Maloney

I've been away for a few days, and as my time is stretched in different directions, these posts have grown more sparse. I have some things to take care of in the morning, so I would really like to extend the Farmer's only shutout streak. But it was an enormous day for the system, so I had to get a post up.

Triple-A: Matt Maloney struck out 7 in 5 innings and Michael Griffin doubled in 2 to give the Bats a 4-2 win. Maloney has struck out 28 in his past 4 starts and 100 overall in his 105 innings this season.

Double-A: Sean Henry had 2 doubles as the Lookouts won 5-4. Justin Turner added 2 hits, and Travis Wood allowed just 1 run in 6 innings.

Francisco

High A: Misael DeJesus struck out 9 in 7 innings as Sarasota rolled 5-0. He allowed 5 hits and no walks and has 56 strikeouts in 53.2 innings this season. Todd Frazier was 2 for 4, Drew Stubbs homered and both can be said for Juan Francisco. Francisco has 12 homers on the year. Ramon Geronimo got 4 outs to wrap up his 10th save, and he's got his ERA down to 0.70.

Low A: Logan Parker smacked a 3-run double and Kyle Lotzkar secured his first pro win as Dayton also won 5-0. Lotzkar -- the Reds' supplemental-round pick last season -- struck out 7 in 5 innings, allowing 3 hits and 1 walk. Devin Mesoraco was 1 for 4 for the 6th time in 9 games.

Rookie: Neftali Soto was 3 for 5 with a double, David Sappelt was a triple short of the cycle, Alex Buchholz added 2 hits and Lance Janke struck out 5 in 5 innings as Billings won 11-3. The Mustangs pounded out 17 hits. ... Yen-Wen Kuo was 4 for 4, Cody Puckett, Alexis Oliveras, Humberto Sosa and Efrain Contreras all had at least 2 hits and Evan Hildebrandt struck out 6 in 7 innings in the GCL Reds' blowout 12-0 win. Blaine Howell faced 6 batters and struck out 5. Hildebrandt has allowed 1 earned run in his 3 starts this season. ... The D-Reds lost 12-7 to make Reds teams (including Cincinnati) 7-1 on the day.

Rain might be a factor today, which is a shame since it's the 4th of July and all.  It'd be nice if Bronson could follow up his last start against the Indians with more of the same.  The bad news on Bergmann is that he hasn't given up more than one earned run in any of his last three starts.  The good news is that the Nats have still managed to lose two of those three starts.  He doesn't walk too many hitters, so aggressiveness at the plate may not be a bad thing.  Hopefully the Reds can make a dent off of this right-hander.

Happy Independence Day everybody (except for Gray)!  Be safe!  Don't go blowing any fingers off with firecrackers.  You need them for typing!

The phrase that pays tonight is "better than his record implies."  Keep your ears open and be the 9th caller when you hear the announcers say that phrase tonight and you could win $1 million.

Could this be the last time Leatherpants brings a team into Cincinnati?

All tied up at 5 in the bottom of the 4th.

Milford High grad and Kent State attendee John Van Benschoten makes his hometown debut tonight after getting called back up to the Majors earlier this week.  I'd like to say the Reds should put the smack down on him, but you and I both know how these things tend to turn out.  Honestly though, wouldn't it just be super swell to score some runs early and have a nice relaxing walk to victory?

Thompson makes his 3rd start of his career and his first at GABP and against an NL team.  I think it would be just dandy if he got his first MLB win too.  Don't you agree?

Lineups from CTR:

Another day, another thread, another lack of offense.

The lineup

1. Jerry Hairston Jr. ss
2. Adam Dunn lf
3. Ken Griffey Jr. rf
4. Brandon Phillips 2b
5. Joey Votto 1b
6. Edwin Encarnacion 3b
7. Jay Bruce cf
8. David Ross c
9. Edinson Volquez p

The Reds haven't hit Duke well in the past, except for Dunn.  But the offense has been doing much better over the last 3 games (.291/.387/.534).  Hopefully it's a sign of a turnaround for the bats.

Volquez was hit a little hard in his last start against the Blue Jays.  I'm calling it an aberration.  He'll be back on track tonight.  A win tonight will give the Reds just their second 4-game win streak of the season.

Look for big days from Joey Votto (yay!) and Jason Bay (boo!) today.  It is Canada Day, eh!

Al Behrman/AP

Junior's shot was the Reds' first and only walk-off hit in June, although that has a lot to do with a 5-game home losing streak and two road trips of at least 8 games. Griffey is the first Red to hit two walk-off shots this season:

• June 30: Ken Griffey Jr. homers (603) to beat the Pirates after Dusty Baker tried his hardest to give the game away
• May 31: Jay "The Boss" Bruce homers (first career home run) to beat the Braves
• May 30: Brandon Phillips single Error on Chipper Jones, scoring Jay Bruce to beat the Braves
• May 17: Adam Dunn homers to beat the Indians
• May 14: Paul Janish singles (first career hit), scoring Johnny Cueto to beat the Marlins
• April 20: Ken Griffey Jr. doubles in Ryan Freel to beat the Brewers
• April 5: Paul Bako singles in Ryan Freel to beat the Phillies
• April 2: Edwin Encarnacion (not a clutch player) homers to beat the Diamondbacks

After the jump, a brief Farmer's Only...

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Al Behrman/AP

Walk-off wins are always fun, but the main question of this game is what was Dusty thinking?

Reds trail 3-2.  Harang rage growing...