Cincinnati Reds Light Up Scoreboard, Complete Sweep of Phillies

Three straight wins to open the season. Enjoy the moment, Reds fans.

Unlike the previous two games, the Reds didn’t have to stage a last-inning comeback on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park, as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-6, to complete the three game sweep and give Robert Stephenson the win in his major league debut.

Eight is great

It looked as if Charlie Morton would have another dominant pitching performance as he has in years past against the Reds, but Cincinnati was able to explode for eight runs in the fourth inning. The Reds were down 2-1 entering the home half of the fourth. When it ended, the Reds had sent 13 batters to the plate in a 35-minute half inning. It started with back-to-back walks from Joey Votto and Adam Duvall. Bruce and Suarez both hit home runs in the inning, a three-run shot for Bruce and a grand slam for Suarez, his second home run in as many games. Suarez finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a run scored. In total, there were four walks, four singles, two home runs, a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base. The only player who did not contribute in the fourth was Jordan Pacheco, who flied out twice.

Bruce finds his groove

Bruce had a really good spring training at the plate, hitting .286 with 16 hits and 11 RBI. Through the first week of the season, he continues to hit the way he hit in Goodyear. On Thursday, it was one of those games that makes Reds fans wonder if he can sustain this success over a period of weeks or even months. Bruce started the game with a rare error in right field that allowed a run to score. However, he made up for that in a big way at the plate, as he went 3-for-4 with two home runs (his 18th career multi-HR game) and five RBI.

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Stephenson’s debut

Because the offense exploded for 10 runs, it seemed to put Stephenson’s debut on the back burner. That was likely due in part to it being a so-so debut for Stephenson, even though he got his first major league win. He had flashes of brilliance during certain at-bats, but still gave up six hits and three earned runs (one run was unearned), including two home runs, in five innings. Stephenson also walked two and struck out only one. His first strikeout came against Odubel Herrera in the third as Stephenson got him to swing at a high fastball after an extended at-bat.

Stephenson was throwing strikes and pitching to contact (57 of his 87 pitches were for strikes), but he didn’t throw his off speed pitches very often and the Phillies were jumping on the pitches he did throw. Carlos Ruiz crushed a double on an elevated fastball in the second inning. When Stephenson did throw the off speed stuff, it was nasty. He got Maikel Franco to swing at a nasty curve ball in the first that looked like it could have broken Franco’s wrist.

Notes:

Scott Schebler got his first start of the season in center field and went 2-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored. It’s far too early to make any assumptions about the Frazier trade, but currently it’s working out well for the Reds so far.
Aside from some shakiness by Keyvius Sampson (1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 SO), the bullpen of Jumbo Diaz, Tony Cingrani and Ross Ohlendorf got the job done again. The real test for the bullpen happens over the next week when the Reds face three NL Central teams.
In his first start of the season, Tucker Barnhart went 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. If he can continue that success, it will be a good sign for the Reds catching tandem.
Brandon Phillips was absent from the lineup for the second game in a row due to a stomach virus.

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