A few near certainties held tonight against Cincinnati:
Roy Oswalt dominated the Reds, scattering six hits over seven innings while allowing just one run
Lance Berkman did his part, delivering a solo home run in the sixth for the first run of the game
Johnny Cueto, to his credit, took the Reds and their recent struggles against the Astros at the GABP on his back, and delivered a similar line to that of Oswalt: seven innings, one run.
What had been a pitcher's deul was broken up in the top half of the ninth when Carlos Lee led off the inning with a dying quail into right field. Miguel Tejada followed with a smash single through the SS-3B hole to put two on for Hunter Pence.
Taking a page out of hitting coach Sean Berry's playbook, Pence crushed an opposite field double into right field, scoring both baserunners. Reds right fielder Jay Bruce fumbled the ball in the outfield, allowing Hunter to take third. Geoff Blum scored him with a sac fly, putting the Astros up 4-1.
Chris Sampson pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings for the victory.
Box Score and more, here.
0 recs | 12 comments
Chris Sampson converted his first save of his career
My hope is that the organization takes note of the fact that it’s not necessary to pay beaucoup dollars for a guy to get three outs in the ninth. A luxury, but not a necessity. Of course, we’ll have to see how this experiment plays out until Valverde returns to action—healthy.
Stephen Higdon - April 27, 2009
Ehhhhh
I just now realized that Sampson got the W not the SV…
Stephen Higdon - April 28, 2009
Three runs on Coco
How did he look?
ol Pete - April 27, 2009
he looked decent
may have left more pitches up in the zone than he would have liked:
http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/index.php?month=4&day=27&year=2009&game=gid_2009_04_27_houmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&pitchSel=150188.xml&prevGame=gid_2009_04_27_houmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&prevDate=427
but then again, im not that familiar with how he usually operates..he did throw strikes, fwiw
Evan Hochschild - April 27, 2009
Looks like you’re right. His modus operandi is to work the outside corner on fastballs and send sliders toward the same spot till they break away. Impressive nonetheless.
ol Pete - April 27, 2009
ahhhh
hopefully hoffman will fare better for yall than cordero did tonight against us!
Evan Hochschild - April 27, 2009
as best I could tell, his velocity was the usual.
his control was OK…it’s not like he was walking guys. He had a bit of bad luck, with a bloop hit by Lee, and then Jay Bruce misplayed Pence’s double, allowing him to advance to 3d, which allowed Blum to get a sac fly. But three Astros in a row hit the ball hard, Tejada, Pence, and Blum.
clack - April 27, 2009
I love the Red Reporters' headline on the recap....
“I believe Oswalt Acted Alone.” At least no “grassy knoll” reference.
clack - April 27, 2009
Classy
Stephen Higdon - April 27, 2009
comment I liked from said thread:
Only_A_Lad - April 27, 2009
If I were a Reds fan looking at that graph i'd say
the bottom fell out in the ninth inning.
Joe in Birmingham - April 28, 2009
I liked this line on Reds Reporter
“Someone needs to dress Osama bin Laden up in a Reds jersey and send Roy Oswalt after him. "
Joe in Birmingham - April 28, 2009
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