Cincinnati Reds hit 3 homers for 5-4 win over Los Angeles Angels
Chris Heisey’s homer was his first as the full-time left fielder
Cincinnati: Shin-Soo Choo homered on Joe Blanton’s first pitch of the game on Thursday, the first of Cincinnati’s three homers off the right-hander, and the Reds pulled away to a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Reds took two of three during the first interleague series to open a season.
Todd Frazier also had a solo homer off Blanton (0-1), and Chris Heisey’s two-run shot put Cincinnati up 5-3 in the fifth. Blanton gave up five runs and seven hits in five innings.
Heisey’s homer was his first as the full-time left fielder. He’s replacing Ryan Ludwick, who had surgery on Wednesday to repair torn cartilage in his right shoulder, an injury that will sideline him for at least the first half of the season.
Bronson Arroyo (1-0) gave up three runs in six innings, including Josh Hamilton’s two-run single that was his first hit for the Angels. Albert Pujols drove in a pair of runs with a sacrifice fly and a groundout.
Left-hander Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth, converting his first save opportunity. Mike Trout led off with a single and was sacrificed to second, but Pujols flied out and Hamilton struck out.
The teams combined for seven homers and 63 strikeouts during the series. The Reds fanned 36 overall, a club record for the first three games of a season.
The biggest hitters had a tough time getting started.
Pujols and Hamilton were a combined 0 for 17 with six strikeouts before they finally put something together in the third inning. Pujols doubled for his first hit, and Hamilton followed with a two-run single - Pujols slid into home safely while catcher Ryan Hanigan missed his leg while attempting the tag.
Pujols also had a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring groundout, limping on his left foot after he’d run. Pujols is playing through pain from plantar fasciitis (inflammation).
Choo got the Reds started with his sixth career leadoff homer. Frazier led off the second inning with a homer just inside the left field foul pole, and Heisey connected in the fifth.
The game featured the first replay of the season at Great American Ball Park. Frazier’s fly ball went off the yellow padding atop the wall in the fourth, and he continued to third when centre fielder Mike Trout bobbled the carom for an error. The umpires checked to make sure the ball didn’t clear the wall. Frazier scored on Ryan Hanigan’s sacrifice fly - Cincinnati’s only run that didn’t come off a homer.
Reds manager Dusty Baker got through the series without using left-handed setup man Sean Marshall, who’s had some tiredness in the front of his pitching shoulder the last couple weeks. Marshall said on Thursday that he felt much better and should be available for the opener of a series against Washington on Friday.
