Reds’ Jay Bruce hits fourth home run in three days in 7-5 win over the Cubs
Jay Bruce hit his fourth home run in three games to help the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
Reds rookie starting pitcher Travis Wood gave up a season high 10 hits on the day, but only surrendered three runs and three walks while striking out four. He had the lead when he left the game after five innings, but ended up not factoring into the decision.
Woods was in line for his fifth win until Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome hit a two-run home run off reliever Arthur Rhodes in the eighth inning to tie the game at 5-5.
However, it was an error by Fukudome in the ninth that ended up leading to the winning runs. In the ninth inning, Fukudome made a bad throw from right field and sent the ball skipping into the photographer’s booth and allowing Chris Heisey to score for the Reds to make it 6-5.
Jonny Gomes added an insurance run with an RBI single that scored Brandon Phillips. Francisco Cordero pitched a scoreless ninth for save No. 35 and to preserve the win.
Unlike the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost to the Washington Nationals, the Reds have managed to stay in contention by beating the lesser teams like the Chicago Cubs; the Reds have won 12 of 16 against the Cubs this season.
With the win the Reds improved to 75-55 on the season; coupled with a loss by the St, Louis Cardinals it also increased their lead in the NL Central division to five games, their largest lead in the division since 2002.
“Let’s try to make it six and get as many as we can,” manager Dusty Baker said. “We’re playing the way we can. Let’s try to get greedy.”
St. Louis will look to cut into the lead the Reds have built up when the two teams play a weekend series starting on Friday.
Next up for the Reds is a three-game series with another NL Central team, the Milwaukee Brewers. Scheduled to take the mound in Monday’s game for Cincinnati is Homer Bailey; Randy Wolf is scheduled to take the mound for the Brewers.
The Reds will be trying to get to 21 games over .500 for the first time in over a decade against a team they have had little trouble beating. In nine games against each other, the Reds have won eight with the only loss coming against Randy Wolf.
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