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.

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.  

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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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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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 never really threatened the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night as the Reds lost 3-0.  The Reds only recored four hits in the game and only three through eight innings against Carlos Zambrano.

Aaron Harang actually pitched pretty good in the game even though he took the loss.  Harang tossed seven innings and gave up seven hits and three runs.  He did strike out six batters and walked two.  Harang falls to 1-5 on the season even though he has a 3.09 ERA.

Ken Griffey Jr. had two hits while Joey Votto and Harang had one hit each.  Bad job by the Reds hitters.

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The Cincinnati Reds continue to lose baseball games as they lost to the Houston Astros 5-3 on Thursday afternoon.  Rookie pitcher Johnny Cueto took the loss for the Reds as he tossed seven innings but gave up five earned runs.  Lance Berkman took him deep in the first inning, and from there it just kept going down hill.

Ken Griffey Jr, Scott Hatteburg, and Paul Bako all had one RBI each in the game.

With the loss, the Reds record dropped to 9-14 on the season.

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The Cincinnati Reds took home a win on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 putting the Reds at 8-11 for the year.  With most of the game’s action happening in the 10th inning, the fans had a wait a while to see this game take off. 

Jared Burton is now 1-1 for the year after picking up the win on Sunday.  He closed out the night allowing two hits and two runs in the tenth inning.  It was Aaron Harang who opened up the game with eight innings pitched allowing four hits and one run.

Edwin Encarnacion and Paul Bako both hit solo home runs in the 10th inning before Ken Griffey Jr. singled in the game winning run later in the inning.  Encarnacion had two home runs giving him four home runs and nine RBI for the season and Bako picked up his first home run and fourth RBI of the year as well.

The Cincinnati Reds will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at home on Monday night for a two game match up.  Who do you think will come out on top?

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The Cincinnati Reds avoided the sweep as they hammered the Chicago Cubs 9-2 on Thursday afternoon.  The Reds came up with some big hits against Ted Lilly and kept the Cubs bats cooled down which they didn’t do the first two games of the series.

Joey Votto had a huge day for the Reds as he bases loaded triple and then a two-run home run to finish with five RBI.  Ken Griffey Jr. hit a three run home run and finished with three RBI.  Ryan Freel also had one RBI.

Edinson Volquez earned the win as he pitched five innings and only allowed one earned run.  Volquez got in trouble early in the game as some close calls didn’t go his way, but he was able to wiggle his way out of the jams.  Good job by Volquez!

Jared Burton pitched two innings foloowing Volquez and allowed one run on three hits.  David Weathers and Todd Coffey pitched the final two innings and held the Cubs down.

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