched from the original starting lineup with right Achilles soreness. He was replaced by Alejo Lopez.
Senzel was scratched during the rain delay with a lower back strain and replaced by TJ Friedl.