Nothing trivial about this rout
The Reds’ 12-0 win over the Cubs certainly qualified as one of the oddest games I’ve seen all year. It was a 1-0 game through six innings.
As I watched Ryan Dempster retire 13 in a row while the Reds had only two hits and one run through six innings, I could see frustrated Reds fans take to Twitter and complain, a lot.
No one was whining after the top of the seventh. It took around 35 minutes and nine runs scored — while only three hits were notched. The Cubs did most of the work for the Reds by allowing six walks, one passed ball and one error.
*The biggest walk was Arroyo’s four-pitch free pass that ended Dempster’s day. That one opened the gates and began the rout.
*Arroyo had only 89 pitches through six innings but the long seventh iced him long enough to have to come out. He, Logan Ondrusek and Micah Owings combined for a two-hit shutout.
“I knew it was probably going to be a close game for a while because Dempster has been throwing the ball good all year,” Arroyo said. “Luckily for me, we got a chance to break it up and give me a kind of a days’ rest where I could take two innings off and get ready for my next one.”
*Joey Votto hit his 19th homer of the season in the eighth. That moved into a tie for the NL lead with Pujols, who plays later tonight.
*It’s hard to believe that on Thursday, the Reds notched 16 hits over 10 innings and scored only three runs. What a country.
*The Reds have won three in a row and nine of the last 11.
Some trivia –
*Five different Reds hitters each had two RBIs.
*Gomes ans Bruce scored twice in the seventh. That hasn’t happened for this team since Felipe Lopez and Sean Casey did it on Aug. 5, 2004 at San Francisco.
*The nine-run seventh was the Reds’ most in a single inning since scoring 10 against Arizona on Aug. 19, 2005.
*The six walks were the most in an inning since August 10, 2005 against the Cubs at Wrigley.
*At the halfway point of 81 games, the Reds are 45-35. This time last year, they were 40-41.
More quotes that didn’t make my MLB.com story –
“We feel good about where we’re at. Everybody is swinging the bat well. Hopefully we’ll get good pitching the rest of the series and continue on in New York and Philly.” — Bronson Arroyo
“We’ve been in games like that with our pitchers. They keep us in the game. Starting pitchers are doing a heck of a job, that’s for sure. If they’ll be patient, we’ll be patient. We’ll come out on the better half in the end.” — Jonny Gomes on the early pitchers’ duel
“We have a tough 81 games to come down the stretch. We just want to finish strong, No. 1, and hopefully pick up a couple of games in the meantime. Every game we win now is one last game on the schedule.” — Dusty Baker
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Mark Sheldon
