Jay Bruce hit his first major-league home run, a solo shot off Manny Acosta in the bottom of the tenth, to give the Reds a thrilling come-from-behind extra-inning victory over the Atlanta Braves, who are now 0 and 20 in their last twenty one-run decisions.  They were almost 1 and 19.  It took a daring play by pinch-runner Ryan Freel, who dashed home from third on a tapper back to the mound in the bottom of the ninth, to send the game to extra innings.  Pitcher Rafael Soriano fielded the ball and looked at Freel, who stopped but then broke for the plate when Soriano turned to throw to first.  Freel slid headfirst across home plate ahead of the first baseman’s throw.

Earlier in the game, Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 599th career home run.  Brandon Phillips also homered for the Reds.  Mark Teixeira and Greg Norton hit home runs for the Braves.  Starting pitchers Jair Jurrjens and Josh Fogg both struggled, each giving up six earned runs in less than five innings.

Bluzer runs RedlegStats.com, the home of Absolute Average, an alternative to OPS.

Jay Bruce led off the eleventh inning with a single to left, his fourth hit of the game, and consecutive ground balls by Ken Griffey Jr. and Brandon Phillips, both of which appeared to be within the reach of Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones, plated Bruce with the winning run as the Reds beat the Braves 3-2.  Griffey’s grounder was ruled a hit, but Jones was charged with an error on the game-ending play.  It was a miserable night all the way around for Jones, who came into the game batting a league-leading .420 but went 0 for 5 including grounding into two double plays.

What began as a pitcher’s duel between Edinson Volquez and Tom Glavine had developed into a battle of the bullpens by the seventh inning.  Volquez struck out seven and walked three, giving up two runs in six-plus innings.  Jared Burton pitched two stellar innings before turning the game over to Francisco Cordero and, eventually, lefty Kent Mercker, who got credit for the win, his first of the year.

Bluzer runs RedlegStats.com, the home of Absolute Average, an alternative to OPS.  

Ex-Red Phil Dumatrait struck out a career-high nine of his former teammates, giving up only one unearned run in seven innings (also a career high) as the Pirates beat the Reds 7-2, snapping a nine-game home winning streak by the Reds.

Aaron Harang, coming off his masterful emergency-relief appearance in Sunday’s game, struggled with both his velocity and his location, giving up six runs on ten hits in only four innings, the big blow being a two-run shot by Jason Bay, his 13th of the year.  Harang’s successor, Jeremy Affeldt, was greeted rudely by Xavier Nady, who hit his ninth on the first pitch of the fifth inning.

Jerry Hairston Jr. celebrated his 32nd birthday with a bunt single, a double and a run scored, but was doubled off second in the ninth inning on a line drive to the right fielder, a base-running mistake that was magnified when Brandon Phillips followed with a solo home run, his tenth of the year, off Matt Capps.

Andy Phillips made his first start for the Reds, playing third base in place of the slumping Edwin Encarnacion.  Phillips made a nice defensive play in the fifth, ranging into foul ground and firing across the diamond to nip Jason Michaels at first.

Before the game, Matt Belisle was optioned to Louisville and Kent Mercker came off the DL. Mercker pitched an inning tonight.

Josh Fogg is scheduled to make Saturday’s start in place of Belisle.

Bluzer runs RedlegStats.com, the home of Absolute Average, an alternative to OPS.

The Cincinnati Reds knocked out Pittsburgh Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny in the first inning as they scored six first inning runs and then went on to beat the Pirates by the score of 9-1.

David Ross went 2-4 with a two run home run and four rbi in the game.  Joey Votto had two rbi in the game as well as he continues to swing a good bat.  Jerry Hairston Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., Edwin Encarnacion all had one rbi in the game to help out.

Bronson Arroyo improved to 4-4 on the season as he pitched six innings to pick up the win.  Arroyo was very good as he only gave up three hits and one run in his six innings of action.  Mike Lincoln, David Weathers, and Bill Bray all pitched a scoreless inning of relief behind Arroyo.  Great job by all four pitchers!

We should also mention that Corey Patterson was sent down to Triple A before the game.

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Centerfielder Jay Bruce has been called up by the Cincinnati Reds.  Bruce will get most of the playing time in centerfield GM Walt Jocketty said.  I would imagine taht Corey Patterson will be released or demoted to Triple A.

