Reds Win Series, Cordero Picks Up #300

By:  Coop


The Cincinnati Reds were trying to win their first series since mid-May.  In order to do so they would need to beat Marcum the Milwaukee Brewers.  Well they were down early, but fought back and won the game, 4-3.  Jay Bruce and Joey Votto both played a big role in this game, but Francisco Cordero's 9th inning stands out because he picked up career save #300. Here is how the action took place.


In the 1st inning, the very first batter, Rickie Weeks, went yard.  That was the 2nd time this year Weeks has leadoff the game with a home run against the Reds.  Later on in the inning, Braun hit an RBI ground out, the score was 2-0.


That would remain the score until the 4th when the Brewers added a run thanks to a Betancourt RBI single to plate Hart, 3-0 Milwaukee.


So it looked as if the Reds were gonna lose the game, and series.  But the Reds did not give up. 


In the 7th inning, the best player in the MLB right now, Jay Bruce, went yard for the 17th time this year.  It was a 2-run jack to right, and it was a 1-run game.


Next inning, with a man on, Joey Votto hit one deep to center, it was gone and the Reds took a 4-3 lead.  


In the 9th inning, Dusty Baker sent in the closer, Francisco Cordero, in attempts to seal the deal and give the Reds the win.  To lead off the inning, he fanned Lucroy.  Next batter was Betancourt, he got him to ground out for a 1-3 put out.  Then came Counsell.  He struck him out!  The Reds win it, and Francisco Cordero gets his 300th career save.  Congratulations to him.


The Reds will get a much needed off day tomorrow, and will host the Dodgers on Friday.  Game time is set for 7:10 PM ET and it will be televised on FS Ohio.

Arroyo And Bruce Help Reds Drink Brew

By:  Coop


Dusty Baker put together a different lineup, it had Jay Bruce batting 2nd, and Brandon Phillips batting 4th.  This was the first time this season Bruce has batted higher than 5th, and the also the first time Brandon Phillips has not batted 2nd, but B-Phil does have some experience batting cleanup, as that was his primary batting spot back when Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn were in Cincinnati.  Anyways, both players did well, both played a good role in this game, as did Bronson Arroyo.  They helped the Reds beat the Brewers in game 1, 9-5, here is how.

Scoring Summary

			CIN	MIL
	2nd	R Hanigan grounded out to third, B Phillips scored, M Cairo to second.	1	0
	3rd	J Bruce homered to right (391 feet), D Stubbs scored.	3	0
	3rd	B Phillips singled to center, J Votto scored, B Phillips to second advancing on throw.	4	0
	3rd	J Gomes singled to left, B Phillips scored.	5	0
	3rd	R Hanigan doubled to left, J Gomes scored.	6	0
	3rd	B Arroyo singled to center, R Hanigan scored.	7	0
	5th	E Almonte safe at second on throwing error by shortstop P Janish, J Lucroy scored.	7	1
	7th	C Gomez hit sacrifice fly to center, C Counsell scored, R Weeks to third.	7	2
	8th	J Lucroy singled to center, C McGehee scored, M Kotsay to second.	7	3
	9th	B Phillips singled to center, D Stubbs and J Bruce scored.	9	3
	9th	R Braun homered to center (425 feet), R Weeks scored.	9	5
View complete Play-By-Play

Bronson Arroyo got the win as he went 6.1 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, walked 2, and fanned 4.

The Reds are now 12-11, and sit 1 game behind the Cardinals for 1st place in the NL Central.  

Next, the Reds will send Mike Leake out to the hill to battle Marco Estrada.  Game time is set for 8:10 PM, and will be televised on FS Ohio.

Hanigan And Arroyo Help Reds Complete Sweep Of Brewers

Ryan Hanigan rounds 3rd after hitting a 3-run home run,
Sunday vs. Milwaukee.  Cincinnati ended up winning 12-3.

