A Getaway That Got Away…Almost

The Reds bats were alive for the first inning. Too bad they fell back into a slumber for the majority of the game. Could have used a few more cross the plate. All those LOB didn’t help either.

The Redlegs had Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo on the ropes by putting up a “4” in the first, three coming via a homer by Joey Votto. That was pretty much the Reds offense.

Sam LeCure breezed through the first 2 2/3 innings. After that, the Brewers seemingly had his number.

The Brewers chipped away at that four-run deficit and finally tying the affair in the bottom of the fifth. But it was the circumstances surrounding that run that was a bit perplexing.

With runners on first and second after Ryan Braun took a LeCure pitch between the shoulder blades, Dusty Baker pulled a whammy. He pulled LeCure in favor of Bill Bray. That’s not the issue. Baker inserted Edgar Renteria at short and moved Paul Janish to third. Miguel Cairo was taken out of the game. Wouldn’t you know that one a grounder to Votto, Renteria, in an effort to turn a DP, launched a throw that completely missed Bray who was covering first. Rickie Weeks scampered home to plate the game-tying run.

But the Reds attempted to battle back the very next inning, the top of the 6th.

Renteria had a broken bat single (atonement?) and Drew Stubbs walked (yes, I said walked) leading Brewers skipper Ron Roenicke to pull Gallardo. Jay Bruce dropped down a bunt to move the runners over. Votto up now. And what happens?

Votto looked off stride from the lefty sidewinder Mitch Stetter. Didn’t matter as Votto laced a single into right, scoring Renteria giving the Reds a 5-4 lead. Of course you have to ask why in the world would Roenicke elect to pitch to Votto. You mean to tell me he would rather pitch to Votto than Brandon Phillips? If so, that’s completely nuts. Reds fans have witnessed time and time again where Votto excels in this situation.

And Phillips followed with a single scoring Drew Stubbs. Maybe it didn’t matter. 6-4 at this point. But they did leave two more runners stranded in the 6th, making it 9 to that point in the game. The last out was a Chris Valaika strikeout on a pitch similar to what got Gomes.

And the Brewers immediately responded off of Jordan Smith. Nary a ball hit hard either. Three straight singles from the 7-8 and a pinch hitter score one. Nice. A Smith wild pitch gets a runner to third. Even worse was the sacrifice fly by Rickie Weeks to knot the score again. This time at 6. That was it for the 6th.

While I’m taking a break from watching the game. I do NOT like Paul Janish at third. I think this is a point in which we all agree. If he’s your starting shortstop, keep him there!

And after 7, 10 LOB for the Reds. Yep. Got that feeling…

And whatever was ailing Nick Masset…I think it’s gone. Six straight outings covering seven innings and NO RUNS. But another bit of a rough outing for Logan Ondrusek. Walked a guy and a cheap pinch-hit (one that Janish may have gotten to) brought in Aroldis Chapman to diffuse the situation. Done deal ending with the pickoff move from hell to nail Corey Hart.

But the winner was a blast from Drew Stubbs in the top of the 10th. An Francisco Cordero tosses a 1-2-3 10th for the win and making him 4-for-4 in save situations.

I’m usually a “glass half full” person, but I’m starting to wonder about all these men the Reds are leaving on base. We’ve already seen that bite them in the butt too many times this season.

A day off tomorrow before a three game set with the Florida Marlins.