Cincinnati Reds Wrap-Up Productive Road Trip with Four Wins

Taking four out of seven games will have to do for now.

The Cincinnati Reds dialed up four home-run balls Sunday afternoon against Arizona starting pitcher, Wade Miley, on their way to a thrilling 4-3 win. 33 year-old starter Alfredo “Big Pasta” Simon earned his seventh win of the season, giving up three earned runs over the course of his 6.1 innings pitched. The victory closed out a seven game road trip.

Zack Cozart, Todd Frazier, and Ryan Ludwick all smoked solo shots off of Miley, but the best of the bunch came from Chris Heisey. Heisey, who earned his second RBI of the season as a starter with the homer (his 7th RBI overall this season, second homer), pounded a 447-footer over the center field wall in the fifth inning in what would prove to be the game-winning run.

The Diamondbacks gave chase, even tying the game at 3 with an Ender Inciarte single in the 4th. But in the end, four runs was enough for the Reds, this time.

And when it comes to wins, four was enough for the Reds to fight back into third place in the NL Central. The Reds held a slight edge in runs against their opponents, outscoring them 24-23 on the road trip (Reds outscored D’backs, 15-11 in ARZ series; Dodgers outscored Reds, 12-9). Cincinnati improved as the trip went on, as its first seven innings yielded no hits against Los Angeles pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu. But from the eighth inning of Game One on, the Reds outscored their NL West foes, 24-19. I’m just really hoping the Redlegs can start off more quickly when they come home to face the best team in the National League: the 37-20 San Francisco Giants. They’ll need more than the 3.429 runs per game they averaged on the seven-game road trip, as the Giants have scored 249 runs in 57 games this season (4.368 runs per game).

Jun 1, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Cincinnati Reds left fielder Chris Heisey (28) celebrates a home run with teammates in the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Reds (26-29 so far in 2014) need to find wins in a hurry; this is the first time since 2008 that the Reds have entered June 1st under .500.

Cincinnati is expected to start the series by giving the ball to Homer Bailey (5-3, 5.04 ERA) to duel Tim Lincecum (4-3, 4.18 ERA). Game one of the ten-game home-stand is scheduled to begin Tuesday evening at 7:10 pm.

Also, try to make it down to as many games as you can during this home-stand. The Reds deserve better attendance than they’ve received and we need all the help we can get. Building a home-field advantage is critical to compete in the MLB.

Their attendance rankings (according to baseball-reference.com) in the NL in recent years are as follows:

2013: 10th (90-72 win-loss record)

2012: 10th (97-65)

2011: 10th (79-83)

2010: 12th (91-71)

2009: 14th (78-84)

Do your part to help the Redlegs improve, don’t just complain about them!