Moustakas ignites Reds' revamped offense

CINCINNATI -- The Reds spent heavily in the free-agent market to upgrade offensively by adding Mike Moustakas, Nick Castellanos and Shogo Akiyama. All three shiny new stars provided Sonny Gray ample run support in Cincinnati’s 7-1 victory over the Tigers on Opening Day on Friday at Great American Ball Park.

Moustakas had three hits and four RBIs, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh. Joey Votto also showed that a classic hitter doesn’t go out of style, recording two hits, including a home run of his own, and scoring two runs.

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For a club that ranked 12th in the National League in runs, batting average and OPS in 2019, the lineup appeared to follow the new blueprint to a T.

“A lot of great things happened tonight,” Reds manager David Bell said.

Taking advantage of struggling Tigers lefty starter Matthew Boyd, the first five batters reached safely in the bottom of the first inning. That included Votto with a single lined into right field. With the bases loaded, Boyd hit Castellanos on the left foot with a pitch to force home Phillip Ervin. Moustakas followed with a blooped single into right field for a 2-0 lead.

Castellanos hit a one-out double to left field in the third inning and scored on Moustakas' second RBI single to left-center field. Leading off the fifth inning against Boyd, Votto slugged a 2-0 pitch into the right-field seats to make it a 4-1 game.

“Good sign, a home run off left-handed pitching,” Bell said of Votto. “When he’s right, it doesn’t matter if they’re a left- or right-hander. He’s in a great place, as we talked about.”

With Great American Ball Park lacking fans and electricity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it was up to the players to create their own atmosphere.

Akiyama -- who signed a three-year, $21 million deal to come to the United States as Cincinnati’s first Japanese big leaguer -- debuted as a pinch-hitter with two outs in the sixth. He could hear his teammates, including Votto and Eugenio Suárez, yelling encouragement in English and Japanese.

Against José Cisnero, Akiyama saw six straight fastballs -- all 95 mph or higher -- and he fought the last one hard as he notched his first big league hit and RBI with a single through the middle.

“I’m not used to pinch-hitting to begin with,” explained Akiyama via translator Luke Shinoda. “I wasn’t sure if I would be able to produce some results. Without the fans especially, I was able to hear my teammates cheering on ‘Shogo!’ and ‘Gambre!’ which means ‘Let’s go!’ in Japanese. I was just trying to have fun here.”

Moustakas capped off his big game by crushing reliever David McKay’s 3-1 pitch an estimated 421 feet into the right-field seats for a two-run homer. Even without fans, he had a cheering section in the seats behind third base.

“It was definitely strange,” said Moustakas, who signed a four-year, $64 million contract in December. “What was really cool though was the grounds crew was out there and they were cheering. I think they were coming out to fix the field up the next inning. They were cheering and that was really cool to see them. Definitely a little different than we’re used to.”

Moustakas also drew cheers from teammates on the field and Gray when he made a diving stop behind second base on Cameron Maybin’s hard grounder up the middle. Gray tipped his cap to Moustakas in an appreciative response.

Gray cruised for six innings and 90 pitches (57 strikes), allowing one run and three hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. His only blemish was giving up C.J. Cron’s two-out solo homer to left field in the fourth inning. Last season, the All-Star pitcher wasn’t always afforded run support.

“We've got a lineup that's going to challenge any pitcher every inning, and that's special to have,” said Gray, who recorded his 1,000th career strikeout in the game. "We're learning how to win and we're talking about winning more and more, and what it takes to continue to win. This was Game 1, and we're going to come out tomorrow and try to do the same.”