Reds Lose To a Bunch of Pumpkin Eating Hippos, 6-5

Those who weren't wearing patriotically-themed hats and shaking tiny American flags at the TV during the Republican National Convention, were treated to a fine ballgame by your Cincinnati Reds. That part where the hippopotamus seated in the left field bleachers ate that pumpkin was probably the highlight. I have a hard time recalling what else happened but I'm pretty sure it didn't conclude with the Reds dropping a second consecutive game to the Pirates. A team, to reiterate, had lost 10 consecutive games before making the trip to Cincinnati.

Okay, maybe I do remember a schizophrenic start by Volquez, striking out 13 Pirates, but leaving after giving up 4 runs during two innings where someone flipped his switch from "dominant" to "hittable". Outside of the 4th and 6th innings, he was super duper. But the bovines in the bullpen couldn't contain the potent Pittsburgh offense and Andy Phillips wasn't interested in putting the ball in play with the bases loaded. We did get to see Castillo's first hit as a Red, who was that guy the Reds traded to get him? A performance like that makes it hard to recall. Reds go on a salvage mission tomorrow, the author predicts success.