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Reds 9 Nationals 2
Joey Votto and Elly De La Cruz each homered and collected three hits to lead a 16 hit parade and Graham Ashcraft found his way through six innings without his best stuff as the Reds beat the Nationals 9-2 Wednesday night in D.C for their fourth straight win. They will go for a four game series sweep Thursday afternoon.
That's seven consecutive road series wins, the most since eight by the 1976 Reds.
All nine Reds batters produced hits, with five players collecting multiple hits. They added two homers, four doubles and four stolen bases. They left 16 runners on base.
Banger: Votto 3 hits and a walk. He homered for the 5th time since returning. It was not his usual blast....it was a hand off the bat on the follow through with a long hang time before landing just over the wall. His HR was 107.2 mph off the bat, a single at 101.2 mph.
Holy! I swear De La Cruz dented a ball he hit 455 feet into the upper deck for a homer....it left the bat at 111.6 mph. He also doubled twice, stole 3rd and scored twice.
Bat gate? The National asked for Elly's bat to be checked in his first AB. The object on the handle end of his bat appeared to be a swing analyzer...used to measure bat speed, etc. The umpires checked with New York and had the object removed. The object was back on for his 2nd AB and the rest of the game. From the Nationals: “Per Major League Baseball…The conversations during the game regarded a rules check involving equipment - specifically the housing on the knob of the bat. The housing used by the player is permissible and approved, which was communicated to the Nationals.”
De La Cruz pointed to the knob/object after the follow through of his HR swing.
Power streak: The Reds have homered in 19 straight games, the second-longest single-season streak in team history, per Elias Sports Bureau. The team record is 21(1956).
Graham Ashcraft: 6 IN, 7 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 96 pitches/68 strikes. Give him credit. He bobbed and weaved through six innings while allowing just one run. He filled his Bingo Card in a 25 pitching 1st inning w/ a H, 2 BB, HBP, WP, R. He escaped a based loaded 0 out jam in the 2nd inning. He's allowed two runs over his last two starts. He'd allowed 47 over his previous eight starts.
Thiefs in the night! The Reds stole four more bases....Friedl, Fraley, Benson, De La Cruz...running their season total to 105. They had 58 during the 2022 season.
Ouch: Leading 4-1 with the bases loaded and De La Cruz at the pate, Jonathan India was picked off at 1B by the Nationals catcher to end the threat.
2 hits: Benson (2 RBI), Friedl (HBP), Fraley (2 BB, 2 R)
3 hits: Votto (BB), De La Cruz
Bullpen: Derek Law 1 IN, 1 R.....Alex Young 1 IN, 0 R....Fernando Cruz 1 IN, 0 R.
No slowing the roll: They have won 19 of 23 overall. They have won 13 of 15 and 18 of their last 21 road games.
They are a season best nine games over .500 at 48-39. A year ago they stood 33-54.
Growing sample size: The Reds have gone 41-24 over their last 65 games, since starting the season 7-15.
How the Reds scored:
2nd: Votto HR (382 feet), 1-1
2nd: Stephenson RBI 2B, 2-1 Reds
2nd: Benson RBI 2B, 3-1 Reds
4th: Friedl RBI 1B, 4-1 Reds
5th: De La Cruz HR (455), 5-1 Reds
7th: Fraley scored on a balk, 6-1 Reds
7th: McLain RBI 1B, 7-1 Reds
8th: Fraley RBI 1B, 8-2 Reds
8th: Benson RBI groundout, 9-2 Reds