1. What a disappointing loss for the Reds. It’s as simple as that. Momentum was on their side after a series-opening win Friday night, they had their ace on the mound in Luis Castillo, it was a sold-out crowd at Great American Ball Park; this had the making of a critical game at this point in the season. A win today could have potentially spring-boarded a run towards the top of the NL Central leading into the All-Star break. But as we have grown accustomed to with the Reds, they didn’t get the job done.
2. I mentioned it was a sold-out crowd- with 41,630 fans on hand. Yeah, at least 40 percent, if not 50 percent or even more, were Cubs fans. It was like being at a Bengals-Steelers game at Paul Brown Stadium. Fun fact: according to Google Maps, the drive from Chicago to the Queen City is only six minutes more than it is from Pittsburgh. The entire third base side, which is where the visitor’s dugout is at GABP, it felt like was filled with fans who I am still trying to come up with a term for other than “Loveable Losers.” Whenever the Cubs scored or made a great defensive play, it felt like their fans cheered louder than Reds fans when they did something good, which didn’t happen often yesterday. The Cubs fans may have been even louder than us Reds fans during “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
3. In addition to the percentage of Cubs fans, there was also a fight that took place. What, so now the Cubs are now coming at the Reds? Is a Chicago athlete, in the name of Pedro Strop, the newest athlete added to the list of Cincinnati sports opposing villains?
4. During the fight, the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” was playing. That was great, and I’m not meaning this sarcastically. And really, come on. Us Reds fans and Cubs fans have somethings in common: we both don’t like the Cardinals and we have, or have had, been associated with a curse. That’s why this fight came as such a shock to me.
5. This was your typical Reds game because they came up short in a critical game. It’s also your typical 2019 Reds game; a great starting pitching performance spoiled because of a lack of executing scoring opportunities. Not coming through with two runners on in each of the first two innings or in the sixth with Scooter Gennett at the plate and having Derek Dietrich getting doubled off first in the seventh when the game was still only 1-0; none of those miscues is going to help any team win these kinds of critical games.
6. The only non-typical aspect to this game was the Reds bull pen. David Hernandez, Zach Duke, Jared Hughes and Robert Stephenson combined to give up five runs over the final two innings, including a grand slam by the Cubs Javier Báez in the eighth. The normally sure-handed Reds bull pen could not keep the deficit at the minimum, and ultimately were dealt a huge blow by Chicago’s lineup.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 