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Now that’s what I call pitching!

Johnny Cueto threw a beautiful game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, tonight, providing a glimmer of hope that his pitch-inefficient days may be behind him. It took Cueto 102 pitches to get through all 9 innings. He allowed 0 runs, just 1 hit, 0 walks, and struck out 8. It was beyond awesome, and I hope he can pitch like that more often than not in the future.

The game was close through the first 6 innings. The Reds took an early lead, thanks to a sacrifice fly from Joey Votto and an RBI double from Scott Rolen.

The Reds really broke it open once they got to the Pirates bullpen, with 2 runs in the 7th and 4 in the 8th. Joey Votto may have had his hitting streak snapped in the first game against Pittsburgh, but he hasn’t slowed down. In addition to his sacrificial fly, he also collected 2 hits, another RBI, and scored twice. Rookie Chris Heisey also had an outstanding game, collecting his first hit and his first home run. He had a 3-4 day at the plate.

It sure is nice to see the Reds playing so well lately. They’re now 18-15, 3 games over .500 for the first time all season. And with how good the starting pitching has been lately, they may have a chance against St. Louis this weekend.

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Aroldis Chapman and the Louisville Bats came to Indianapolis tonight to face the Indians. There were definitely more Cincinnati Reds fans in attendance than when I last visited on Monday.

Chapman was effectively wild. His raw talent was amazing, routinely hitting the high 90s on the scoreboard pitch speed. His change-up was in the low 80s. That’s a nice speed differential. However, he allowed 3 hits and walked 5 over 5 1/3 innings. That only amounted to 1 run, and the win, thanks to a strong Louisville Bats offense, but I hope he has the time to improve in the minors. I’d hate for him to be called up early and destroyed by the maelstrom that is the Reds.

Wilkin Castillo and Juan Francisco led the Bats offensive charge, both clubbing home runs and driving in 2. Thanks to the Bats’ bullpen, that lead held up, and Chapman received his first professional win.

Aroldis Chapman was the primary reason we made the trip. Below are a few pictures of him in action.

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RHM is out of town–and state–for a work conference this week, leaving me and the little one to our own devices. So we headed down to Victory Field to take advantage of Dollar Menu Monday and see some baseball.

The Indianapolis Indians were hosting the Toledo Mud Hens. Former Cincinnati Red Phil Dumatrait started for Toledo, and was solid through 5 innings. He allowed just 1 run–the only run the Indians scored–on 4 hits and 2 walks with 3 strike outs, and it was enough to get the win, thanks to the Mud Hens’ offensive explosion against every pitcher the Pittsburgh Pirates AAA affiliate sent out.

Brad Lincoln had a quality start for the Indians, but his control wasn’t solid. He allowed 3 runs over 6 innings, allowing 5 hits and walking 2. Despite being the best pitcher the Indians ran out, his offense never appeared, and he was tagged with the loss.

I’d hoped to see some fireworks from the Pirates young hitting prospects Jose Tabata and Pedro Alvarez, but they were both limited to singles. 2 for Alvarez and 1 for Tabata. Alvarez did make a nice play in the shortstop position when the shift was on, though, to throw the batter out.

Victory Field is always a fun place to go, and this may be the first time that my son was put on the big screen there, doing some silly dance. Of course, he immediately went back to his DS game. As if there weren’t another game going on in front of him.

From just this one game, the Pirates top prospects, Tabata, Alvarez, and Lincoln, I guess, didn’t come off as anything special. I do look forward to seeing them more throughout the rest of the season.

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Remember when the Cincinnati Reds embarked on this road trip by winning the first two games against the Florida Marlins? The Reds never won again, losing the final two to the Marlins, and getting swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates today.

All in all, a road-trip that started off so promising got totally Redsed up along the way.

The goat for the final terrible loss to the Pirates was none other than Bronson Arroy. Fresh off of sucking his last time out, he improved slightly by bringing the suck for just one inning. Arroyo went 6 innings, allowing 5 runs–all of them in the 4th–on 5 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Unlike for his last start, there were no late inning heroics to bail him out, and he got the loss he so rightfully deserved.

Paul Maholm started for the Pirates and dominated for much of his time. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, and allowed only 2 runs for the win.

The only good news for the Reds was Jay Bruce. Bruce has been the bad-luck kid all year for the Reds, routinely making excellent contact, but hitting line drives straight at fielders. Today, he hit on the concept of hitting the ball into the stands. No one, except maybe Jim Edmunds, is likely to catch those. And hit Bruce did, launching 2 home runs on the game. They were both solo shots, but that’s more an indictment of the Reds crappy hitting lately than Bruce. Hopefully, the signs of life from Bruce continue after the off-day on Monday.

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Fresh off losing the last two games of the Marlins series, the Cincinnati Reds traveled to Pennsylvania to battle the Pittsburgh Pirates. One might think that the Reds would bounce back. One would be wrong.

After losing the first game thanks to no ability to get hits with runners on base, the Reds actually had a lead and were looking good at the end of the second match-up. Johnny Cueto started and had a rough 1st inning, but settled down and was actually in line for a win. That would have been the first in by a Reds starter this year.

The offense was doing well, with RBIs from the big bats of Jonny Gomes, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Brandon Phillips. Votto was 3 for 4, and it is so nice to see him out of his minor slump. I hope Phillips and Bruce follow soon.

But the real villain in this game is none other than Francisco Cordero. Apparently, he listened all to well to Dusty Baker’s wonderful old chestnut about walks clogging the bases. How else do you explain 3 walks in the 9th? Surely he thought no one would be able to score with the bases so clogged.

The Pirates did score. First, they tied the game on Cordero’s third walk. Then they won it when Garrett Jones hit one to the center field wall, giving the Pirates the walk-off win and the Reds their 4th loss in a row.

2 and 3 losses in a row isn’t really a streak. But 4? Definitely. As is 10 years of losing records in a row, which is what I’m fairly sure the Reds are headed toward. And that is Pittsburgh Pirate territory.