We headed down to Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis tonight to take in a few innings of the Indians hosting the Louisville Bats and make a dinner out of ballpark food. They’ve got some pretty darn good food there, too. I recommend the rib sandwich.

Artery clogging aside, this is the view we were treated to when we first walked in to the stadium and looked straight up:

Later on we got a somewhat less rare view of Juan Francisco slapping one out of the park, and no joke, it was a slap. He hardly looked like he was trying. But the Crack Photography Staff has that photo, so I’ll let him tell the story.

Dontrelle Willis is a low-risk reclamation project that the Reds took a chance on this year. He is also a guy who simply cannot catch a break. He’s done good work with the team so far, but maybe pushed it a little too hard last time out. Understandable: his six-inning outings kept being given away in innings seven through nine. Little wonder he’d want to stick around himself.

But today he had some forearm soreness even before the game, and he couldn’t keep the ball under control by the third inning. He gave up a quick four runs before they pulled him for Sam LeCure, who stopped the bleeding there.

Jay Bruce did knock a three run homer to put the Reds on the board, but it wasn’t enough at the time nor for the rest of the game, since it was never followed up by any more scoring. Speaking of Jay Bruce, the CTS and I have been talking about how he’s been with the team forever but he’s only 24. Same thing for Homer Bailey, who is only 25 but has been in the Reds’ collective consciousness since, roughly, 1994. These two, and other guys like them, keep developing and hit their awesomeness in a couple years, and this team could really be something to watch.

Tonight the Reds had some catharsis for their crappy season’s worth of pent up frustration. The box score of their 13-1 win over the San Diego Padres featured a lengthy list in the home runs:

• Votto (19, 1st inning off Stauffer, 0 on, 2 out),
• Cairo 2 (7, 1st inning off Stauffer, 1 on, 2 out; 5th inning off Bass, 1 on, 0 out),
• Frazier (4, 2nd inning off Stauffer, 0 on, 0 out),
• Bruce (25, 3rd inning off Stauffer, 1 on, 1 out),
• Hanigan 2 (5, 3rd inning off Stauffer, 2 on, 2 out; 8th inning off Thatcher, 1 on, 1 out)

Amazingly, tonight’s win brings the Reds’ winning streak to four, which is the longest winning streak since May 17. Can they make it five? We find out tomorrow when they wrap up the series against the Padres at 1:10 p.m.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds split the 4-game series with the Colorado Rockies Thursday, thanks to another amazing start from Johnny Cueto.

Remember back in the playoffs last year when Baker picked Edinson Volquez to start the series against the Philadelphia Phillies? And then when he chose Volquez again to start the 2011 season? Yeah, he was wrong about Volquez being an ace. It was the other guy with dreadlocks.

Cueto has been amazing this year. This latest start is no exception. Over 7 innings, he allowed 3 hits, walked 2, struck out 9, and allowed no runs. That got his ERA back under 2.00 at 1.94. He leads the league in ERA and has clearly been about the best starter in the majors this year. And his record is only 8-5. The poor guy has had more blown saves than I care to look up.

But not this time. This time, the bullpen was there for him. Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless 8th, and Francisco Cordero picked up his 22nd save. Although he did allow one run. I think he was just doing his part to improve the Reds’ horrible record in games decided by one run.

The offense was the only thing that wasn’t strong for Cueto. It scored 2 runs in the first, thanks to an RBI from Jay Bruce and an error by the Rockies. In the end, it sure was nice to see the Reds not lose a series to a below-average team for a change.