By: Coop


The Cincinnati Reds were hosting the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday. The Reds were looking to complete the sweep, and go to 3-0 on the year.  If they were going to reach 3-0, Bronson Arroyo would need to look like he did in his last Spring Training start, and the Reds offense would have to get some damage done again Randy Wolf, who has been a Reds killer throughout his career.  Well, Bronson looked great, and so did the Reds offense.  The Reds won 12-3, here is how.


In the 1st inning, the lead-off man, Rickie Weeks, who hit a home run in game 1, went yard.  A solo home run, and the Brewers were up 1-0 early on.


The Reds would answer back in the 2nd when Johnny Gomes hit a long one to left center, Jonny's first hit of the season, and the game was tied at 1.  Paul Janish was not a fan of the tie, so in the same inning he hit an RBI single to plate Jay Bruce, 2-1 Cincinnati on top.


In the 3rd inning, the pitcher, Randy Wolf, hit a double, then Rickie Weeks would bring him home with a double of his own.  The game was tied at 2.


The Redlegs would answer back in the 4th when Drew Stubbs reached on an infield single, Ryan Hanigan would score, the score was 3-2.  Same inning, Brandon Phillips hit his first homer of the year, it was a 3-run jack to left, 6-2.


Then in the 5th inning, Ryan Hanigan hit a solo home run to put Cincy up by 5, 7-2.


In the top of the 6th, Ryan Braun went yard off Bronson Arroyo, 7-3 the score.


In the 6th, Scott Rolen hit a sac fly to bring in Brandon Phillips to put the Reds back up by 5.  Still in the 6th, with two men on, Ryan Hanigan hit his 2nd home run of the game, and Cincinnati had an 11-3 lead.


In the 7th, Miguel Cairo hit an RBI single to center, Heisey would score, 12-3 the score, and that's how she finished. 


While Hanigan was the star of the game, Bronson Arroyo can not be overlooked.  Arroyo went 7 innings, gave up 6 hits, 3 earned runs, did not walk a batter, and fanned 5, he got the win.  A nice outing for a guy who has mononucleosis, if you ask me.  Also in this game, Reds fans got to see Aroldis Chapman for the first time this season, as he had a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th, reaching a top speed of 103 mph.  


So the Reds drink the brew, and sweep Milwaukee.  They will next play host to the Houston Astros.  The first game of that series will be Tuesday at 7:10 PM ET, you can catch the game on Fox Sports Ohio.

Reds Are Rolen! Cincy Goes To 2-0

Scott Rolen rounds 3rd and heads for home after
hitting a 2-run home run against Milwaukee, Sat.

By:  Cooper Ledford


Travis Wood was on the hill for Cincinnati, while Shaun Marcum was pitching for Milwaukee.  Wood had a great spring, and was trying to bring the success into the regular season.  That he did, he pitched great, and with the help of Scott Rolen and a few others, he picked up the win.  That means the Reds did too, 4-2 the final.  Here is how it all happened. 


After a 1-2-3 top of the 1st for Wood, the Reds got the bats out.  With Joey Votto on, and Rolen at-bat, guess what happened?  Scotty Rolen hit a 2-run homer, his first hit of the season, the Reds were up 2-0 early on.


The Reds would be back at it in the 2nd when Drew Stubbs hit an RBI triple, Hanigan would score, 3-0 Redlegs.  Same inning, with Stubbs on 3rd, Votto hit a grounder to 2nd, the Brewers second baseman, Rickie Weeks, committed a throwing, that would allow Stubbs to score, 4-0.  That would be all it would take, but the Brewers figured they needed some runs.


In the 5th, Almonte hit a solo home run to left field to put the Brew Crew on the board, 4-1 the score.  Then in the 9th, McGehee hit a single, that allowed Braun to score from 2nd, 4-2 the score.  But, Francisco Cordero was able to shut them down from their, and get his first save of the season.


