Cincinnati Reds crush Atlanta Braves 4-1 – MLB Recap
The Cincinnati Reds crushed the Atlanta Braves 4-1 in the first game of their four-match regular series encounter on Monday, May 21 at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati in 2012 Major League Baseball season.
With this win, the Reds also took the early advantage against the Braves after humiliating New York Yankees with 2-1 series defeat.
The Reds starter Mike Leake played a double key role for his team. He not only stayed confident on the mound, but he also remained confident when he came to bat.
He hit his first career home run and remained the top performer of the night. His pitching was also accurate allowing two hits and one run only; he struck out six Braves’ potential batters to help the Reds rally past their much tougher opponents.
"I started a trend, I guess, It was nice to see three in a row." Leake said
Later teammate centre fielder Drew Stubbs said for Leake, "He was outstanding. That was a big performance for him. He'd been struggling. That should be a big boost for his confidence. I'm glad to see it."
On the other hand, the Braves pitcher Mike Minor proved the real hitch for his team. He pitched too waivered and allowed five hits, four runs and four earned runs virtually giving away the game which could have had a tough battle.
After the game, Minor told the media about his somewhat poor outing.
He said, "I don't think it was the ballpark, The pitches were up, and that's what they did -- home runs. They were sitting on my best pitch tonight, which was my changeup. Three of the four homers came off changeups."
The game started off well from both sides. The Reds snatched early lead in the first with the help of Stubbs’ homer to left while the Braves levelled the score in the later inning as Francisco smashed a homer to Leake.
At this point, the game looked balanced as both team looked aggressive. However, the Reds quickly switched gear and started to push the Braves with more power with back to back three runs and eventually won it in style.
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