Iannetta sends Angels to Opening Day win over Reds
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
CINCINNATI — Opening Day in Cincinnati was nothing short of a pitchers' duel for 12 innings, but it was the bat of Chris Iannetta that stole the show as he knocked in all three Angel runs, including two in the 13th inning, for a 3-1 Reds loss Monday.
Iannetta, the No. 8 hitter in the batting order for the Angels, batted in all three Los Angeles runs, with a solo home run in the third inning and a two-out, two-RBI, bases-loaded line drive single to left field on a 1-2 count.
Josh Hamilton reached base on a one-out walk in the 13th, followed later with a two-out intentional walk by Howie Kendrick, as they were the two runners who rounded the bases on the single by Iannetta.
Iannetta's other RBI, which was the first hit of the 2013 season for the Angels, came when he sent an 0-1 pitch on a straight line to the left-centerfield bleachers (390 feet) to put the Angels ahead 1-0 at the time in the top half of the second inning.
The win was credited to Angels reliever Mark Lowe (1-0), while the loss went to J.J. Hoover (0-1) as the Angels improved to 9-1 in their last 10 Opening Days, with this being the first interleague Opening Day game in MLB history, which was played in front of 43,168, the largest crowd for a regular-season game at Great American Ball Park.
Earning the save was Ernesto Frieri, as he struck out two of the four batters he faced in the final inning.
Cincinnati only managed to score once on Opening Day, in the bottom of the third, which at the time tied the score at 1-1.
In the bottom of the third, the Reds turned up the heat on the chilly afternoon by the Ohio River when Shin-Soo Choo took home plate on a wild pitch, tying the score at 1-1, sliding past a tag attempt by Jered Weaver with two outs. Choo first reached the bases on a lead-off double to left field.
Of the three total Reds hits, Choo went 2-for-5 with one run, while the other hit by the hosts went to Todd Frazier, who led off the second with a base hit to left field.
On the same sequence in which Choo scored the lone Reds run, Ryan Ludwick went from first to third on the wild pitch and throw to home but was injured as he slid head first into third, leaving the game with a dislocated right shoulder. Ludwick will have an MRI on his shoulder Tuesday.
Neither team scored more than one run until the 13th, and a big reason came from the pitching of aces Johnny Cueto of Cincinnati and Weaver as both combined to allow just five hits in 13 combined innings.
Cueto pitched seven innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks. He totaled nine strikeouts and retired the first seven batters he faced to open the season. The nine strikeouts by Cueto were the most since Mario Soto struck out 10 in 1982 against the Chicago Cubs.
[[In-content Ad]]As the Reds' Opening Day starter for two straight years, Cueto has allowed just one run in 14 innings for a 0.64 ERA.
Reds pitchers struck out 17 Angel batters, Monday, for a new Reds Opening Day record.
Weaver went six complete innings, allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks. Weaver struck out four. Weaver lowered his career Opening Day ERA to 1.93 in five starts and 32.2 innings, as he improved to 3-1 in the first game of the season.
As for Cueto, the seventh inning looked bleak but ended up being just a blip on the radar, with the Angels loading the bases with just one out. The next two batters for Los Angeles (Iannetta and JB Shuck) each struck out, with Iannetta striking out on a full count. The bases were loaded off a leadoff walk by Hamilton, a single to left field from Mark Trumbo and an intentional walk with one out to Alberto Callaspo.
The opposite can be said for the eighth as setup man Jonathan Broxton shut down the top of the Angels' order by forcing Mike Trout to ground out to third, then following that up with consecutive strikeouts of Erick Aybar and former NL MVP Albert Pujols, who finished the day 0-for-4 with one walk.
The top three batters in the Angels' order (Trout, Aybar and Pujols) went a combined 1-for-16 with one walk, striking out four times. The two-five batters in the Reds' lineup, including Phillips, Votto, Heisey and Jay Bruce went 0-for-17, with eight strikeouts, four by Bruce.
In the Reds' half of the eighth, they threatened with two base runners reaching second and third, but just like what happened with the visitors, Cincinnati struck out in consecutive at-bats (Heisey and Bruce) with one out to end the inning.
The Reds failed to get a hit in the ninth and tenth innings, while the Angels left two runners on the bags after both reached on walks.
In the top of the 12th, the Angels let a big opportunity slip through their fingers as Peter Bourjos tripled to centerfield with one out, but Hoover swept up Trout and Aybar with a strikeout and ground out to second to end the innings. The Reds' 12th saw them retire in order.
GAME NOTES: The Reds are 11-3 in extra inning Opening Day games … The Reds are 104-132 all-time in interleague play … Cincinnati is 2-1 in Opening Day games played on April 1 … The Reds have scored at least one run in 60 straight Opening Day games … Los Angeles is 165-120 all-time in interleague play … Hamilton was cheered in pre-game introductions as Hamilton played for the Reds in '07 where he played in 90 games.
