Game Recap: Padres Pumble Reds

Friday night’s 6-2 loss to the San Diego Padres may not have been what the Cincinnati Reds were looking for, but they found something else that was encouraging.

It was the first start in the career for Jon Moscot Friday night. Many were skeptical for what this night would turn out to be for the rookie, but for others, myself included, it was more about seeing what the Reds actually have in the minors waiting for us in the future.

Moscot got off to a rough start in this game. He allowed four earned runs through the first three innings. While that may sound bad, it is one of those stories in which the stats lie to us. The first inning was by far the worst, and even at that it was still a solid inning.

The 40 pitch effort was filled with the phrase’s, “look at that” and “can you believe that” protruding from my living room. The couch coach inside of me was infuriated with the outcome from Moscot’s performance. Yes he was wild and walked in a run, but the only two base hits in the inning were very weak ground balls that found holes. Couple the bases loaded walk from Yonder Alonso and a sacrifice fly, and you have your two runs.

Moscot would be tagged with solo homeruns in the next two innings and then something beautiful happened. The rookie was able to find a grove and retired the next seven in a row and did not give up another run. His nighted ended after the fifth inning. He was able to collect himself and show that he can pitch at this level. He collected his thoughts and “cleared the mechanism”.

At this point is was 4-0 and with base loaded for Joey Votto, Votto slashed a single into Left Center Field for a 2-run single to bring the Reds closer; however, that is as close as the Reds would get. The Padres would tack on two more runs off Burke Badenhop and Pedro Villarreal to take the score to 6-0 for which it would stay.