Jesus Luzardo and Brady Singer engaged in a pitching duel on Thursday night at Great American Ball Park. Neither guy allowed a run in the first seven innings of the game. But that 8th inning saw the Phillies come through with a single run and that was just enough for Philadelphia as they picked up the shutout win over the Cincinnati Reds to grab a series victory in the process.
FinalRHEPhiladelphia Phillies (52-42)150Cincinnati Reds (42-50)030W: Luzardo (8-4) L: Singer (3-9) SV: Duran (23)Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
Neither team mounted much of a threat in the first four innings of the game. But the Reds would threaten in the bottom of the 5th inning when Noelvi Marte drew a 1-out walk and then he took second base on a groundout. Tj Friedl would come through with a hit, but it was an infield single that put runners on the corner rather than bringing the run in. A groundball ended the inning and the game remained scoreless.
Brady Singer faced his first real adversity in the game in the top of the 7th inning. He would give give up a 2-out single and then hit a batter to put a runner in scoring position, but the righty got out of the jam with a routine fly out to center as the game stayed tied at 0-0.
With just 76 pitches on the night, Singer remained in the game to begin the 8th. He started it with a hit batter. Philadelphia sent a pinch runner out to first base and Derek Hill was able to move up to second base on a chopper to shortstop that left only a play at first. Justin Crawford then came through with an RBI single. It was just the 4th hit of the night against Singer but it was a big one. The next batter walked and that’s when the Reds went to their bullpen to bring in Sam Moll. He would strike out Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper to avoid any further damage.
Jesus Luzardo had 11 strikeouts in seven innings for the Phillies but his day ended when Philadelphia went to Jonathan Bowlan to start the 8th inning. He picked up where his teammate left off by firing a perfect inning with a strikeout.
After Tejay Antone worked around a walk in the top of the 9th Cincinnati headed to the bottom of the inning needing to get at least one run against Jhoan Duran. JJ Bleday began things with a 9-pitch at-bat that ended with a bloop single into center to bring the winning run to the plate for the home team. Bleday would then steal second base a pitch before Duran hit Spencer Steer on the forearm to put two men on with no outs. The closer locked in after that, striking out the next two batters on seven total pitches before getting a broken bat groundout on the next pitch to end the game with a 1-0 victory for the Phillies that also gave them a series win.
Key Moment of the Game
Justin Crawford’s RBI single in the 8th inning that produced the only run of the game.
Notes Worth Noting
The two teams combined for eight hits and only one extra-base hit in the game. They only walked three times between the two clubs, too.
Despite an outstanding start from Brady Singer – 7.1 innings with one run on four hits and a walk – the Reds are now 1-11 in his last 12 starts.
Both teams had one hit with runners in scoring position on the night. The difference in the game was the the Reds hit with a runner on second didn’t leave the infield while the one by the Phillies did and that resulted in the lone run of the game.
In the post game press conference Terry Francona, speaking of Eugenio Suarez, said “when he gets hot he will carry us for a while, we’ve just got to get him there”. No one reminded Francona that ‘s July 9th, not April 9th, and that Suarez has played 64 games this season.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Friday July 10th, 7:10pm ET
Shota Imanaga (5-7, 4.28 ERA) vs Hunter Greene (0-1, 21.60 ERA)
