Reds avoid Cardinals sweep

[Box Score]

[Cincinnati.com]

I didn’t get to see the first business day special of the year, because I was doing business. The Reds avoided getting swept by their division rivals after getting in a 3-0 hole thanks to a Jon Jay home run off Johnny Cueto.

Cueto didn’t have his best stuff it seemed, but he kept the Reds in the game over the course of five toughly contested innings. He did play the role of stopper, not allowing anything beyond the three runs the Cardinals were able to muster early against him.

I knew this type of game was coming from Joey Votto. Call it the first signature game of the Votto $225 million dollar contract era, but Votto doubled a couple of times and singled a couple of times, and his average rose to the mid-.300’s. What’s crazy to think about is if he’s going right his average won’t dip below .300 again this season.

It seemed that Votto and Wilson Valdez, Zach Cozart and Drew Stubbs willed the Reds back into this one; along with phenomenal efforts in the bullpen from Jose Arredondo and Aroldis Chapman.

The Reds evened their record at 3-3 after six games, two behind St. Louis and one behind Milwaukee. There’s a long ways to go but things could have been a lot worse on the first homestand.

The Reds now head to Washington for another afternoon delight today followed by three more on the Weekend with the Nationals. The best news is probably that the Reds will miss Stephen Strasburg’s turn in the rotation.

Highlights

Chapman’s dominating appearance

Heisey’s walk-off single