Offense was at a premium on Friday afternoon in Chicago thanks to good pitching and some timely winds. Nick Martinez and Jameson Taillon dueled it out, but the Cubs were able to scrape together a lone run in the 5th inning and it held up as Chicago opened up the series with a win over the Cincinnati Reds.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (76-84) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Chicago Cubs (82-78) |
1 | 5 | 0 |
| W: Taillon (12-8) L: Martinez (10-7) SV:Hodge (8) |
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| Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Elly De La Cruz crushed a ball in the 1st inning, but the wind came into play and kept it just inside the park. Ian Happ was unable to come up with the ball as he had to also avoid a sliding left fielder, but he rebounded quickly and fired a 94 MPH bullet to third base to get De La Cruz as he tried turning his double into a triple. That play would turn out to be the best opportunity of the game for the Reds to get a player to third base.
Nick Martinez was locked in until the 5th inning when Nico Hoerner doubled to lead off the inning. Chicago then played some small ball, bunting him over to third base before Miguel Amaya was able to take advantage of the wind and hit a sacrifice fly that Jake Fraley had to catch on the run, giving Hoerner just enough time to get to the plate before his throw.
Spencer Steer would lead off the 7th inning with a single and move up to second base on a ground out. That’s as far as he’d get, though, as back-to-back groundouts ended the inning. Cincinnati wouldn’t really threaten again after that, with Jonathan India reaching base via a hit by pitch with two outs in the 8th being their only other baserunner beyond that point, but the Cubs bullpen stranded him and then completed the game with a 1-2-3 9th inning that took just eight pitches.
Key Moment of the Game
Miguel Amaya’s sacrifice fly in the 5th inning.
Notes Worth Noting
Nick Martinez threw a complete game for the Reds. He allowed a single run on five hits with no walks and he struck out three batters. The complete game was the first of the season for the Reds and only the 28th in Major League Baseball this season. Only the Phillies (5) and Blue Jays (3) have more than two such games this year.
Martinez finished the season with 18 walks and 116 strikeouts in 142.1 innings pitched. While he won’t go in the official record books because he didn’t qualify for the ERA title, Martinez did set a new record for the Reds among pitchers with at least 140 innings pitched in a season today. His strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.44 obliterated the previous record for Cincinnati. The old record was 4.33, held by Joe Nuxhall in his 1963 season. Only Aaron Harang, Gary Nolan, and Johnny Cueto topped the 4.00 mark along with those two.
Jonathan India had two hits, and he was hit by a pitch. He was the only Red to reach base twice.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs. Chicago Cubs
Saturday September 28th, 2:20pm ET
Rhett Lowder (2-2, 1.40) vs Kyle Hendricks (4-12, 6.28 ERA)
