Bronson Arroyo threw batting practice to the Phillies for four and one-third innings, giving up five earned runs on ten hits, suffering his fifth loss of the season.  Kyle Kendrick  wasn’t much better for the Phils, giving up four Reds runs on five hits in five and one-third, but neither bullpen gave up a run the rest of the way, with Brad Lidge closing it out for his 14th save.

Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion hit solo homers for the Reds, and Adam Dunn had a clutch two-out, two-run double to draw the Reds within one, but that was all they would get.  Encarnacion got the Reds out of a bases-loaded jam with a tag-em-out, throw-em-out double play.  Ryan Freel, Brandon Phillips, and David Ross hooked up to nail Chase Utley, who had run through a stop sign, at the plate.  (Freel was in center because Ken Griffey Jr. sat out the game due to soreness.)  It was Utley’s only misstep of the night, however.  He had three hits, including his 21st home run of the year, and made diving catches of two Reds line drives.

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

Johnny Cueto got his fourth win of the year, dominating Braves hitters through six innings but running into a little trouble in the seventh, when he gave up back-to-back solo homers by Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann.  By that time, however, the Reds had built up a 3-0 lead on solo shots by Adam Dunn and Jay Bruce, and an RBI double by Brandon Phillips.  In the bottom of the seventh, the Reds scored three more runs, one of them on a suicide squeeze by Jerry Hairston Jr., and coasted to a 6-2 win.

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

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.

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

The Cincinnati Reds and Florida Marlins combined for five home runs on Monday night as they put up 15 runs on the scoreboard.  Good thing for the Reds however, they came out on top by the score of 8-7.

Jeff Keppinger and Brandon Phillips both hit two run home runs in the seventh inning to spark a four run inning for the Reds.  Besides those four rbi, Corey Patterson and Adam Dunn both had a rbi each in the game.

Aaron Harang threw seven inning as he gave up seven hits and four runs.  Harang finally picked up his secon win of the season as he improved to 2-5 on the season.

David Weathers pitched part of the eighth inning but gave up a hit and allowed two runs.  Jeremy Affeldt gave up another run in the inning before Francisco Cordero was finally able to get the Reds out of it.

The Reds are now 16-23 on the season as they battle their way back up to the .500 mark.

The Cincinnati Reds hit seven home runs and pounded the Chicago Cubs 9-0 on Wednesday afternoon.  Joey Votto led the way as he hit three home runs just by himself.

Jerry Hairston, Jr. and Votto both hit two run home runs.  Adam Dunn, Paul Bako, Brandon Phillips and Votto (two) all had solo home runs.

Edinson Volquez picked up the win which was his fifth of the season.  Volquez pitched seven innings and only allowed four hits.  He would have pitched longer into the game had his pitch count not gotten up near 120 pitches.

Great job by the Reds who took two out of three from the Cubs.  The Reds are now sitting at 14-21 on the season.  Reds Blog

Rookie starting pitcher Johnny Cueto did not have the night he was hoping for on Tuesday night as the Cincinnati Reds lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2.  Cueto gave up eight hits and seven runs in only 1.2 innings of action.  Cueto now has a 5.40 ERA and 1-3 record on the season.

Bill Bray and Josh Fogg pitched the rest of the game in relief of Cueto and actually pitched pretty well.  They did not allow a run to cross the plate as they gave up seven hits.

The only scoring for the Reds came in the ninth inning when Adam Dunn connected for a two run home run that scored himself and Brandon Phillips.  The Reds only managed three hits in the game, and you’re not going to win very many baseball games when you only get three hits.

Reds Blog