Cubs 19-14, -2.5 (2nd)
Reds 13-21, -9.0 (6th)
POTG: SP Z!!! (8 UP, 3 H, 3BB, 3 K, 0 R, QS [6], W [5/87]; H)
Runner Up: LF Soriano (2 H, 2B), SS Ryan Theriot (2 H, R, SB), 2B Cedeno (H, 2 RBI)
Z was dominant tonight. Again, there wasn’t a big strikeout numbers, but the Reds barely got anything going all game. Taking away two runners – Soto easily throwing Griffey out on the failed hit and run and picking Votto off second base – gave Z two easy outs, and the Reds were giving multiple easy at bats by the end
1: 13 (1-5-7)
2: 24 (9-1-6-8)
3: 21 (5-4-6-6)
4: 16 (2-3-9-2)
5: 15 (3-6-2-4) [89 pitches, so a decent effort ends Z after this inning]
6: 10 (2-1-3-4) [99 pitches]
7: 6 (1-3-2) [105 pitches]
8: 8 (5-1-2) [113 pitches]
No wonder Z wanted to go back in the 9th – he could’ve brought it home under 120 if things kept up. (It only took Wood 13 pitches to close it out.) It didn’t occur to me until I mapped that out, but a great way to stop run scoring is to never let more than four people bat in the inning. The Reds were completely held down here.
Quick turn around = good excuse for some guys to take a day off. Kosuke looks like he could use one, and I wonder if they’d give A Ram at least the start of the game off to not over extend him. This’ll be Lieber’s first start of the season, but the Reds are very beatable and it’d be nice to win the last game of a series which they haven’t managed since the Mets.