Boxscore

Adam Wainwright dominated the Astros last night, allowing three hits and one run in 8 innings. Oh yeah, and he fanned eight Astros. Should Chris Carpenter ever return, he and Wainwright would make a dynamite one-two punch for St. Louis. Of course, that’s very similar to Chicago’s refrain over last few years.

Benjie Molina and Cesar Izturis drove in the bulk of the Cardinals runs, while the Astros lone run came from a Ty Wiggington solo shot. Whenever Izturis has a good game, it seems to spell doom for whoever’s facing the Cardinals. If only he had them more than once every month or so.

Roy Oswalt, starting off 6 days rest, hopes to get things figured out tonight at 8:15pm EDT when he starts against Kyle Lohse.

Boxscore

Yes, there were other games in the Central last night, but really, none of them can approach the significance or the lasting impact of the Pirates-Reds game last night. Plus, thanks to preparing a birthday party for my kid, I have time for only one game wrap today.

In case you hadn’t heard, uber-prospect Jay Bruce premiered for the Reds last night, and he didn’t disappoint. In fact, no one’s gotten him out yet. Bruce’s line: 3 for 3, with two walks, two runs scored, two RBI, and a steal.

Not everyone was impressed, though.

Johnny Cueto threw too many pitches, but got the win thanks to an Adam Dunn home run. The bullpen made it a little closer, but Francisco Corder closed things out again.

Ian Snell started well for the Pirates, but Cincinnati figured him out the second time facing him. They did have enough offense to win, had they gotten anything resembling good pitching.

The same two teams again today, although Baker will be tempted to sit Bruce against the Pirates, thus ensuring the Reds loss. Tom Gorzelanny starts against Bronson Arroyo at 7:10pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Cubs continued their struggling on the road/dominating at home trend yesterday by, well, dominating the Dodgers at home.

Ryan Dempster continues to perplex everyone who’s paid any attention at all to his career by being a very good starting pitcher. And Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez continue to show their an impressive force in any lineup, as they both homered, providing all of Chicago’s runs.

The same two teams play again today at 7:05pm EDT when Hiroki Kuroda takes on Sean Gallagher.

Boxscore

It took 11 innings, but the Brewers finally saw through the beery haze and found their giant fly swatter–behind the keg, naturally–and dealt with the Nationals.

Ben Sheets was solid in his start, but was only around for six innings. No injury forced him out, though, as manager Ned Yost opted to pinch hit for him in the sixth. The game-winning run came in the 11th when Gabe Kapler singled in Prince Fielder. Salomon Torres then pitched the bottom of the inning for the save.

Milwaukee returns home to host Tim Hudson and the Braves at 8:05pm EDT. Dave Bush will start for the Brewers.

Boxscore

Wow! What a wonderful, terrible game that was!

The Reds lost, of course, which was really the only outcome I could see once Cincinnati blew its third save in the 11th. I just figured the loss would go to Aaron Harang, seeing as the team hadn’t scored any runs during that time.

But no, the loss went to Edinson Volquez, one he really didn’t deserve. How can he get the loss when Corey Patterson made three whole innings worth of outs? (Bronson Arroyo pinch-hit and got a single, so if he’d been playing instead of C-Pat, the Reds would have won.) Heck, even Edwin Encarnacion made 8. Sigh.

The only bright spot was that the runs Volquez allowed were unearned thanks to an error by Joey Votto, so Volquez’s awesome ERA continues to lead the league.

The Reds try to figure out what the heck to do to reassemble their pitching staff during their off day. Thankfully, the scheduled starter against the Pirates on Tuesday is the only one who didn’t appear in the long game. Beyond that, I have a feeling Matt Belisle will be sent down for a fresh arm. We’ll see.

The Reds have until 7:10pm EDT on Tuesday to figure things out. That’s when the Pirates and Ian Snell will see if they can’t lower Corey Patterson’s not-out percentage even further.