Jose Barrero picked up three hits, including his first home run of the spring as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-4 on Friday evening in Goodyear.
| Final |
R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (14-12-1) | 7 | 13 | 0 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks (13-14-1) | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Greene L: Gallen SV: Diaz |
|||
| Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Highlights
Cincinnati didn’t waste much time getting on the board. Spencer Steer came up with one out in the top of the 1st inning and hit a 412-foot solo home run to make it a 1-0 game. Hunter Greene took over from there, tossing 4.0 shutout innings while striking out two batters in the game. When he left the game he had a 2-0 lead, with the Reds getting their second run when Jose Barrero singled, stole second base and later scored on a ground out in the top of the 4th inning.
In the 5th inning it was Jose Barrero in the middle of the action once again. Jason Vosler singled and Spencer Steer walked before Barrero clobbered a 93 MPH fastball from Zac Gallen over the wall in right-center to make it 5-0.
? 414 feet
? 104.7 mph exit veloJose’s hot spring continues?? pic.twitter.com/gR8tGd7Dhk
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) March 24, 2023
Ian Gibaut took over for Greene when the bottom of the 5th inning began. It wasn’t a smooth inning, but Gibaut worked around a leadoff single and a 1-out walk to keep the shutout alive. Hunter Strickland entered the game in the 6th and things went south. Evan Longoria doubled to lead off the inning, then Strickland walked Kyle Lewis to put two men on. Christian Walker then doubled to put Arizona on the board and make it 5-1. Corbin Carroll followed with an RBI hit of his own and it was 5-2 in the blink of an eye. After getting a pop up for the first out of the inning, another RBI single followed to bring in two more runs and Cincinnati’s lead was down to one. Strickland was able to limit the damage to four runs by retiring the next two batters.
The offense got one of those runs back in the top of the 7th when Kevin Newman and Jose Barrero doubled. It was Barrero’s third hit of the day, and his second extra-base hit. In the bottom of the inning it was time for Buck Farmer to take the mound. He made quick work of Arizona, throwing 10 pitches (9 of which were strikes) in a 1-2-3 inning that included two strikeouts.
Henry Ramos continued his hot hitting on the spring in the top of the 8th, leading off with a 402-foot home run that came off of his bat at 109 MPH. That extended Cincinnati’s lead to 7-4. Fernando Cruz took over on the mound for the 8th inning and kept his ERA perfect on the spring with a 1-2-3 frame that included a strikeout, sending the game to the 9th. After the Reds went down in order in the top of the inning, Alex Diaz took over to try and seal the win in the bottom of the 9th. He did just that, tossing a perfect inning with a strikeout to pick up the save.
With the big day at the plate Jose Barrero raised his line this spring to .325/.386/.600 with seven extra-base hits in 15 games. Henry Ramos is hitting .500 (13-26) with two walks, two strikeouts, and he’s slugging .846 this spring.
Fernando Cruz has allowed just one hit in his four outings with the Reds this spring, covering 4.0 innings with five strikeouts. Cruz spent time in the World Baseball Classic this month with Team Puerto Rico.
Saturday’s Game
The Reds will host the Chicago White Sox Saturday night. They’ll send Connor Overton to the mound at 9:05pm ET.
