Friday night, the Cubs and Reds met in game 1 of a 3-game season at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The two teams sat at the bottom of the NL Central coming into Friday’s game.
Cincinnati came into Friday’s game with an 11-13 record which was good for 4th in the NL Central. They are coming into this series against the Cubs after splitting 2 of 3 with the Dodgers in Los Angeles earlier this week. The Reds would go with Wade Milley on the mound on Friday.
Chicago came into Friday’s game at 11-14 on the year, just half a game behind the Reds in the NL Central. The Cubs were able to snap their 5-game losing streak on Thursday when they beat the Braves 9-3 in Atlanta. They would look to continue their momentum on Friday in Cincinnati. They would look to Jake Arrieta on the mound.
Offensive Explosion in Cincy
The bottom two teams in the NL Central put on a show Friday night at Great American Ball Park. The offense was not at a premium, and they had the scoreboard lighting up early and often.
The scoring started in the top of the first as Cub’s star Kris Bryant hit a homer to deep right field to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead. They extended their lead to 2-0 in the 2nd when Nico Hoerner drove in Matt Duffy.
The Reds started lighting the scoreboard up in the 3rd inning. Nick Castellanos hit into a fielder’s choice, which brought in Wade Milley to make the score 2-1. Joey Votto then hit a 429-foot homer to deep right field, which also drove in Castellanos and gave the Reds a 3-2 lead. The 429-foot home run was the 300th of Votto’s storied career.
Momentum stayed in the Reds corner in the 4th inning. Eugino Suarez opened the inning with a 423-foot home run to dead center and made the score 4-2. Nick Senzel then hit a 360-foot home run, which also brought Tyler Naquin in and extended the Red’s lead to 6-2. Joey Votto continued his hot start in the 4th inning. Votto doubled to bring in Wade Milley and extend the lead to 7-2.
Jesse Winker hit into a fielder’s choice that drove in Kyler Farmer in the 6th inning to give the Reds an 8-2 lead after 6.
Neither starting pitcher would make it past 5 innings. Arrieta went just 3 and a third innings, allowing 7 hits, 7 runs and striking out 2 for the Cubs. Miley went 5 innings allowing 5 hits, 2 runs and struck out 3 for the Reds.
Late Game Drama
After 6 innings it may have seemed as if the Reds were going to walk away with a victory as they held a 6-run advantage. The Cubs didn’t want to make it easy.
Kris Bryant recorded his 2nd RBI of the day in the 7th when he drove in Eric Sogard after hitting a double to left. Javier Baez drove in Kris Bryant later that inning to cut the Red’s lead down to 8-4.
The 8th inning was quiet for both teams.
In the 9th inning the Cubs found themselves down 4 runs and in dire need of a rally if they wanted to win. The rally started when Baez hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Sogard and cut the lead to 8-5. Then with the bases loaded and two outs Jake Marisnick drew a walk which brought Tony Walters in to score and cut the lead to 8-6.
The Reds brought Tejay Antone into pitch after the bases loaded walk needing just 1 out to secure the win. Antone was able notch his first career save by getting David Bote to ground out to end the game.
What’s Next?
With the win the Reds are now 12-13 on the year and are now tied for 3rd in the NL Central with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
After the loss the Cubs fall to 11-15 and sit at the bottom of the NL Central.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday for game 2 of their 3 game weekend series. Zach Davies will be the man on the mound for the Cubs. The Reds will look to Luis Castillo on the mound on Saturday afternoon.
