Reds Salvage Series Win over Dodgers

The Reds have put me in a good mood on this Friday. Sure we’re still under .500 and it’s been increasingly tough for this team to string together some victories; but the Reds got their second series win of the year over a Dodgers team who many thought had a shot at going deep in the playoffs. The Reds had to hit in this series, because the Dodgers showed up and put runs on the board.
If you follow us on twitter, you saw the stats. Jay Bruce’s numbers since April the 12th: .278/.357/.611, which equates out to a .968 OPS.
Bruce’s two-run homer that gave the Reds a 4-3 lead in the 6th inning literally brought us to our feet in our living room. Not just the fact that it was a homer, but Padilla pitched him really tough in his first two plate appearances; striking him out twice. One of those 6 strikes in his first two at-bats was a slow ball that Bruce took for a strike. In the 6th, Padilla tried to get cute again. And in the 6th, Bruce displayed discipline and hit a laser off the back screen of the visiting bullpen in right-field. There are homers, and then there’s shitting on a guy. Bruce shit all over Vicente Padilla in his third at-bat.
Bruce was not alone in helping out the Reds offensive uprising. Orlando Cabrera and Ryan Hanigan had three hits. Drew Stubbs had two hits and every other starter had at least one.
Finally, the Reds get a win out of a starting pitcher, their first in sixteen games. Mike Leake got the first win of his big league career going seven innings allowing 5 earned on 8 hits and walking one. Francisco Cordero got save number six.
The Reds host another AL West team this weekend in San Diego. San Diego is 9-6 thus far on the season and in first place. It would be nice to see the Reds have a big weekend, because even with all of the struggles a sweep could provide the fans with a lot of hope. They’re bound to get a big time pitching performance one of these games on the weekend. On the days they do not, the bats need to swing it like they did in this win against the Dodgers.