A two-dinger day for the Cincinnati DH!
Nick Martini homered early and often as the Cincinnati Reds blanketed the Washington Nationals with a quilt of runs on Opening Day. Thanks to Martini’s pair of blasts and an excellent first outing from Frankie Montas (6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 4 K on 81 pitches), the Reds rolled their way to an 8-2 victory to begin their 2024 campaign.
Martini, tonight’s obvious Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game took former Cincinnati pitching prospect Josiah Gray deep twice, the first a 2-run blast in the Bottom of the 2nd that gave the Reds a 3-0 lead and the latter a 3-run tater in the Bottom of the 3rd that put the game on ice.
Montas, meanwhile, steamrolled a Nats lineup that lost former Cincinnati 1st round pick Nick Senzel in the pre-game hours to a broken thumb. Poor guy just can’t catch the right kind of break, can he?
Emilio Pagan served up a 2-run tater in mop-up duty while pretty clearly looking like he’s still working his way back to 100%, but that’s all the damage the Reds needed to deal with on the day.
Tony Graphanino
[Link to FanGraphs WPA chart & box score]
Other Notes
- Jake Fraley had a stellar beginning to the year, going 2 for 4 with a double, pair of runs scored, stolen bag, and a perfect throw to 2B to nail former Red Jesse Winker as he tried turning a single into a double.
- Elly De La Cruz began his MVP campaign with a single, walk, steal, and pair of runs scored. Did he have a throwing error? I don’t care.
- New southpaw Brent Suter fanned 4 in 2.0 perfect IP of relief. That’s cool!
- Spencer Steer had a ho-hum 2 for 3 day that included a double, a steal, a pair of ribbies, and a pair of runs scored. Why the hell is he hitting 7th, again?
- These two clubs will take Friday off before meeting again on Saturday, when Hunter Greene will toe the rubber for the Reds in his season debut. Patrick Corbin will be the honorary meatball server for Washington on the day, and we’ll see for the first time how manager David Bell goes platoony against a southpaw. First pitch in that one is set for 4:10 PM ET.
- Tunes.