Bronson Baffles Braves, Reds win 4-2

Jul 12, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Arroyo pitches in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. (Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports)

He hadn’t thrown a pitch and Bronson Arroyo was blessed with a three-run lead. Those days and innings have been hard to come by as of late for the Cincinnati Reds, and Arroyo made those early runs stick. He twirled (is there honestly any other way to describe it when Bronson pitches?) seven innings and allowed only one run on three hits. BRaves hitters were mesmerized most of the night.

The only Braves run came on a Brain McCann solo shot in the seventh inning, Arroyo’s last. Shouldn’t be a surprise since McCann sported a lifetime batting average against Arroyo entering the game.

Arroyo’s complete line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO.

Pretty mundane when you just look at it.

But the bottom line is that the Good Guys got a win by a score of 4-2 . Here’s a few things from the game…

Remember how we heard that Dusty was sticking by Zack Cozart as his #2 hitter? How long did that work?

All of one day…for now. We all know that Bake is likely to have Cozart back there at #2 if Derrick Robinson isn’t starting. Having DRob behind Shin-Soo Choo last night worked pretty well, but before everyone goes mad crazy bonkers over it, it is only one game, folks.

Second, and back to Arroyo for this.

Ryan Hanigan usually catches Arroyo and with Hani on the DL, Devin Mesoraco was the guy behind the plate. There’s a dynamic Arroyo and Hanigan have that quite frankly, Mes and Bronson haven’t achieved. Not a bad thing, it’s just that even Reds fans are used to seeing #29 catch #61.

As good as we think the night went, it wasn’t a great start for Mes…

"“I usually only use two signs,” Arroyo said. “When the 1 goes down, I have about five pitches I can throw off it. (Mesoraco) said the first seven pitches of the game he didn’t guess one right pitch.– Bronson Arroyo on having Devin Mesoraco catch last evening. (Cincinnati.com)”"

Um, the catcher guessing as well wouldn’t seem like a good thing, but, as John Fay points out, Arroyo likes the signs as simple as possible. He then throws variables of that one pitch off the sign. I suppose as long as the catcher guesses better than the hitters, all’s good.

In case you’re wondering…

What’s even more astounding isn’t really the speed of Chapman’s pitch, although that 104 is pretty insane to see. It’s that Freddie Freeman, a left-handed batter, was able to take that slider – the only one Chapman threw in this AB – which was clearly off the plate and dump it into center field for a hit.

(TexasLeaguers.com)

Jul 12, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; BP makes a catch in shallow center in the third inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. (Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports)

And there’s hardly a Reds game without this…

This is one reason why some stated on our Facebook page that Brandon Phillips was their favorite current Reds player. We had a contest there yesterday…

Every night, a play like this is possible when he’s manning second base.

Also helps that he’s been getting his teammates across the plate this season. With the absence of Ryan Ludwick, BP has hit pretty darn well and drove a guy or two across the plate. After driving in the first two runs in last night’s game, Phillips now has 71 on the season.

Honestly, did you ever expect BP to have 71 RBI at this point of the season even after Luddy went down with that bum shoulder?

Those 71 RBI puts him 3rd in the National League.