KSReds: Cincinnati Reds SWEEP the Pittsburgh Pirates

On3 imageby:Brandon Ramsey•08/08/21•

BRamseyKSR

via Twitter (@Reds)

Get the brooms out. The Cincinnati Reds finished off a four game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 win while honoring the late, great Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. The Reds are now 10 games above .500 at 61-51 on the season having won 10 of their last 12 including five straight.

After exploding for 28 runs over the first three wins of the series, the Reds had to battle it out in a pitcher’s duel to earn the sweep. Tyler Mahle was up for the task putting together one of his best performances of the season allowing two runs on six hits over seven innings. Most impressively, Mahle struck out 10 batters while walking no one. The 26-year old right-hander is now 9-3 on the season with a 3.78 earned run average.

Reds fans will be scoreboard watching for the rest of the day on Sunday as the Brewers play the Giants and the Padres take on the Diamondbacks. Pending the outcomes of those games, Cincinnati is currently two games out of the wild card and five and a half games behind the Brewers in the National League Central.

After winning five straight games at Great American Ball Park this week, the Redlegs hit the road for stops in Cleveland, Atlanta, and Philadelphia this coming week. Monday night’s game is a makeup from a May 9th rainout. Luis Castillo will take the ball at 6:10 p.m. Eastern Time for the stand alone game against the Indians. They then will move on to Atlanta for three games before wrapping up the road trip with a three game set with the Phillies.

Offensive Explosion

On Thursday night the Reds came out of the gates hot scoring seven runs via three home runs that would prove to be all they would need. Future National League Rookie of the Year Jonathan India started things off with a leadoff home run. Then, in the bottom of the second inning, both Eugenio Suarez and Joey Votto hit three run home runs to blow the game wide open.

The Reds offense put the game out of reach even earlier on Friday by throwing up a seven spot up on the board in the first inning. Mike Moustakas, making his return from the Injured List, struck first with a two RBI double. Kyle Farmer followed with a two RBI single and Tucker Barnhart would cap it all off with a three run blast into the right field seats. Moustakas was 3-4 with three doubles in his triumphant return leading Cincinnati to a 10-0 victory.

It took a little longer on Saturday evening, but the Reds still got a crooked number up on the scoreboard in the third inning with back-to-back-to-back RBI from Jesse Winker, Nick Castellanos, and Joey Votto. Each of those three sluggers would add home runs later on in the game as Cincy pulled away for an 11-3 win. Winker was the story of the game driving in six runs to take the team lead with 67. He was 3-5 at the plate with a double and home run.

As was mentioned in the introduction, the bats weren’t as hot on Sunday afternoon at GABP, but with the performance on the mound by Tyler Mahle it wasn’t necessary. The Reds did all their work in the fourth inning with Votto getting things started with a RBI single off of the right-centerfield wall to tie the game at one a piece. Tyler Stephenson then gave the Reds the lead with a RBI fielder’s choice. Kyle Farmer would come through to cap off his fantastic series with a double that would bring Stephenson around to score. Michael Lorenzen and Mychael Givens would slam the door shut in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the 3-2 win and complete the sweep.

Reds Have Their Shortstop

After batting just .210 in the month of June, the Reds shortstop has been absolutely on fire in July and August. Farmer has four three-hit games in his last 12 and is batting .376 since the beginning of July. Arguably the biggest storyline coming into the season, and the recently past trade deadline, was how the Reds needed a shortstop. Based on his play the last five or so week it appears that the position is no longer an issue.

Rookie of the Year-Jonathan India

Sticking with the middle infield, rookie Jonathan India just keeps getting better and better. He was insanely hot through the first week of the season but then came back down to Earth over the rest of April and May. His batting averaged dropped to .230 entering June with an on-base percentage of .333.

Now, India is batting .283 with an outstanding .402 on-base percentage. In the month of July the rookie second baseman hit .319 with a .470 on-base percentage. Only twice did he fail to reach base safely in July and one instance was a pinch-hit situation against Kansas City. That is truly ridiculous production from a rookie.

@BRamseyKSR

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2024-04-17