Travis Wood looked very good, as he went 7 innings, gave up 4 hits, 1 earned run, did not walk a batter, and fanned 7.  


So Cincy picks up a win in-front of about 38,000, and go to 2-0 for the 1st time since 2005, and they are the only undefeated team in the NL Central.  The Reds have drank the Brew so far, can they finish it off tomorrow?  We'll have to watch and see.  Bronson Arroyo will pitch for the Reds, his counterpart will be Randy Wolf.  Game time is at 1:10 PM ET and will be televised on Fox Sports Ohio.

Reds Win Opener Walk-Off Style

Ramon Hernandez and the Reds celebrate their Opening
Day win over the Brewers.

By: Cooper Ledford


The Cincinnati Reds were trying to win on Opening Day for the first time since 2007. At first, it looked like they had no chance, as they were down early, but Ramon Hernandez hit a walk-off three-run homer to give the Reds the win, 7-6, over the Milwaukee Brewers, here is how.


Edinson Volquez was the pitcher for the Reds, his first batter he faced was Rickie Weeks.  Guess what Weeks, did?  He hit a home run, 1-0 the score early on.  Now who is taller, Rickie Weeks or Carlos Gomez?  Well, they would go back-to-back to find out.  Yes, Gomez hit a homer too, it was 2-0 after the first two batters came to bat.  Looked pretty bad for Volquez.  But the scoring was not done yet, with Braun on 3rd, McGehee would hit a sac fly, 3-0 the score at the end of 1.

Ramon Hernandez celebrates after hitting a walk-off home
run on Opening Day.

The Reds would answer back a little bit in the bottom of the 1st.  Drew Stubbs, the lead-off hitter, hit a double, Brandon Phillips bunted him to 3rd, and then Joey Votto hit a sac fly to bring Drew in, that would  make it 3-1.  


The Brew Crew would get a run in the 2nd when Rickie Weeks hit an RBI double to plate Nieves, 4-1 the score.


That would be the score until the bottom of the 4th when Drew Stubbs hit a solo home run to shorten the lead to 2.


But, Milwaukee would get their 3-run lead back in the 5th when Ryan Braun hit a solo homer to make it 5-2. They would score again in the 7th when Casey McGehee came up to the plate, after a single + an Jonny Gomes error, and then a balk, McGehee hit an RBI single to bring in Braun, and the Brewers had their biggest lead of the game, 6-2.


Cincinnati would shorten that lead to 3 in their half of the 7th when the reigning NL MVP, Joey Votto, hit a solo home run, the score was 6-3.


There would be no scoring until the 9th, the Reds trailed by 4.  Brandon Phillips hit a single, that was followed by a Joey Votto walk, then came a crazy play in which Scott Rolen reached on a fielder's choice, and there you have it, the bases were loaded with no outs.  The batter, Jay Bruce.  We all remember how he hit that walk-off homer to clinch the NL Central, but could he hit a walk-off grand slam to give the Reds win again?  Nope, he was down on strikes.  Then came Jonny Gomes.  Gomes gave the Reds their first win of last season thanks to a walk-off home run, could he do it again?  Nope, but he did hit a sac fly to plate Phillips and make the score 6-4.  Then the catcher Ramon Hernandez came to bat.  There were two on and two outs, a homer would win it.  And guess what? RAMON HERNANDEZ HIT A WALK-OFF THREE-RUN HOME RUN TO GIVE THE REDS THE WIN "And this one belongs to the Reds!". Talk about an exciting finish!


While the Reds feel like winners, Edinson Volquez might not, as he pitched badly.  Volquez went 6 innings, gave up 7 hits, 5 runs, walked 2, and fanned 3.  Not what you want from your Opening Day starter.  He must get better.


Tomorrow the Reds will be off, as always, and will play again on Saturday at 7:10 PM ET.  Travis Wood will be the pitcher for Cincinnati, while Shaun Marcum will pitch for Milwaukee.  The game will be on Fox Sports Ohio.