Reds Split Day, Night Double-Header With Cubs

Johnny Cueto continues to impress

The Cincinnati Reds (73-48) played a rare double header on Saturday. The day started of strong with a 5-3 win behind another solid performance by Johnny Cueto but slipped up in the nightcap in a 9-7 loss. Despite the loss it was still a positive day on the diamond for Reds fans. It is encouraging to see the team doing so well despite some obstacles. The team continues to play without Joey Votto and Todd Redmond made a spot start for his first in the major leagues. However, With the split the Cincinnati Reds were still able to gain a 1/2 game over the rest of the Central Division, stretching there lead to 6.5 games. Here is a quick recap of both games.

Game 1

The Good 
-Johnny Cueto continues to dominate. He pitched 8 innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 runs while striking out 8. He know has 16 wins on the season matching the league high. Cueto is also a perfect 11-0 in day games and has given up 2 runs or less in 20 of his 24 starts
- Xavier Paul (1st of season), Todd Frasier (17) and Miguel Cairo (1) all hit home-runs.
-Aroldis Chapman picked up his 29th save of the season. He made it interesting by allowing a run but got the job done with 2 strikeouts

The Bad
-Brandon Phillips went 0-4
-Zach Cozart, Chris Heisey, and Jay Bruce struck out 2 times a piece.
-The team went 0-7 with RISP
-They also left 7 runners on base

The Notables 
-Johnny Cueto and and Todd Frazier are putting up impressive stats. Is it possible we could see a Cy Young or Rookie of the Year be awarded to them at the end of the year?
-Despite being a make-up game, the match up drew a rather large crowd. The paid attendance was announced at 28,754

Game 2

Ryan Ludwick continues to stay hot

The Good

- It was very encouraging to see the team not give up after falling behind early. It would be understandable that after the morning win, they would just let it go. The team showed something in there comeback attempt despite the loss.

 -Brother Ryan Ludwick continues to stay hot. He has really stepped up recently.  He had 2 hits, a walk, 3 RBI and 3 runs. That's right. He accounted for 6 of the teams 7 runs. 

-Ludwick had 2 home runs giving him 25 on the season

-Jay Bruce had 2 hits and scored 2 runs.

-Chris Heisey had a pinch hit RBI

The Bad

-Todd Redmond made his first start and lasted 3.1 innings. He struggled to find the strike zone walking 5 and giving up 7 hits and 4 runs.

-The typically strong bullpen struggled in the evening. 

-Sam LeCure  gave up 3 hits and 3 runs in relief

-Logan Ondrusek gave up a home-run in his 1 inning of work

The Notables 

- The stadium was sold out drawing a crowd of 41,236. This afternoons game is expected to be another sellout, which would set the record for most sellouts in a season at Great American Ballpark. The large crowds have been noticed by the players. Brandon Phillips tweeted about it last night.

-The Reds look to Mat Latos (10-3) this afternoon to help win the series against Chris Volstad (0-9) and the Chicago Cubs