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Twins 7 Reds 0
Well, not much to that one.
It was the Kenta Maeda and Willi Castro Show Tuesday night at GABP. The Minnesota SP + CF = a 7-0 win for the 1st place Twins over the Reds.
Maeda, the Twins veteran pitcher, tossed five shutout innings, striking out eight. Castro, the centerfielder, made a diving catch to rob Tyler Stephenson of a two-run single in the 4th and a leaping catch to rob Stephenson of a two-run homer in the 7th.
The Reds collected just four hits and struck out 14 times, 8 looking: TJ Friedl 3, Elly De La Cruz 3, CES 2, Benson 2. They didn't have a baserunner until a two-out double by Spencer Steer in the 4th. It was their 10th time being shutout this season. The first time since August 15.
The Reds drop to 79-74 with nine games remaining. They are 1.0 game back of the Cubs for the 3rd Wild Card. The Marlins are a half game back of the Cubs.
It was an odd night: It felt like David Bell pushed his chips in for a series win Wednesday.....6 innings from Greene, 1 IN Gibaut, 1 IN Sims, 1 IN Diaz.......
Piecing together 27 outs:
Cruz started: 1.2 IN, BB, R, 4 K
Farmer: 0.1 IN, H , BB....allowed inherited runner to score.
Duarte: 1.0 IN
Young: 0.1 IN, HR
Lively: Came on in with one out in the 4th. 3.2 IN, 4 R. He was nickel/dimed for two runs in the 6th and then jaked for a two-run homer by Willi Castro in the 7th.
Law: 1.2 IN
Robbed! With the Twins leading 2-0, Castro made a sliding catch of a Stephenson flare to end the 4th and strand runners on 2nd and 3rd. He then went over the wall in CF to bring a Stephenson home run bid back with a man on in the 7th. He made the 2nd catch while holding his defensive alignment card in his bare hand.
The struggle is real: Elly 0 for 3, 3 K. He's 3 for his last 34. He's 9 for 56 in September (.161) with zero pop....eight singles and one double. He's gone 25 games w/o a homer (Aug 23). He had another throw that popped out of his mitt while taking a throw on a steal attempt at 2B.
Dink and dunk: The Twins parlayed four consecutive singles and a wild pitch into two runs vs Lively in the 6th inning, taking a 2-0 lead to 4-0. The hits included an infield single and back to back broken bats singles that left the bat at 54 mph and 69 mph.
Hits: 1 Steer (2B), 1 Benson (1B), Frield (1B), Fraley (1B)
Nine good toes: Jake Fraley, broken toe and all, was the back-end of a double steal of 2nd/3rd with Steer.
Wild side: Five Reds pitchers issued at least one walk, for a total of 8. Lively walked four.
Farmers Market: Kyle Farmer faced Buck Farmer and flew out in the 2nd inning. It was the first head-to-head matchup of their careers.
Mr. Versatile: Noelvi Marte slid over to 2B for the first time in the 9th inning.
Oh-fer: India 0 for 4 and 4 for 31 since coming off the IL.
Interesting: LH Nick Martini pinch-hit for Joey Votto in the 7th.
How the Reds scored:
They didn't