Drew Stubbs shines as Cincinnati Reds defeat Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 – MLB Update
Drew Stubbs and defending National League Most Valuable Player Joey Votto led the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, March 3 at Goodyear Ballpark.
Stubbs posted two hits and a RBI, while Joey made a single and slapped a run.
Reds witnessed a good debut as Travis Wood who was competing with Mike Leake and Homer Bailey for rotation spot exhibited his full strength in pitching allowing only one hit in two innings while forced one batter to leave the ground with a strike-out. He
had a massive support from veteran starter Hiroki Kuroda allowing two earned runs in less than an innings with two strike-outs. Yet he did not consider this performance the best one.
"I didn't have all my pitches tonight. My breaking ball wasn't there," Kuroda said. "That was a great lineup. It was like during the season. It put a little pressure on me."
Stubbs moved the Reds to 3-0 lead in the fourth inning when he hammered two RBIs against Dodgers’ reliever Blake Hawkson who gave three hits in just over a single inning. The game seemed to stumble to the Dodgers side when spot seeking Matt Maloney gave
up one run and three hits in three innings. However, Xavier Paul scored a single to Jerry Sands.
Last year’s acquisition as lead-off hitter, Stubbs put in doubt the manager Dusty Baker who included him in the squad in spite of his weak performance in 2010. However, Baker praised his pitchers performance.
"Stubbs doesn't have a track record. I have to find out if he is a slow starter or not. He has a good mix of speed and power,” Baker said. "We got great pitching tonight. Wood looked good. Cordero looked good. Maloney pitched out of trouble in his three
innings."
For the upcoming game on Friday against Seattle Mariners at Peoria, the team has a plan to replace the Edinson Volquez with Chad Reinke who will pitch the game against right-hander Doug Fisher. The team has Ramon Hernandez, Chris Heisey, Yonder Alonso, Dontrelle
Willis, Philippe Valiquete, Nick Masset and Bill Bray.
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