Around the NL Central: Everyone's a Winner!
The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies in a thrilling extra-innings affair on Monday. Here’s a look at the rest of the National League Central:
1. Pittsburgh Pirates (5-0)
The Pirates scored five runs in the final two innings to spoil the Washington Nationals home opener on Monday by a score of 8-4. Marco Gonzales pitched five strong innings while six Pirates had multi-hit games.
Gonzales pitched five innings, allowing just one run. He struck out two and walked two. He got the no-decision thanks to a lackluster performance from the Bucks bullpen. Roansy Contreras pitched two innings, allowing a pair of runs followed by Ryder Ryan who pitched an 1 2/3 innings, allowing a run. Aroldis Chapman came on for the final out and recorded the save.
The Pirates lineup was the star of the show. Connor Joe, Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen, Henry Davis, Michael A. Taylor, and Alina Williams all had multi-hit games. Taylor had three singles with two runs scored and one RBI. Taylor’s season batting average improved to .471. Both Joe and Reynolds had multiple RBI.
The Pirates are off today and will resume their series with the Nationals on Wednesday.
2. Milwaukee Brewers (3-0)
The Brewers were off Monday.
The Brewers next series is against the Minnesota Twins.
3. Reds (3-1)
4. Chicago Cubs (2-2)
The Cubs shut out the Colorado Rockies 5-0. Shota Imanaga pitched brilliantly in his debut while Chicago took advantage of putrid fielding by Colorado and scored multiple unearned runs.
Imanaga tossed six shutout innings with nine strikeouts. He allowed just two hits, both singles, and nothing else. Yency Almonte and Drew Smyly were the two relief pitchers who finished off the game with Smyly pitching two innings.
The Cubs lineup didn’t have a particularly dominant day, despite the nine total hits. All nine hits were singles and only Cody Ballinger recorded any RBI. They did come with two outs in the 7th. The Cubs first three runs all came on a pair of errors on the same play by Rockies left fielder Nolan Jones.
The Cubs and Rockies are set to play ball at 7:40 PM ET Tuesday night. The Cubs will send Javier Assad to the mound while the Rockies will counter with Kyle Freeland.
5. St Louis Cardinals (2-3)
The Cardinals got back in the win column with a 6-2 win over the Padres. Kyle Gibson did exactly what the Cardinals signed him to do while Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan each hit a two-run dinger.
Gibson tossed seven innings allowing the Padres two runs. He struck out four while walking two and allowing four hits. Jojo Romero and Ryan Helsley pitched the final two innings allowing just one hit and nothing else.
Contreras and Donovan provided the bulk of the scoring with their homers. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado added one RBI each. St. Louis scored four runs in the first two innings and never looked back.
Miles Mikolas will start game two of the Cardinals series against You Darvish for the Padres.
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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.