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Bailey on wrong end of pitchers' duel in DC
Righty impressive,
but bats held to one hit for second straight game
reds.com
WASHINGTON -- Reds manager Dusty Baker sat at his desk after Friday
night's game and tried to explain one of the great mysteries of
baseball. The skipper had just watched his team take some very good
hacks at Washington right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, and come away with
almost nothing.
Zimmermann pitched very well, but the Reds hit the ball in this game.
Sometimes they hit it hard, other times not. But in the end, they
finished with just one hit for the second straight evening as
Zimmermann went the distance for Washington in a 1-0 victory before
32,995 at Nationals Park.
The Reds were one-hit for the second straight time for the first time
since July 5-6, 1900, against Brooklyn at Cincinnati's League Field,
according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Gio Gonzalez threw eight innings
of one-hit ball in Thursday's 8-1 win, and Rafael Soriano finished it
in the ninth. In addition, this was the first time a Major League team
had allowed one or fewer hits in two straight games since the Cubs did
it on Sept. 14-15, 2008, versus Houston in Milwaukee.
The Reds finished with just three baserunners in Thursday's game -- and
that's all they got in this one. A Xavier Paul single to start the
third was their only hit. Todd Frazier reached on an error in the
fifth, and Corky Miller walked three innings later. Cincinnati (13-11)
has yet to put a runner into scoring position in the series.
It was clearly frustrating to Baker, because the Reds hit the ball well
at times on this night -- it just kept going right at someone.
"The last two nights, they have been good," Baker said. "We had quite a
few pitches to hit. We just didn't find any holes."
Zimmermann (4-1) needed just 91 pitches to go the distance. He struck
out four and walked one, rarely needing to go deep into counts as the
Reds often swung early.
"That was the best I have felt in a long time," Zimmermann said. "I had
a really good slider tonight, and a fastball to go with it. We knew
they swung early. If you throw a first-pitch strike and make quality
pitches … let them get themselves out and let the defense work."
Zimmermann's one-hitter offset a very good effort from Cincinnati
starter Homer Bailey (1-2), who gave up just one run on five hits in
seven innings.
The right-hander rarely got into much trouble himself, giving up the
only run on an RBI single from Jayson Werth in the fourth right after
Bryce Harper's triple. Bailey struck out six without a walk.
"You know, on days like this, all you can really do is just kind of tip
your hat to Jordan Zimmermann," Bailey said. "He threw a great game. We
just so happened to catch him on [one of] his really good nights. What
can you do?"
What happened to Shin-Soo Choo on the game's first at-bat might have
foretold what this night would bring. Choo hit a grounder that
deflected off Zimmermann and right to second baseman Danny Espinosa,
who then threw out Choo.
That also happened to Brandon Phillips in the seventh, when his ball
banged off Zimmermann and over to shortstop Ian Desmond, who threw out
Phillips.
The Nationals had the game's only other real threat in the sixth when
Denard Span was on third with one out. Harper then topped one just to
the right of the mound. Bailey came off the mound, pounced on the ball,
spun and made a quick throw to catcher Miller, who blocked the plate
perfectly and tagged out Span.
"I think he threw it in my glove without me seeing it," Miller said
with a smile. "Homer, he battled. He had a couple of quick innings and
got out of some jams."
The problem on this night was that the offense couldn't support Bailey.
Being one-hit two nights in a row isn't fun, but Baker was looking for
the positives. He talked about how things go in streaks in baseball,
and sometimes there's no rhyme or reason why.
So that leaves a team like the Reds with just one thing to do to solve
this mystery -- just keep on swinging.
"I thought we hit the ball actually better than they did, except for a
triple to Harper, and then, you know, the base hit to Werth," Baker
said. "[Zimmermann] was good tonight, but we didn't find any holes.
We've just got to keep swinging until we find some holes."
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