Series Recap: Reds defeat Diamondbacks 3-1

Whacking Day: 

Reds Drive Diamondbacks back to Arizona with 3-1 Series Win

Aside from a rough loss in Game 2, the Reds not only held the Diamondbacks from gaining ground in the NL Wild Card Race, but they actually extended their lead for the final playoff spot to HOW MANY? games. Here's how it all went down:

Defensive Play of the Series:
Zach Cozart, Brandon Phillips, and Joey Votto's beautiful double play. Top of the 9th, Game 1. Aroldis Chapman hasn't been lights out lately, but luckily the defense was there to back him up with this AMAZING play. In a series that featured shaky defensive plays from almost everyone in the infield, it is great to be reminded of what the Reds defense is capable of.

Votto has been in a mini-slump (at least to start out the series) and I'm not going to lie Arizona SP Patrick Corbin (13-3, 2.45 ERA, 4.5 WAR) has a nasty slider that Joey was unable to handle all night in G2.

Game 3 was quite the nail biter, and most importantly a big game for Chapman for 2 reasons. After taking an 8-0 lead, the Diamondbacks threatened to comeback with 7 unanswered runs. All season long the fans have been begging dusty to bring him in for more than 1 inning to close out tight games. I mean, he was originally supposed to be a starter anyway so why not get some extra innings out of him right? Well in Game 3 it finally happened....

And it worked out! 

Also Chapman had his first MLB at-bat, with perhaps the prettiest strikeout I have ever seen.

Offensive Performance of the series:

Shin-Soo Choo G3. 4-for-5, 3 Runs, 1 HR, 3 RBIs

The health of the Bullpen:

Last year we had it so good and we didn't even know it, Our starting 5 rotation pitched 161 games, save a double-header anomaly. This year? Not so lucky. Johnny Cueto and Jonathan Broxton have missed half the season, reliever Sean Marshall has missed the whole season, Nick Masset (remember him???) had to get surgery again, and now Tony Cingrani had to leave G2 early, although it does appear Tony will not miss his scheduled start on Sunday. I only have one thing to say..

Thankfully, relief arms Manny Parra (2.25 August ERA, 1.23 July ERA) and JJ Hoover (2.83 ERA, only 1 run allowed in July and August) have been there to step up for the injured arms in the bullpen. 

Random Fact of the Series: 

Former Red and current Diamondback SS Didi Gregorious was knighted this year in the Netherlands. Sir Didi!

Don't Look Now: NL Central Update

Looks like Cardinals fans may be feeling a bit vulnerable these days...

The Cardinals and Pirates play tonight, but as it currently stands, the Reds are just one game behind St. Louis and only two games behind NL Central leading Pittsburgh. It looks like Pittsburgh will certainly break their playoff appearance drought this year, but their position at the top of the Central is definitely up for grabs.

Coming Up: 

Tomorrow the Reds will close out their Great American homestand with a 3-game series against our friends the Milwaukee Brewers (55-72). The Redlegs currently lead the season series 8-5, with one last 3-game series in Milwaukee in September. This will also be the last time the Brewers make a trip to the Queen City this year, so a sweep would be a great going-away present. 

Friday:     7:10 ET,   H. Bailey (8-10, 3.68 ERA)  v. Y. Gallardo (9-9, 4.68 ERA)

Saturday: 7:10 ET,   B. Arroyo (12-9, 3.40 ERA) v. W. Peralta (8-13, 4.60 ERA)

Sunday:   1:10 ET,   T. Cingrani (6-3, 2.76 ERA) v. M. Estrada (5-4, 4.80 ERA) 

Viva Rojos! and as always,

El Blog no Mentira 

Nate Summer/Albert Vontz