One would think that a matchup with the two best sluggers in the National League, in addition to the two fastest players this side of the Mississippi River, would be a high scoring affair, but that was not the case Friday night at Great American Ball Park.
The pitching matchup was non-marque as the Miami Marlins threw veteran Dan Haren (6-4, 3.19 ERA) against Cincinnati Reds right-hander Mike Leake (4-4, 4.01 ERA). Although Leake has had a tough season (four plus earned runs allowed in four of his 14 starts) thus far, tonight he brought his "A-game" and began his outing by fanning six batters in five innings while surrendering no hits. Dan Haren was almost as perfect considering he made only one mistake, a fourth inning 1-0 fastball to Marlon Byrd that flew into the right-center bleachers. This was Byrd's first game as he came off the disabled list after fracturing his wrist back on June 2nd.
By the sixth inning, the whole crowd knew what was at stake for Leake, and maybe he did himself as he led off the sixth with a four pitch walk to the pitcher Haren. Luckily, a hard hit grounder off the bat of Dee Gordon to the steal trap known as Brandon Phillips started a double-play to put the former Arizona State star one out away from going back to the dugout with the chance to record MLB's second no-hitter of 2015 still intact. Next up was Derek Dietrich, yet Leake could not find the strike zone again resulting in his fourth walk of the evening. The free pass opened the door for Christian Yelich and he ended Leake's chance at history by shooting a grounder past Todd Frazier and Eugenio Suarez for a single. With the no-no gone, the lead could have been too as there were two runners on and the National League home run and RBI leader Giancarlo Stanton at the dish. Leake kept his composure though and sat down the two-time All-Star with a nasty slider.
Leake pitched another scoreless inning in the seventh, and was removed for pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker in the bottom half after a Tucker Barnhart double. At the same time, Dan Haren exited after 6.1 innings due to manager Dan Jennings' decision to put in submarine hurler Steve Cishek to face Schumaker. Unfortunately for Miami, Schumaker didn't care who was offering pitches and shot Cishek's 0-1 slider up the middle, scoring Barnhart to increase the Reds' lead to two.
Would two runs be enough for a Cincinnati bullpen that has blown many multi-run leads this season?
Yes, because after set-up man J.J. Hoover tip-toed unscathed around a Dee Gordon single in the eighth, the Reds added three runs, two from a Jay Bruce double and another from an Eugenio Suarez two-bagger, ultimately putting the game out of reach for Miami.
Tomorrow, Cincinnati will try to extend their winning streak to four by continuing the attack on a floundering Marlins' team with former Miami pitcher Anthony DeSclafani taking the ball for the Reds against Tom Koehler, who lost his only other start against Cincinnati last season (7.0 IP, 5 H, & 2 ER).