Reds Back In 1st Place

Reds catcher, Ramon Hernandez, hit 2 home runs in the
Reds 7-3 win over St. Louis, Saturday.

By:  Coop


After a 10 inning win last night, the Reds were trying to win the series today against their hated rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Reds had not won a series versus the Cards since May of 2010.  They were also trying to get their 1st place spot back.  In order to win the series, and get back to first place, Johnny Cueto would need to do well against a team that absolutely hates him.  Well, he did great.  He also got plenty of run support, the Reds won it 7-3.  Here is how.


In the 2nd inning, Public Enemy #1 in St. Louis, Brandon Phillips, hit a solo home run to left field, the Reds were up 1-0.  


1 inning later, Ramon Hernandez went yard to left, the Reds lead was doubled, 2-0.

Johnny Cueto looked great in the Reds 7-3 win over
the Cardinals, Saturday.

We go to inning #5 now, Hernandez would go yard once again.  This time to center, and the Reds had a 3-0 lead.  For the 2nd time this year, a Reds catcher has hit 2 homers in 1 game.  Still in the 5th, Phillips hit an RBI single, Stubbs scored, 4-0 the score.  


Now in the 7th, B-Phil would be at it again.  He hit a sac fly, Stubbs scored from 1st, 5-0 Cincinnati on top.


In the meantime, Johnny Cueto was just cruising heading to the 8th.  But, he had to throw a few more pitches in that 8th, thanks to two errors.  One by Janish, one by Rolen.  Two of the best defensive infielders in the league make rare errors allowing two runners to reach with Jon Jay coming up.  Then Cueto made his only mistake of the game.  He gave up a 3-run homer to Jay, his 3rd long ball of the year, and just like that it was a 2-run game.  That was followed by an Albert Pujols hit, but Logan Ondrusek came in and was able to get Holliday to hit pop up behind the plate to end the inning.


In the bottom of the 8th, the Redlegs answered back.  Fred Lewis hit an RBI single, Rolen scored, the Reds were back up by 3.  Later on, Lewis would be on 3rd, with Paul Janish batting, Motte threw a wild pitch, Freddy Lew easily scored, 7-3 the score.  Janish would then ground out to end the inning.


Francisco Cordero came in in the 9th in attempts to end the game.  He did just that, he had a 1-2-3 inning, and with that, the Reds went back to 1st place in the Central, and beat their biggest rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals in a convincing win.


While the offense was great today, so was Johnny Cueto.  #47 went 7.2 innings (a team high this season), did not give up an earned run, walked two, and fanned 5.  A great outing by Cueto.  In his 1st two games, he has looked absolutely great, and is now 2-0.


Tomorrow the Reds will go for the sweep.  Sounds good huh?  Travis Wood will battle it out with Chris Carpenter at 1:10 PM ET.  Come on down to the ball yard tomorrow, like I am, or watch the game on Fox Sports Ohio.  Let's hope to use our brooms!