Votto, Reds Take Game One

By:  Cooper Ledford

The Cincinnati Reds were on the road in Flushing, New York taking on the Mets.  The Reds had a tough task in front of them as the All-Star deserving player, Mike Pelfrey was on the hill for the Mets.  On the hill for Cincinnati was Travis Wood, making his 2nd MLB start, and looking for win #1.  Wood did not pick up the win, but the Reds did, 8-6 the final.  Here is all of the scoring plays.

To start things off, Joey Votto hit his 20th homer of the season, it was a solo home run, and after the top of the 1st inning, the Reds had a 1-0 lead.  But, it would not last.

In the bottom of the 1st, Jason Bay hit an RBI single to plate David Wright, and it was tied a 1.  But not for long.

In the 5th inning, with the bases loaded with nobody out, strike three was called with Rolen at the plate.  Rolen thought it hit him, so did all of the other umpires.  The call was changed to HBP, that brought in a run and Cincy had a 2-1 lead.  They still had more up their sleeves though.  Later on, Drew Stubbs hit a 2 RBI single to bring in Joey Votto and Orlando Cabrera, and it was 4-1.  Then, the Corkster, Corky Miller hit a 2 RBI single, that brought in Rolen and Stubbs, 6-1 was the score.  To finish off the 5th inning rally, Travis Wood hit an RBI TRIPLE, that brought in Miller, and Wood got his MLB RBI.

The Mets would answer back in their half of the 5th inning.  To start things off Angel Pagan hit a solo home run, it was 7-2.  Then, with a runner on 3rd, Ike Davis reached on an error by Wood, Wright would score from 3rd, and it was 7-3.  Wood would then be pulled from the game, which meant he could not win.  In came Jordan Smith.  The first batter he faced, Rod Barajas, hit an RBI single to plate Davis, and it was only a 3 run lead for the Reds.  The Mets would get their final 2 runs in the inning, and game, when Alex Cora hit a 2 RBI double, and the Reds 6 run lead, was now only a 1 run lead.

The Reds would pick up another run in the 6th inning when Joey Votto hit his 2nd home run of the game, and his 21st of the season.  That would put Votto in front of Pujols for the NL lead in home runs.  The Reds would hold off the Mets and end up winning 8-6.

Mike Pelfrey did not look like the normal Mike, as he gave up a season high 7 earned runs.

The winner was Jordan Smith, and Francisco Cordero got his 23rd save of the season, as he is now tied for the NL lead in saves.  The Reds are now 48-36, do the math and they are 12 games over .500.  St. Louis was off today, so with the win the Reds gain a half game, and are 2 games ahead of the Cards in 1st place.

Tomorrow Johan Santana will take on Aaron Harang.  Game times is at 7:10 PM ET and will be televised on FS Ohio.