Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday 9/22/20
22 September 2020 Sports
Eugenio Suárez hit a two-run homer, Luis Castillo won his fourth straight start, and streaking Cincinnati moved above .500 for the first time since opening day, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 Monday night. The Reds (28-27) won for the eighth time in nine games, a season-best surge that’s put them back in playoff contention. They’re chasing the Cardinals for second place in the NL Central. The Reds are coming off six losing seasons and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2013. They spent $156 million in the offseason — one of the majors’ biggest splurges — to try to reverse course.
The Brewers (26-27) had their season-high four-game winning streak snapped, wasting a chance to move above .500 for the first time this season. They’ve reached break-even seven times. Milwaukee reached the playoffs each of the last two seasons with hot Septembers, including a 7-1 win at Great American Ball Park last Sept. 25 that clinched a wild card. The Brewers couldn’t keep it going in their return.
Suárez connected in the sixth inning off Woodruff (2-5), who had repeatedly escaped threats. Suárez fell behind 0-2 in the count, barely fouled off a pitch, then hit his 14th homer off a fastball. Woodruff fanned nine in 5 2/3 innings.
The Reds pulled away in the eighth against Drew Rasmussen. Curt Casali led off with a homer and Mike Moustakas added a three-run shot. Castillo (4-5) has gotten back into form as the shortened season has gone along, winning his last four starts with a 1.25 ERA over that span. He gave up four hits and fanned nine in 6 2/3 innings.
Jedd Gyorko homered off one of Castillo’s few mistakes, connecting on a hanging, 0-2 slider in the fifth inning. Castillo dropped his head in disgust as soon as Gyorko made contact.
Amir Garrett relieved Castillo with runners on second and third and retired pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor on a grounder to preserve the 2-1 lead. Jace Peterson hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Nate Jones.
The two teams meet again tonight. LH Brett Anderson (3-3) makes his second start since he was scratched because of tightness in his hip. He’s 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA in two starts against the Reds this season. The Reds send RH Sonny Gray (5-3) to the mound. Gray’s back issues limited him to a total of four innings in his last two starts with 11 earned runs allowed. First pitch is at 5:40 and the game can be heard on AM1100/98.3FM, WISS.
On the Brewers injury front, catcher Manny Piña won’t start baseball activities until next week as he recovers from an injured right knee.
Elsewhere in the NL Central the Cubs shut out the Pirates 5-0 and the Royals beat the Cardinals 4-1.
The Packers looked at film yesterday of their 42-21 victory at Lambeau Field over the Lions. Green Bay’s offense was led by Aaron Jones as he had a career-high 168 yards and scored three touchdowns. Running mate Jamaal Williams added 63 yards, averaging nearly eight yards a carry. Aaron Rodgers completed 18 of 30 passes for 240 yards with touchdown passes to Jones and Robert Tonyan. Receivers Marquez-Valdes-Scantling and Allen Lazard also had some big catches. Defensively, the Packers got off to a slow start as Detroit scored touchdowns on its’ first two possessions but then settled in and limited the Lions to just seven more points, those coming on a fourth quarter touchdown. Injury wise, receiver Davante Adams left with a hamstring injury, center Corey Linsley suffered a hand injury and running back/receiver Tyler Ervin suffered a concussion in the second half. The Packers played without defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who injured in his groin in a 43-34 victory at Minnesota in week one. Green Bay is off today before preparations begin Wednesday for the Saints game at New Orleans Sunday night.
Last night the Saints lost at Las Vegas as the Raiders won their opening game in their new stadium 34-24. Quarterback Derek Carr had a big night for the Raiders completing 28 of 38 passes for 282 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The Saints led early, playing without the services of their leading receiver Michael Thomas. But then the Raiders defense began to pressur Drew Brees and their offense began to control the game. Las Vegas improves to 2-0 and New Orleans drops to 1-1.
The NFL fined three head coaches — Denver‘s Vic Fangio, Seattle‘s Pete Carroll and San Francisco‘s Kyle Shanahan — $100,000 each for not wearing masks Sunday, according to ESPN. In addition, the league fined each coach’s team $250,000.
The $1,050,000 in punishments comes a week after the league sent a memo to teams reinforcing its requirement that coaches wear coverings over their mouths and noses at all times on the sidelines during games, threatening discipline for those who don’t comply. The sharply worded message, written by executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, came in response to wide variance in compliance during the first Sunday of the 2020 season.
Players are exempt from these protocols. More fines could be coming, as several other coaches violated the league’s rules, among them New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and both coaches in Monday night’s game, Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders and Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints.
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