The joke was on Shin-Soo Choo for most of Monday’s Reds-Cardinals game, as the newly converted center fielder dropped a pair of Yadier Molina flyballs to give St. Louis three of its four runs.
Then came the top of the ninth inning. With Cardinals closer Mitchell Boggs in a 4-4 game, the Reds exploded -- well, that’s probably not precisely the right word -- for nine runs, turning the NL Central battle into a 13-4 laugher.
Here’s how the inning went:
- Shin-Soo Choo walked
- Chris Heisey fouled off a sac bunt attempt, then popped out (1st out)
- Choo advanced to second on a wild pitch
- Joey Votto was intentionally walked
- Brandon Phillips flared a ball down the right field line that bounced off the chalk for an RBI double (5-4)
- Jay Bruce was intentionally walked, loading the bases
- Todd Frazier walked (6-4)
- Jack Hannahan grounded to third, David Freese bobbled, everyone safe on infield single (7-4)
- Ryan Hanigan grounded to short, Pete Kozma bobbled, everyone safe on error (8-4)
At this point, Boggs finally gets pulled in favor of Marc Rzepczynski
- Cesar Izturis singled to right (9-4)
- Shin-Soo Choo tripled to left (12-4)
- Chris Heisey grounded out (2nd out)
- Joey Votto singled to left (13-4)
- Brandon Phillips walked
- Jay Bruce grounded one off Rzepczynski’s glove for an infield single
- Todd Frazier struck out (3rd out)
Two intentional walks, three regular walks. An error and two more infield singles that could have been errors.
In all, it was pretty much the ugliest inning you’ll ever see from a good baseball team. Boggs and Rzepczynski combined to throw 52 pitches to 16 batters. Boggs was charged with six earned runs, taking his ERA to 14.54. Rzepczynski gave up two runs.