Reds End Road Skid, As Cingrani Shines.
By Jesse Mapati
For the first time since a win in St. Louis on April 8th, the Cincinnati Reds finally won a road game as they salvage a win in the series finale vs the Nationals in a 5-2 win on Sunday afternoon in Washington.
Rookie pitcher Tony Cingrani continues to pitch well in the majors as he went 6 innings allowed 2 hits, 1 walk and striking out 11. In his first three starts since being called up Cingrani has 26 strikeouts to only 3 walks, he is definitely putting the pressure on Reds 5th starter Mike Leake, once Cueto is back and healthy Dusty Baker will have a tough decision ahead of him.
The fourth inning history was made in a Reds context, Cingrani became the fifth Reds pitcher to strike out four batters in one inning when he strick out notable players from the Nationals Denard Span, Bryce Harper, and Adam LaRoche simply amazing by the young phenomenon.
The bats for the Reds woke up early in the 1st when Zack Cozart singled and Joey Votto doubled in the 1st putting them on 2nd and 3rd with one out as Brandon Phillips singled in both of them as the Reds grab a early 2-0 lead.
The Reds loaded the bases loaded with one in already in the 3rd inning and trying to add more but Phillips lined into a double play to end the threat, they added one more in the fourth with Cozart beating out a groundball with two outs that lead to a run and a 4-0 lead.
First trouble inning was in the fourth for Cingrani as he struck out Span, but reached on first base via wild pitch. After he struck out Harper, he then walked Jason Werth to load the bases with one out. But Tony wasn’t phase struck out 2 to get out of the inning while throwing nothing but fastballs.
They added another run the Reds in the eighth to up the lead to 5-1, Nationals came back with a run in the bottom inning. Chapman came in the ninth walked the first batter then he got 2 popouts and a strike out to end the game and earned his 5th save of the year.
With a win the Reds end a 8 game road losing streak and will head to Busch Staduim for the second time in 2 weeks to start a 3 game series Tomorrow night with a great pitching matchup in stored as Mat Latos goes for the Redlegs and will be opposed by Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright. First pitch from Busch Staduim in St Loius is at 8:15pm.
Go Reds!