It is now time for Bruce to show what he can do.  Can he hit the ball well enough at the big league level?  It looks like the Reds will give him that chance and they are hoping he won’t have any problems.

Ken Griffey, Jr. got the Cincinnati Reds off to a good start on Thursday night with a two run home run in the first inning but that was all the Reds would get in the entire game off the San Diego Padres pitchers.  Randy Wolf shut down the Reds after Griffey’s home run as the Padres went on to beat the Reds 8-2.

Aaron Harang tossed 5 1/3 innings while giving up ten hits and five runs to take the loss.  Harang is now 2-6 on the season as he continues to throw the ball terribly.  The Reds bullpen wasn’t much better as Bill Bray gave up one run and Mike Lincoln gave up two runs before Josh Fogg finally threw a scoreless inning in the eighth.

Just a bad game for the Reds who could never get the bats going as they only had five hits in the game.  And usually when your bullpen gives up three runs, you are going to lose the game…

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The Cincinnati Reds struggled at the plate and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 4-1 on Tuesday night.  The Reds lone run came in the ninth inning but it was a little bit to late to make up a four run difference.

Matt Belisle took the loss after pitching six innings and giving up seven hits and three runs.  Belisle’s record now stands at 1-4 on the season.  Belisle really needs to turn things around and the throw the ball better and start helping out the team get some wins.

Bill Bray gave up one run as he pitched 1/3 of an inning in relief of Belisle.  Jared Burton was then brought in to finish the seventh inning.  Josh Fogg pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Reds.

The lone run for Reds came in the ninth inning when Edwin Encarnacion singled in Adam Dunn.   A little to late however for the Reds to come back in the game.

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Cincinnati Reds reliever David Weathers gave up a rbi single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Reds lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5.  With the loss the Reds fall three games under .500 at 21-24 on the season.

Weathers drops to 1-3 as he took the loss for the Reds.  Weathers walked two batters and gave up two hits in the ninth inning.  Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo tossed five innings while giving up nine hits and five runs.

The middle part of the bullpen did a great job between Arroyo and Weathers.  Jeremy Affeldt, Mike Lincoln, and Bill Bray combined to piched three scoreless inning.

Adam Dunn hit his fifth home run in as many games against the Dodgers when he went deep for a two run shot in the third inning.  Dunn led the Reds with three rbi in the game.  Corey Patterson and Brandon Phillips both had one rbi in the game as well.

The Reds will need to come back and pick up a victory against the Dodgers on Tuesday if they want to stay close to the Cardinals and Cubs in the division.  Reds Blog

Wow, that was about the most up and down game you will see.  The Cincinnati Reds blew a 6-0 lead in the top of the ninth inning and then scored a run in the tenth inning to beat the Florida Marlins 7-6 on Wednesday night.

Paul Janish in only his second big league at bat had the game winning single in the tenth inning.  Talk about making an impact early in your career!  Six different Reds batters had one rbi in the game.  Adam Dunn had a solo home run to account for his rbi.  Jerry Hairston Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., Brandon Phillips, and Janish were the other batters to have one rbi in the game.

Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo should have won the game as he pitched seven innings of shutout baseball while only allowing five hits.  Mike Lincoln gave up four runs and then Francisco Cordero gave up two runs as he blew the save.

Jared Burton picked up the win as he pitched the tenth inning for the Reds.  Burton is now 2-1 on the season.

Talk about a lucky win for the Reds.  Usually a team that gives up six runs like they did will end up losing the game because their minds are just out of it.  Reds Blog

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Edinson Volquez improved to 6-1 on the season as the Reds beat the Florida Marlins 5-3 on Tuesday night.  Volquez tossed six innings and gave up seven hits and one run in the game.

Jared Burton and David Weathers were the two pitchers out of the bullpen that gave up one run each for the Reds.  It would have been nice to see them pitch as well as Bill Bray and Francisco Cordero did.  Cordero picked up his seventh save of the season in the game.

Joey Votto connected for his eighth home run in the game which was a solo home run in the seventh inning.  Ryan Freel, Jeff Keppinger, Adam Dunn, and David Ross all had one rbi as well in the game.

The Reds will be without Keppinger for quite a while however has he left the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a fracture left patella.

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