Bronson Wins 3 in a Row

It's amazing! Bronson Arroyo is determined to own the world for the rest of September. He's had 3 great games in a row, all of which led to W's. We like W's! That's why the blog starts with one. Okay, not really. Arroyo pitched 8 innings and allowed only 2 runs. Scott Schoeneweis pitched the 9th, giving up a hit and no runs.

During the 2nd inning, Gameday says Juan Castillo grounded out, and was also out on batter interference. I have no idea what that means. He was batting, he grounded out, he was the 3rd out, and then he was out again? Obviously, this is a baseball concept I do not understand. It'd probably make more sense if I knew what actually happened. Other than that, there wasn't much action until the 6th inning.

In the top of the 6th, Chris Duffy and Jack Wilson singled for the Pirates, and later scored on Freddy Sanchez's single. The Reds responded with 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th. Aurilia, Encarnacion and Dunn all scored a run to put the Reds up 3-2. Royce Clayton doubled in the 7th and Aurilia brought him home with a single to bring the score to its final 4-2.

The Reds now sit just below .500 with a record of 71-72. They are 4 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central (just barely holding onto 2nd place), and 3 1/2 games behind the Padres in the Wild Card (just barely holding onto 5th place). That's still better than a lot of the early predictions.