Finnegan's Stellar Night Helps Reds Win First Game In 2017
Reds rode on the shoulders of Brandon Finnegan for seven scoreless frames and some clutch hitting in the seventh inning to earn their first win of the season 2-0 and evening the series at one game a piece.
Finnegan started off the night with a shaky first inning by throwing 25 pitches in that frame (though he did not allow a run, which was key to this ball game), but he settled down from there and went on to strike out nine Phillies and allowed only a hit. In fact, he had six consecutive 1-2-3 innings and only threw 88 pitches on the night (58 for strikes). He retired 19 straight batters to finish his outing. Finnegan now has at least nine strikeouts for the fourth time in his career. Career high is 12 (8/26/16 at Ari).
However, despite Finnegan’s impressive outing, the Reds offense wasn’t doing too much against Philadelphia’s starter Jerad Eickhoff who was also dealing at that point. It was a pitchers duel going into the seventh inning, but Cincinnati’s offense finally came through as Joey Votto launched a solo home run to give them a 1-0 lead and a Zack Cozart RBI single that extended it to 2-0 and knocked out Eickhoff (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 6 K’s). Votto’s home run was his 222nd of his career which ties Jason Bay for 4th all-time by a player born in Canada (Walker 383, Stairs 265, Morneau 247). Even though Eickhoff was impressive, he suffered the loss with Finnegan earning the win.
The game was delayed until 8:00 PM due to rain, but the game finished within two hours and 25 minutes. A very fast game indeed, but that is what happens when both starting pitchers are locked into a pitcher’s duel for six innings.
The Reds go at it against the Phillies at 12:30 PM in the rubber match of the series on Thursday. Right hander Rookie Davis will take the mound to make his Major League debut as he will be taking on Clay Buchholz who will be making his Phillies debut.
