It’s Matt McLain’s world right now and the rest of us are just living in it. He picked up three more hits on Wednesday, including his 5th home run of the spring as he helped lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday evening in Arizona.
The Highlights
Milwaukee got to Andrew Abbott early on Wednesday afternoon. The Reds lefty walked Andrew Vaughn with one out in the top of the 1st and then gave up a long home run to Gary Sanchez that put the Brewers up 2-0. Cincinnati could get one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Matt McLain crushed his team leading 5th home run. They would get two more runs in the 2nd inning when Noelvi Marte led off with a home run and then four pitches later Jose Trevino hit a solo homer of his own to put his team up 3-2.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning the Reds put together a little rally that began with a Matt McLain infield single to lead off the inning. After back-to-back strikeouts followed Dane Myers walked to extend the inning. That set up Noelvi Marte to come through again and he doubled in both runners to push the lead to three runs.
Milwaukee got one of those runs back in the top of the 6th against Tony Santillan. After the reliever got a ground ball double play he served up a fastball at the bottom of the zone at 91.8 MPH that Reese McGuire hit 470 feet for a solo home run.
Cincinnati would take on a run in the bottom of the 8th inning when Carlos Sanchez and Austin Hendrick hit back-to-back doubles before Shane Sasaki hit a “double” into left field that was described by the radio crew as a routine ground ball that went under the glove of third baseman Juan Baez. It’s a liner into left field in the box score that made it 6-3.
Zach Maxwell entered the game for the top of the 9th inning. He worked around a 1-out single to seal the win for the Reds.
You can see the box score for this game here.
News and Notes
Andrew Abbott threw 3.2 innings and allowed six hits, walked two, struck out five, and was charged with two earned runs. He threw 69 pitches and had 42 of them go for strikes.
Matt McLain continues to kill the ball. He went 3-3 with a home run and is hitting .607 with five home runs, five walks, and just two strikeouts in 33 plate appearances so far.
Noelvi Marte also had a multi-hit game, going 2-3 with a double, home run, and three runs batted in.
Relievers Emilio Pagan, Graham Ashcraft, Sam Moll, and Zach Maxwell all threw a shutout inning in this game.
Cincinnati will hit the road on Thursday and they’ll be playing a night game as they take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 9:05pm ET. The game will be available through MLB.tv via the Dodgers broadcast. Scheduled to pitch for the Reds in the game: Nick Lodolo, Brock Burke, Tejay Antone, Yunior Marte, and Anthony Misiewicz.