Cincinnati Reds’ Bats Have Another Big Day in 9-5 Win Over Cubs

W: Aroldis Chapman (1-0)

L: Gonzalez Germen (0-1)

It was another big day for the Cincinnati Reds’ offense, as they nearly scored double digit runs for the sixth time this spring in their 9-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.

The Reds didn’t even let Cubs’ starter Gonzalez Germen get out of the first inning, scoring four runs on four hits and three walks before knocking him out of the game. The team batted around in the inning with the scoring coming on an RBI single from Todd Frazier, a two-run double from Brennan Boesch, and bases-loaded walk from Kristopher Negron.

Aroldis Chapman got the start for the Reds, striking out all three batters he faced. Manny Parra, Tony Cingrani, and Nick Christiani followed Chapman with scoreless appearances.

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Four more runs were scored in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Marlon Byrd RBI single and a three-run home run by Frazier, his fourth of the spring.

Nathan Adcock gave up the first Cubs runs of the day in the fifth on an RBI single from Arismendy Alcantara and a run-scoring groundout from Jorge Soler.

The Cubs added three more runs in the seventh off of Ben Kilmesh. Dexter Fowler led off the inning with a solo shot and two more runs were brought home on a double by Junior Lake, making it an 8-5 game.

Boesch continued his hot hitting as he led off the bottom of the seventh with his fourth homer of the spring to get a run back for the Reds and stretch their lead to four.

Zack Weiss and Kyle McMyne closed the game out for the Reds, firing scoreless eighth and ninth innings.

Other Notes:

• Ivan De Jesus Jr., who is vying for a bench spot, had another nice day, going 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. While I think that Chris Dominguez has the upper hand on the final bench spot, it certainly won’t hurt the Reds to have De Jesus as depth in Triple-A Louisville.
• It was another ugly defensive day for the Reds, as Frazier made two more errors today, bringing his spring total to four.
• After getting off to a hot start this spring, Jay Bruce has really struggled over the last couple of weeks. After his 0-for-3 game today, he now has only two hits in his last 26 at-bats.

Up Next: The Reds travel to Tempe, Arizona on Sunday to take on the Los Angeles Angels at 3:05 p.m. ET. Jason Marquis gets the start for the Reds while Andrew Heaney will oppose him.

Next: Should the Reds trade Brandon Phillips?