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.

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.

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 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

Jerry Hairston Jr. has been called up by the Cincinnati Reds as Juan Castro has been designated for assignment.  The Reds hope that Hairston Jr. can hit the ball like he was at Triple-A where he was batting .421 with three home runs, seven doubles, and three triples.

Castro was 0-10 this season with the Reds.

Reds Blog

The Cincinnati Reds have signed two former Chicago Cubs players that played under manager Dusty Baker.  Centerfielder Corey Patterson and utility player Jerry Hairston Jr. have both signed minor league contracts with an invitation to spring training with the Reds.

Patterson had played the last few seasons with the Balitmore Orioles after he was traded there from the Chicago Cubs.  Patterson who was once thought to be a five tool player has never really got it going at the plate in his career.  He is a good defender however, and can provide the Reds with some depth.

Hairston played with the San Diego Padres last and was mostly used as a utility player.  He can play in the outfield as well as the infield.  He is a decent player, but isn’t going to put many numbers up in the stats column.

Reds Blog