Cincinnati’s RHP Mike Leake (ERA 4.01) has had his up and downs this season, but on Friday night he brought everything he had to Great American Ball Park and led the Reds to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins.
Marlon Byrd gave the Reds a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when he hit his eleventh home run of the season on a fly ball to center field off a 87 mph fastball off of Miami’s Dan Haren.
Leake first went perfect through four and one thirds and then continued to no hit the Marlins into the sixth inning when, with two outs, Christian Yelich hit a single on a ground ball to left field.
The 27 year old righty then went on allow another hit by Marcell Ozuna, in the seventh inning. His final line was: 7IP, 2H, 3BB, 7K and earned his fourth win of the season and improve to .500 on the season (4-4).
In the bottom of the seventh, a RBI single by Skip Schumaker with Tucker Barnhart on base, the Reds took a 2-0 lead.
But, Cincinnati was then able to add three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, the first two runs scored off a two run double by Jay Bruce, his tenth of the season and then a RBI double by Eugenio Suarez to send Bruce home.
After Leake’s stellar performance, RHP J.J. Hoover (ERA 1.48) pitched a one hit eighth inning and RHP Pedro Villarreal (ERA 4.00) pitched a one hit ninth inning while striking out two batters. Hoover earned his fifth hold of the season.
Up Next:
The Marlins and Reds will meet again on Saturday night at 7:10pm when RHP Tom Koehler (3.76, 5-4) will take the start for the Marlins and rookie RHP Anthony DeSclafani (3.36, 5-4) taking the start for the Reds against his former team.
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