Cincinnati Reds: Early offense powered series win over Chicago Cubs

The Cincinnati Reds laid the wood to the Chicago Cubs with two wins in a three-game series at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.

The Cincinnati Reds lit up the Chicago Cubs during their three-game stint in the Windy City. The offense, which had been stagnant to begin the 2019 season, finally came to life over the course of an entire series. Nick Senzel, Joey Votto, Eugenio Suárez, and Yasiel Puig contributed early and often to help lead the Reds to their second straight series victory over the Cubs.

Let’s take a minute to give some credit to Tanner Roark who pitched is best game of the season on Sunday. The veteran right-hander went 5 innings, allowing 6 hits, no runs, and racked up 9 strikeouts on 102 total pitches.

Now, onto the offense. What a game, and what a series, the Cincinnati Reds strung together against the Cubbies. The Reds racked up 42 total hits during the 3-game series and scored 22 runs. This offensive outburst was against the NL Central Division leaders. The Reds have now won 4 of 6 against the Cubs on the season.

The Reds saw their bats finally wake up and the big boys were leading the way. Joey Votto, who’s been a punching bag throughout Reds Country of late, got off the schneid. Votto was 7-for-13 (.538) in the series with 4 runs scored, an RBI, and a walk. His most impressive stat, however, was the one strikeout after falling victim to the dreaded punch out 48 times this season.

Nick Senzel did a fabulous job setting the table for the Reds’ offense. Senzel has hit leadoff for almost every game since being called up to Cincinnati. Senzel went 5-for-15 (.333) in the series and scored 4 runs in Sunday’s game.

Eugenio Suárez was, no doubt, the offensive star of the series for the Redlegs. The power-hitting right-hander dominated the Cubs’ pitching staff throughout the series, with an eighth inning bomb on Friday setting things in motion for a Reds’ comeback victory.

Suárez took no prisoners this weekend as the Reds’ third baseman went 7-for-13 (.538) with 1 homer, 6 RBIs, and no strikeouts. Geno leads the Reds in punch outs this season, so it was nice to see him refrain from a few whiffs throughout the three-game set.

Finally, Yasiel Puig is showing signs of getting his bat going in the right direction as well. The former Dodger went 5-for-14 (.357) with home runs in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday. Puig added 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored during the series.

If these same bats show up in the Reds’ next series against the Pirates, then the whole city of Cincinnati will come unglued. Reds’ fans have been waiting for this type of offensive production from this team all season. If the Cincinnati Reds can string together 10-plus games with their offense clicking like this, they’re going to win a lot of games.