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Phillies 7 Reds 5
Reds starter TJ Zeuch found trouble early and never found his way out of it, allowing six runs in two plus innings, and the Phillies went on to beat the Reds 7-5 Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Trailing 6-1 in the 3rd inning, the Reds slowly chipped away. They put two on with one out in the 9th but Kyle Farmer, their best hitter with runners in scoring position this year (.337), bounced into a DP to end it.
Tough to watch: Zeuch 2.2 IN, 7 H, 6 R, 4 BB, 0 K, 81 pitches/44 strikes. ERA now 15.19. He loaded the bases in each of his three innings. He induced a DP with the bases loaded in the 1st inning on the 10th pitch of the AB by Nick Castellanos. But he surrendered two runs in the 2nd inning. He was taken yard by JT Realmuto (394 feet) in the 3rd inning and was done when he walked Kyle Schwarber with the bases loaded to make it 4-1 Phillies.
Brutal: Zeuch (4) and Art Warren (1) walked five batters in the 3rd inning, including three straight and back-to-back with the bases loaded. All nine Phillies hitters were on base at least once before an out was recorded in the 4th inning, six of them had reached twice.
Bullpen: Four relievers tossed 5.1 IN, 1 R. I'd think the Reds are going to need to make another call to Louisville for a fresh arm, or two for Thursday. I can't imagine Zeuch is still on the roster by gametime Thursday.
Child, please: Stuart Fairchild snapped an 0 for 15 with a 2nd inning solo homer (410 feet) to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. It was his first hit since the Yankees series (June 13). Two of his three hits this season are long balls.
Feels like the first time: Catcher Chuckie Robinson made his ML debut. Per Baseball-Reference, 22,792 players had appeared in a ML game to start the day. He became the 58th player to appear for the Reds this season, a new team record. He also became the 8th catcher used by the Reds this season. He singled for his first hit in the 5th inning and scored.
Planted: Kyle Farmer homered (No. 7), his first since July 13.....his second since June 2.
7th inning action: Trailing 6-3 in the 7th, the Reds put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out with a Jose Barrero single and Jake Fraley pinch-hit double.
A sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter TJ Friedl make it 6-4.
8th inning action: Alejo Lopez roped an RBI double that cut the deficit to 7-5.
Who's on 1st? Donovan Solano made his 1st ML start at 1B and made a couple of really nice plays. He collected his obligatory two hits at the plate.
Who's on 2nd? Nick Senzel took over at 2B in the 7th inning. His 10th ML appearance there.
K: Jose Barrero struckout two more times to extend his streak to at least one K in all 19 games played this season.....extending his franchise record.
That's 34 K in 67 at-bats. He did single, scored and made a sweet running catch 223 feet down the left field line.
Cannon fire: Aristides Aquino threw out his 6th runner at the plate, his 10th assist of the season, with a one hop laser from just short of the warning track in right field. The throw was at 99 mph. He also made a nice sliding catch. He's tied for the NL lead among OF. Do 3rd bases coaches pay any attention to the scouting report?
What up? Man, it has been a wreck of a defensive year for Jonathan India. He booted a one bouncer that hit one step to his left and it was rule a hit.
(See video below). He fielded a chopper and missing a diving tag at a runner going to second rather than simply make the play at 1st base. India also lost track of the number of outs in the 5th inning and ran into an out on the bases. He cut in front of Barrero on a bouncer up the middle and made it a easy player tougher and threw late to 1B. He was pinch hit for with two on in the 7th inning, after appearing to grimace a couple of times during the game.
India D: He committed 15 errors in 148 games last season and has 8 in 58 games this season. His Defensive Runs Saved is -9 this season, 2nd worst in MLB to -11 by Therio Estrada. It was -9 for all of 2021.
Joke: MLB needs to investigate official scoring at MLB ballparks. It's been a joke for years.