Reds Recap: De Jesus Powers Past Phillies

For just the second time in a matter of weeks, the Cincinnati Reds have won 2-in-a-row after their 6-4 Monday victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. What was also historic about this event you may ask? Well I for one am glad you did. This was the first time in the career of Cole Hamels that the Reds have been able to best him. 15 times to be exact. It was also the night that Ivan De Jesus Jr. would hit his first Major League homerun.

Game Summary:

The top of the first inning was not a great one for Reds Pitcher Mike Leake. After a Ben Revere double, Ryan Howard would drive him in on a double of his own. The Phillies had struck first, 1-0. The half inning would end there.

The bottom of the first is where the Reds thrived on their revenge. Brandon Phillips would lead off with a single. Joey Votto would then do what he does best, walk. Then Todd Frazier would single in Phillips from second base to the tie the game. Unfortunately for the Reds, the inning would end there on three consecutive unproductive outs.

But fear ye not! It was time for Billy Ball in the second inning. Billy Hamilton would single into Right Field to start the inning. Then he would advance to second via the stolen base, and again to third through the same means of thievery. Then it got, well… different to say the least. On what was called ball four, Carlos Ruiz believed that Phillips swung through the the pitch, thus throwing his believed dropped third strike onto first base to record the out. However, once Ruiz let go of the throw, Hamilton recognized that it was still just a walk and decided to make a run at the plate. The Phillies could not react in time, and thus Hamilton advanced to home on a fielder’s choice. No, sadly it was not a stolen base of home.

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That would be the end of the threat in the second, but the Reds continued to tack on in the third inning. Frazier again would single, but this time to lead off the inning. After a Jay Bruce strikeout Zack Cozart would double in Fraizer to bring to score to 3-1 Cincinnati. The lead would be short lived however when Philadelphia would strike back with two runs of its own. Maikel Franco doubled to lead off the inning and Cody Asche would single. Lucky for the Reds, Freddy Galvis hit into a fielder’s choice with Franco being the casualty at the plate. Then following a passed ball by Tucker Barnhart, Ruiz would single in Asche and Galvis to tie the game at three.

After that, it was all Reds. Zack Cozart and Ivan De Jesus Jr. broke the tie when De Jesus launched his first ever Major League homerun to deep Left Field. Following that, Cozart would add some insurance by playing longball himself, launching his eighth Bazooka Blast of the season to deep Left Field. If are you following along like the mathematician that you are, this made the score 6-3 good guys.

Aroldis Chapman would come in the ninth. Following a walk and a couple very wild pitches the Phillies would scrape across one run, but that was it as Chase Utley was blown away for the 27th out. Reds Wn!