Cincinnati Reds defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 – MLB Update
The team with the best record in Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies was defeated by the Cincinnati Reds 6-3 in the second of the four game series at the Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Tuesday, May 24.
The struggling Phillies had taken the lead in the first game. They went on an unexpected hitting spree as their beloved five times All Star Chase Utley made his return from the disabled list where his knee complications kept him from getting on the field.
The Reds were successful in bringing an end to their six game back-to-back losing streak with this victory. Red’s manager, Dusty Baker could not be any happier on the team success against one of the top teams in the National League. He said, "We missed some
opportunities early and I was afraid that would come back and haunt us, this was a big game for us. We really needed this one."
Part of the Phillies loss can easily be blamed on Ryan Madson, who failed to preserve the crucial tie in the ninth inning. This loss was a first for Madson since previously he has had nine saves in equal number of chances presented. The Phillies generally
have been doing quite well for themselves where saving is concerned given that this blown save was only the second one since the season began in the seventeen chances that have been presented.
Madson kicked off the day with a 0.46 ERA, which in itself is a very hard statistic to maintain. The two loss inducing mistakes he made at the climax of the game are proof of the fact that Madson was not in his best form this time around.
The Reds wasted no time in getting up runs on the scoreboard as Scott Rolen singled to right in the very first inning and Joey Votto scored.
The Phillies silenced the Reds for the next few innings as they belted out runs of their own. Raul Ibanez kicked things off for the Phillies as he doubled and Ryan Howard scored in the second inning. The next run in the same inning came courtesy of Domonic
Brown as he hit a sacrifice fly off of which Ibanez scored. The fourth inning saw Ibanez once again score as Carlos Ruiz doubled.
Cincinnati levelled the score as the fifth inning rolled around when Johnny Cueto and Drew Stubbs scored after Brandon Phillips singled. What followed was excellent pitching by both teams that prevented the opposing team from squeezing in any runs.
Unfortunately for the Phillies, that is what happened in the ninth inning after mistakes by Madson. Jay Bruce doubled as Stubbs, Votto and Rolen scored, effectively breaking the tie with quite a margin that guaranteed the Reds a victory.
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