First, Peralta did what he is paid to do, shutting out the Reds on three hits over eight innings. Then, to rub it in, he went all Darth Vader on the Reds with the bat at the start of Star Wars Weekend in Great American Ball Park..
In the fifth inning, with two on and two outs, Peralta drove a two-run double to deep right field off Mike Leake, the antithesis of what his .131 career batting average says Peralta is.
With two outs and two on, seeing the pitcher coming to the plate is usually a good thing. Not for Leake on this night.
“It was not the best first pitch to him because you know pitchers like to hack,” said Leake. “I still threw pretty good.”
Other than that devastating pitch, Leake was outstanding — eight innings, two runs seven hits, two walks, five strikeouts.
Peralta just happened to be better this night with arm and bat. Leake was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
“What can you say about a guy like Leake going out there and pitching eight innings,” said Reds manager Bryan Price. “Typically if you pitch eight innings that’s a good performance. It was two runs. It is unfortunate that their pitcher hit the double to score two runs. However, in the end, those guys are dangerous, too. Especially, as we know, the way Leake swings the bat. Peralta just didn’t give up anything to get excited about offensively.”
Of Peralta, Leake said, “He kept us guessing and we couldn’t do much about it. He threw a good game.”
Said catcher Pena, “Leake did a tremendous job for us but you have to tip your hat to Peralta because he hit a pretty good down low fastball and hit a double. What are the odds the pitcher is going to hit a ball like that? That’s the guy you want to face, the pitcher. No disrespect, but he doesn’t get paid to be a hitter. Leake did a tremendous job with their lineup and then the pitcher hits the double.”
Price picked Friday to rest second baseman Brandon Phillips and left fielder Ryan Ludwick. And he used Roger Bernadina in center field in place of injured Billy Hamilton.
The stand-ins were not good. Chris Heisey, standing in for Ludwick, was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. Ramon Santiago, standing-in for Phillips, was 0 for 3. Bernadina, standing in for Hamilton, was 0 for 2 with a walk.
The regulars who played, though, were of no help, especially right fielder Jay Bruce. He struck out four times, three against Peralta and in the ninth against closer Francisco Rodriguez.
Brayan Pena was 0 for 4, Zack Cozart was 0 for 3, Todd Frazier was 1 for 4 with a double and Joey Votto was 1 for 4 with a double that came within a paint scraping of being a home run.
On Thursday, Milwaukee center fielder Carlos Gomez went above the ball for the second time in two years to steal a home run from Votto. On Friday, the yellow line atop the wall stole one from Votto.
When it was still 0-0 Votto led the fourth with a ball off the top of the wall and it bounced back on the field, in play. Just to be sure, the umpires checked the replay and confirmed that the ball did not go over the wall.
“The umpires knew it was something that had to be reviewed,” said Price. “It wasn’t a challenge play. We saw the same replays. It hit on top of the yellow. To be a home run it has to be over the yellow and out of the park. When it hits the yellow and comes back it is in play. They got it right.”
The man who torches the fireworks when the Reds hit home runs got it wrong. As the ball hit the yellow line and bounced back, the fireworks went off. It was the only fireworks of the night for the Reds.
So after taking one step Thursday toward the first-place Brewers, cutting the deficit to 6 ½ games, the Reds are back to 7 ½ with two games left in the series.
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