Around the National League Central: Home Run Heaven
The Cincinnati Reds fell to Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night. While the Pirates were off, everyone else in the National League Central won.
1. Pittsburgh Pirates (5-0)
The Pittsburgh Pirates were off on Tuesday.
The Pirates and the Washington Nationals continue their series Wednesday night. Mitch Keller is set to make his second start of the season up against Trevor Williams.
2. Milwaukee Brewers (4-0)
The Brewers shut down the Minnesota Twins lineup on Tuesday and won 3-2. Their success was more of a team effort from the pitching staff than any one guy standing out.
Jakob Junis started the game and tossed four innings. He allowed one run on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts. He didn’t qualify for the win, thanks to the archaic guidelines for starting pitchers. Elvis Peguero followed him out of the bullpen and pitched two innings, allowing one unearned run, and getting the win. Hoby Millner, Joel Payamps, and Abner Uribe pitched the final three innings allowing just two walks, combined.
Jackson Chourio got the scoring started off with a bases-loaded single in the second inning. Brice Tourang then had an RBI-double in the second and Christian Yelich launched a mammoth homer to straightaway centerfield to complete the scoring for Milwaukee.
The Brewers send Joe Ross to the mound to face Chris Paddack for the Minnesota Twins.
3. Reds (3-2)
4. Chicago Cubs (3-2)
The Cubs became the second team to score at will against Colorado Rockies starter Kyle Freeland while the pitching kept things tidy.
Chicago scored in every inning but the 4th and eighth. Seiya Suzuki, Christopher Morel, Garrett Cooper, and Cody Ballinger all went deep in this game. In fact, only Nico Hoerner and catcher Miguel Amaya failed to record a hit. The Cubs totaled 14 hits and seven walks.
On the pitching side, Javier Assad tossed six scoreless with just four hits and one walk while striking out five. Jose Cuas then allowed two runs in two innings before Luke Little finished the game with a scoreless inning.
The Cubs list their probable starter as Little, but he finished last night’s game so I have to believe it will either be as an opener or it will change altogether. The Colorado Rockies will counter with Cal Quantrill.
5. St Louis Cardinals (3-3)
The Cardinals scored four runs in the final four innings to beat the San Diego Padres 5-2. Willson Contreras homered while Miles Mikolas had a bounce back start.
Most of the game was a pitcher’s duel between Mikolas and Padres starter Yu Darvish. Mikolas held San Diego to two runs in six innings while Darvish let up just three runs in seven to St. Louis. In the seventh inning, the Padres brought in Yuki Matsui who loaded the bases without recording an out before being pulled. Former Red Wandy Peralta then came in and allowed two inherited runs to score.
Contreras’ long ball was the go-ahead hit for the Cardinals. It came with two outs in the sixth inning. At the time the Cardinals trailed 2-1. A key double play in the bottom of the seventh, Andrew Kittredge, and Ryan Hensley then shut down any comeback attempt.
The Cardinals will send Zack Thompson to the mound to face Joe Musgrove from the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
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JEFF CARR
Jeff has hosted the only daily podcast covering the Cincinnati Reds since 2018. He’s been a life long fan of the Reds. He was at Clinchmas and the 2015 Home Run Derby. He is also the channel manager that supports all MLB podcasts on the Locked On Podcast Network. Jeff has extensive media experience as he covered college basketball and volleyball for Tennessee State and college softball for Mercer University.