Brewers pound DeSclafani in 3rd inning on the way to series split with Reds

Ugh.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

It’s always nice when we’re rewarded with a Vintage Votto day.

Joey Votto’s numbers are way down across the board this season, though he has been pretty good lately. Still, the days of a consistently dominant Joey Votto are probably over, given this is his age 35 season.

Still, he’s still got plenty to provide a team, and today we were treated to it all. For the day, Votto went 3-3 with a walk and a home run. He was the only Red to have consistent success in any facet of the game today. We don’t deserve Joey Votto. We never did. While he’s not as incredible as he used to be, he’s still incredible and you, dear reader, should soak up every single outing like today’s. It won’t last forever.

Honorable mention to Yasiel Puig, who hit twice (with a double) and walked. Robert Stephenson worked out of trouble for a scoreless frame of relief. The same for Matt Bowman, actually.

Key Plays

• Anthony DeSclafani struck out the first six Brewers he faced. That’s pretty solid. The seventh, Travis Shaw, hit one into the upper deck. Not great. It unfortunately got worse, as Disco gave up one out singles to both Ben Gamel and Yasmani Grandal. Christian Yelich doubled to score them both, then Mike Moustakas singled to score Yelich. Ryan Braun struck out for the second out, but Eric Thames walked and Orlando Arcia also singled, scoring Moustakas. Shaw struck out in his second plate appearance of the inning and mercifully the Brewers 3rd inning came to an end. 5-0, Crew.
• Braun doubled in the bottom of the 5th with one out, which chased Disco from the game after only four and third. Zach Duke entered to face Eric Thames, who promptly scored Braun on a sac fly to deep center. Arcia then golfed a pitch into deeper center, over the wall, even. Brewers add on, 7-0.
• The Reds finally got in on some of the action in the 6th. Curt Casali flied out to begin the from, but Jose Peraza and Jesse Winker followed with consecutive singles before Joey Votto honked his seventh wanger of the season. That’s all the damage they’d muster, though. Still Brewers, 7-3.
• With one out in the top of the 9th, Nick Senzel hit a single before scoring on a double by Yasiel Puig. Kyle Farmer flew out to left which allowed Puig to score, but the Reds rally would fall just short. FINAL: MIL 7, CIN 5

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Should they need it, it appears reinforcements are on the way for the Cincinnati Reds. Alex Wood, fresh off a couple of live BP sessions, will start his rehab assignment in Louisville later this week. It’ll be the first time he’s pitched in a game since February. On top of that, Scooter Gennett will move from Daytona to Louisville on Monday, and the expectation is he’ll be back to join the Reds at the start of next Friday’s homestand against the Cubs. Fitting both of them back on the active roster is going to be interesting, to say the least.
• Anthony DeSclafani struck out the first six batters he faced, which tied a club record for strikeouts to begin a game. We’ll just not talk about that 3rd inning. Disco managed nine strikeouts in 4.1 IP, but he allowed eight hits and six earned runs. What a strange, strange line.
• The Reds are off tomorrow, but they’ll be traveling out to Southern California to take on Mike Trout and the Angels in a two game set starting Tuesday.
• Tunes.