Game 51: Reds 9 Pirates 6

When this game started, it seemed like it was going to be a short night for both Ian Snell and Johnny Cueto with lots of offense and not a lot of pitching. Somehow both of them escaped huge jams in the first and kind of settled down, Snell more so than Cueto. In fact, Snell cruised between the second and the fifth, settling into a nice groove and not really walking anyone. Unfortunately, that didn't last terribly long and Snell gave up three walks, a sac fly, and a monstrous homer to Adam Dunn in the fifth, then two singles and another walk in the sixth before giving way to Damaso Marte, who was awful. It was actually almost impressive how quickly Snell and Marte turned a 3-0 lead into an 8-3 deficit.

There's not really much of a story beyond those two right there. The Bucs touched up Cueto for 3 runs and picked up 3 more in the ninth and I think they win tonight with a solid pitching outing. They didn't get anything resembling that and so they lost a pretty miserable game. The highlight of the game was honestly Jay Bruce's debut. You don't see guys get on base five times with three hits in their big league debuts every day of the week (or, you know, ever).

Actually, there was one other highlight, but it only existed for people who watched the game on the Cincinnati feed. The most ridiculous commercial for the most ridiculous dating site in history: FarmersOnly.com. I only wish I was kidding.