Cincinnati Reds News: Matt Harvey solid, Tucker Barnhart delivers late

Good Sunday morning Reds Country. The Cincinnati Reds are happy to be home. So far, they’ve won two straight over the Arizona Diamondbacks and are looking for their third win today.

The Cincinnati Reds had a horrendous road trip. They went 2-7 before returning home on Friday to face the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Reds got a great outing from Anthony DeSclafani to take down Arizona 3-0 on Friday. Matt Harvey gave the Reds an equally impressive start on Saturday night, and Tucker Barnhart came up clutch in the eighth inning.

Harvey solid through 7 innings. Matt Harvey pitched a gem on Saturday night at Great American Ball Park. The right-hander, acquired from the New York Mets back in May, pitched seven solid innings last night against the D-backs.

Harvey went 7 innings, allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts. Harvey even helped his case with an RBI single in the second inning, his first hit as a member of the Reds. Harvey exited in the bottom of the seventh inning and was replaced on the mound by reliever David Hernandez.

Hernandez uncharacteristically allowed a home run and a double during his 0.2 innings of work and gave way to Amir Garrett after allowing the Diamondbacks to take a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning.

Barnhart comes up clutch. On a 3-2 count with 2 outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Reds trailing 2-3, Tucker Barnhart came up huge. The Reds starting catcher, who had the evening off behind the plate, stepped in against Arizona’s Archie Bradley and sent a rocket to left-center field scoring Eugenio Suarez and Curt Casali. The Reds took a 4-3 lead and Raisel Iglesias closed the door in the ninth.

Barnhart, who’s known more for his defense behind the plate, has been hitting below his career average this season. He’s hitting only .179 with a .281 on-base percentage in his last 10 games with only 5 hits in his last 28 at-bats. His 2 RBIs Saturday is 1 more than he had during the entire Reds’ road trip.

D-backs pitch around Peraza to get to Votto. Okay, I don’t know what scouting report Torey Luvollo was reading last night, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s now in the trash. With Billy Hamilton on base in the bottom of the eighth inning and Arizona trailing 3-5, the D-backs intentionally walked Jose Peraza to get to Joey Votto. Big mistake!

Votto sent the first pitch he saw to the left side of the infield into left and Hamilton scored all the way from second base. The plan backfired and the Reds took a 6-3 lead into the ninth inning. Votto was 2-for-8 (.250) in his career against Bradley, while Peraza was 0-for-2.

Votto has been dealing with a nagging knee injury, but he’s still hitting .325 over the last 10 games. Peraza was only 10-of-45 during that same span. The decision is curious at best, but it worked in the Reds’ favor, so there are no complaints here.

The Cincinnati Reds will go for the series sweep this afternoon when Luis Castillo takes the mound against Arizona’s Zack Godley. Godley has pitched well of late, with a 1-0 record, 23 strikeouts and a 2.70 ERA in his last 3 starts. Castillo has been impressive in his own right, going 1-1 over his last 3 starts. He struck out 17 and had a 1.53 ERA during those three games.