Suarez, Duvall send Reds past Phillies

PHILADELPHIA -- Eugenio Suarez and Adam Duvall each notched three hits while Jay Bruce reached base five times as the Reds won their third road game of the season on Sunday by taking a 9-4 victory over the Phillies, snapping a three-game losing streak.
"Today is a big day, a different day," Suarez said. "We finally did good with men in scoring position."
Duvall's RBI double and Tucker Barnhart's RBI single in the second inning off Phillies lefty Adam Morgan gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead. Timely hitting and Philadelphia miscues opened up opportunities for the Reds in the fourth.
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The bases were loaded with one out when Morgan walked Reds starting pitcher Dan Straily -- hitless in his 12 career plate appearances -- on four pitches to force home a run. Next, Tyler Holt hit a potential double-play ball to first baseman Ryan Howard, who had trouble getting the ball out of his glove before making the force-play throw to second. That enabled Suarez to bat and drive a 3-2 Morgan pitch to center for a three-run homer and a 7-0 lead.

Morgan allowed seven earned runs and eight hits over 3 2/3 innings with three walks and one strikeout.
"Right from the gate, I felt like I was searching for the rhythm and the tempo and it was just one of those days where the command wasn't there," Morgan said.

Straily flirted with danger all afternoon, as he stranded a runner in scoring position in each of his five shutout innings. While throwing 109 pitches, Straily gave up six hits and three walks with six strikeouts.
"I think today was bend but don't break," Straily said. "I was fighting myself. I had developed a nice little blister [on my middle finger] and was fighting that. I just kind of made pitches when I absolutely had to. I try to do that every time but bases loaded and guys on third base in what seemed like every inning, I was able to find a way to get out of it."

The chilly afternoon became a slog in the late innings as the pitching staffs combined for 14 walks over the three-hour, 52-minute game. Zack Cozart hit a bases-loaded single for two runs and 9-3 Reds lead in the ninth. But reliever Drew Hayes gave up three hits and a bases-loaded walk with one out in the bottom of the inning. It became a save situation for Tony Cingrani, who entered and got the final two outs for his third save.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Suarez snaps funk: Entering the day, Suarez was in a 2-for-22 stretch that included a recently-snapped season-high 0-for-15 slump. Already with two hits in the game, his long ball in the fifth did not look like it would clear the fence. But after it left the bat at 104 mph, according to Statcast™, it appeared to carry with the wind and traveled 418 feet for his team-leading seventh homer of the season.
"Today I found my right spot. I feel great at the plate," Suarez said. "I saw the ball really good, breaking ball, changeup whatever. I tried to work on my leg kick. Right now, it's not too high. That's why I feel like I'm staying more with the ball and seeing the ball good. I tried to hit middle-opposite field. That's why I had a big day. I put in the practice." More >

Stranded: The Phillies had a chance to answer the Reds' five-run fourth in the bottom of the inning when Cesar Hernandez stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Hernandez hit a shot that hooked foul down the right field line and eventually struck out. It was not the only time the Phillies failed to get runners home in the loss. Philadelphia went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position during the first five innings and stranded a total of 16 runners on base in the game.
"We just couldn't capitalize with men in scoring position, men on base," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "It is what it is. We've been playing so well up to this point and this was a hiccup."

Franco provides the offense:Maikel Franco broke the Phillies' runners-in-scoring-position slump in the sixth inning when he hit a two-run double with two outs. The hit, Franco's seventh double of the season, glanced off Holt's glove in center. Franco also had a run-scoring single in the eighth to raise his season RBI total to 22.

Cozart big pinch-hit: Cozart's hit in the ninth proved to be big insurance runs as the Phillies made the Reds feel uncomfortable in the bottom of the ninth.
"Sometimes it feels like you don't have enough," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "[Cozart] gives us that cushion and we ended up needing every bit of that. We were on more getting away from having to face Franco with the bases loaded in a four-run game. That was something we really wanted to avoid."

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Odubel Herrera earned his 28th walk of the season in the fourth inning on Sunday, matching his total from last season. The Phillies outfielder needed just 162 plate appearances to do so after totaling 537 in 2015.
VOTTO IN SLUMP, STILL TOYS WITH FANS
Reds first baseman Joey Votto was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, snapping his streak of reaching safely at 20 games. Votto is also hitless in his last 14 plate appearances since hitting a homer on Monday. His recent funk didn't prevent him from having fun at the fans' expense.
In the bottom of the sixth, he fielded a Hernandez foul ball and motioned that he would give the fans a souvenir. It proved to be a fake-out as Votto instead turned and tossed the ball back to Barnhart amid boos. Votto showed a sly smile and pumped his fist in jest. During his final at-bat, fans at Citizens Bank Park booed him lustily and cheered when he struck out for the third time. More >

WHAT'S NEXT
Reds: The five-game road trip makes its second stop on Monday when the Reds open a two-game series vs. the Indians at 6:10 p.m. ET. John Lamb, who was pushed back a couple of days with a thumb injury, is set to make the start vs. Cleveland.
Phillies: The Phillies will continue their homestand when they open a three-game series against the Marlins on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. ET. Jerad Eickhoff will get the start for Philadelphia, which took two of three from Miami last weekend. .
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