Iannetta, the No. 8 hitter in the batting order for the Angels, batted in all three Los Angeles runs, with a solo home run in the third inning and a two-out, two-RBI, bases-loaded line drive single to left field on a 1-2 count.
Josh Hamilton reached base on a one-out walk in the 13th, followed later with a two-out intentional walk by Howie Kendrick, as they were the two runners who rounded the bases on the single by Iannetta.
Iannetta's other RBI, which was the first hit of the 2013 season for the Angels, came when he sent an 0-1 pitch on a straight line to the left-centerfield bleachers (390 feet) to put the Angels ahead 1-0 at the time in the top half of the second inning.
The win was credited to Angels reliever Mark Lowe (1-0), while the loss went to J.J. Hoover (0-1) as the Angels improved to 9-1 in their last 10 Opening Days, with this being the first interleague Opening Day game in MLB history, which was played in front of 43,168, the largest crowd for a regular-season game at Great American Ball Park.
Earning the save was Ernesto Frieri, as he struck out two of the four batters he faced in the final inning.
Cincinnati only managed to score once on Opening Day, in the bottom of the third, which at the time tied the score at 1-1.
In the bottom of the third, the Reds turned up the heat on the chilly afternoon by the Ohio River when Shin-Soo Choo took home plate on a wild pitch, tying the score at 1-1, sliding past a tag attempt by Jered Weaver with two outs. Choo first reached the bases on a lead-off double to left field.
Of the three total Reds hits, Choo went 2-for-5 with one run, while the other hit by the hosts went to Todd Frazier, who led off the second with a base hit to left field.
On the same sequence in which Choo scored the lone Reds run, Ryan Ludwick went from first to third on the wild pitch and throw to home but was injured as he slid head first into third, leaving the game with a dislocated right shoulder. Ludwick will have an MRI on his shoulder Tuesday.
Neither team scored more than one run until the 13th, and a big reason came from the pitching of aces Johnny Cueto of Cincinnati and Weaver as both combined to allow just five hits in 13 combined innings.
Cueto pitched seven innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks. He totaled nine strikeouts and retired the first seven batters he faced to open the season. The nine strikeouts by Cueto were the most since Mario Soto struck out 10 in 1982 against the Chicago Cubs.
[[In-content Ad]]As the Reds' Opening Day starter for two straight years, Cueto has allowed just one run in 14 innings for a 0.64 ERA.
Reds pitchers struck out 17 Angel batters, Monday, for a new Reds Opening Day record.
Weaver went six complete innings, allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks. Weaver struck out four. Weaver lowered his career Opening Day ERA to 1.93 in five starts and 32.2 innings, as he improved to 3-1 in the first game of the season.
As for Cueto, the seventh inning looked bleak but ended up being just a blip on the radar, with the Angels loading the bases with just one out. The next two batters for Los Angeles (Iannetta and JB Shuck) each struck out, with Iannetta striking out on a full count. The bases were loaded off a leadoff walk by Hamilton, a single to left field from Mark Trumbo and an intentional walk with one out to Alberto Callaspo.
The opposite can be said for the eighth as setup man Jonathan Broxton shut down the top of the Angels' order by forcing Mike Trout to ground out to third, then following that up with consecutive strikeouts of Erick Aybar and former NL MVP Albert Pujols, who finished the day 0-for-4 with one walk.
The top three batters in the Angels' order (Trout, Aybar and Pujols) went a combined 1-for-16 with one walk, striking out four times. The two-five batters in the Reds' lineup, including Phillips, Votto, Heisey and Jay Bruce went 0-for-17, with eight strikeouts, four by Bruce.
In the Reds' half of the eighth, they threatened with two base runners reaching second and third, but just like what happened with the visitors, Cincinnati struck out in consecutive at-bats (Heisey and Bruce) with one out to end the inning.
The Reds failed to get a hit in the ninth and tenth innings, while the Angels left two runners on the bags after both reached on walks.
In the top of the 12th, the Angels let a big opportunity slip through their fingers as Peter Bourjos tripled to centerfield with one out, but Hoover swept up Trout and Aybar with a strikeout and ground out to second to end the innings. The Reds' 12th saw them retire in order.
GAME NOTES: The Reds are 11-3 in extra inning Opening Day games … The Reds are 104-132 all-time in interleague play … Cincinnati is 2-1 in Opening Day games played on April 1 … The Reds have scored at least one run in 60 straight Opening Day games … Los Angeles is 165-120 all-time in interleague play … Hamilton was cheered in pre-game introductions as Hamilton played for the Reds in '07 where he played in 90 games.