Ryan Ludwick, sigh, star of the game. Photo by SD Dirk/Flickr

Tonight, the Reds eked out a close one, narrowly avoiding what might’ve been their first consecutive loss in two weeks. Johnny Cueto got off to a good start, but ended up allowing three runs after getting two outs in the 8th inning.

Of course, he had help from Logan Ondrusek, who allowed a three-run home run immediately upon entering the game. Not Ondrusexy’s best work, but I’m not worried – Ondrusek just needs to be solid right-handed set-up man, and we already know he’s the third best reliever in the pen. Those guys give up runs. Thankfully, we had Marshall and Chapman to get the rest of the last five outs.

Chapman continued his closination domination – in the 9th inning, he struck out two, and got through the inning on 9 pitches total. He probably needed to throw a bullpen session after the game just to get his work in. Crazy.

It was, after all, a good thing that we scored one more run in this game than we allowed in that disastrous 8th inning. (Begrudging props to Ryan Ludwick!) This game also featured Todd Frazier’s first career stolen base. Hooray Todd Frazier!