We’ll Take It

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t all that exciting. But we’ll take it.

Edinson Volquez wasn’t effective, but he persevered through 5 innings. He walked 5, allowed 3 hits and struck out 6. He wasn’t sharp. 99 pitches with only 55 for strikes. The only real blip was the home run he permitted to former Red Alex Gonzalez. The Braves had their chances as they stranded 11 runners for the game. But we’ll take it.

The Reds offense could only muster 5 hits over 7.1 innings against Braves starter Tommy Hanson. The Reds two runs came on Braves miscues and both occurred in the bottom of the fifth. The first was by Braves right fielder Jason Heyward. Two outs and Ramon Hernandez is on first. Brandon Phillips drove a ball into right field. Heyward took an aggressive line and attempted to make a diving catch. The ball got past him and Phillips ended up on third instead of being held to a double. Hernandez scores to tie the game 1-1. Next batter was Orlando Cabrera. On Hanson’s second pitch of the at-bat, OC hit a weak grounder to the usually reliable Gonzalez. Not this time. Gonzalez bobbled the ball and Cabrera was safe. Reds lead 2-1.  That was the game. As I said, it wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it.

The Reds managed to win the series and keep pace with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Game Notes:
Reds manager Dusty Baker elected for Chris Heisey in center over Drew Stubbs. A 1-for-34 skid will land you a seat…Once again, the Reds bullpen performed well. Bill Bray struggled in finding the plate (27 pitches, 13 strikes), but he did manage to get out of his self created jam by coaxing Chipper Jones into soft fly out to Jay Bruce to end the top of the 7th…For the three game series, the attendance was 122,855 for an average of 40,952 a game…The Reds will travel to Pittsburgh for a three game set. Game 1 is at 7:05 PM ET tomorrow evening. The probable starting pitchers are Travis Freakin’ Wood (1-1, 2.87 ERA) v. Ross Ohlendorf (1-8, 4.35 ERA). The Reds cannot let up against the Bucs. The Cards have a three game set at home against the Houston Astros. The Cards won today 9-1.

Tags: Atlanta Braves, baseball, Brandon Phillips, bullpen, Cincinnati Reds, Edinson Volquez, Orlando Cabrera, Pittsburgh Pirates, Ramon Hernandez, St Louis Cardinals, Travis Wood