Phil Ervin hits walk-off homer against San Francisco, backs excellent Anthony DeSclafani in 2-1 win

There’s some Friday excitement for ya!

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star(s) of the Game

Phil Ervin didn’t get a start for the Cincinnati Reds on the night, but he sure as heck made the best usage of his talents late.

Phlerv slugged a walk-off, 11th inning solo blast off Ray Black, a cracked meatball over the wall in CF that the Reds desperately needed. It was a heckuva swing, and one that will hopefully earn the guy some more playing time despite the apparent druthers from the current Cincinnati manager...

Also:

Anthony DeSclafani has been on some kind of roll for the Cincinnati Reds lately. After back to back 7 IP starts in which he allowed a grand total of one run, the righty fired 7.2 innings of excellent 1 ER work against the San Francisco Giants on Friday in the series opener, an outing that would’ve actually been 8 IP had the swinging strike three to Alen Hanson with 2-out in the Top of the 8th been blocked by Curt Casali instead of getting past him to the wall for an allowed baserunner.

In fact, as the Reds PR department noted on Twitter earlier, Disco’s string of three straight 7+ IP starts is the first time that’s happened since Disco himself pulled off that feat back in 2016.

This is precisely the kind of Disco we’ve all been hoping to see be able to string a few 30+ start seasons, but at least one thing is for sure: when he’s healthy, he’s a dang good pitcher, and one who could help anchor this staff while the team is actually good enough to win some damn games going forward.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Scooter Gennett, who doubled and singled twice; Curt Casali, who singled twice; Jose Peraza, who singled twice and doinked in a run; and Raisel Iglesias, who fired a pair of scoreless innings - with a trio of Ks.

Key Plays

• The Reds got on the board first in this one, plating a run in the Bottom of the 2nd. Tucker Barnhart led off with a double, and he scored two batters later on Curt Casali’s bloop single into RF. Reds led, 1-0.
• The Giants kicked back in the Top of the 3rd, however, as Steven Duggar doubled into the LF corner and later scored on an RBI single by Andrew McCutchen, who I had hoped had completely wrapped up his days of torturing the Reds in GABP. Guess not - yet. Game tied, 1-1.
• Things stagnated completely until the Bottom of the 11th, when Phlerv turned around a meatball off Ray Black for a walk-off dinger, giving the Reds a much needed win. Reds won, 2-1!

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Pat Kelly, the bench coach of the Reds, is the father of Giants pitcher Casey Kelly, who got the start for San Francisco on the night. Casey also just so happened to be a high school teammate of Scooter Gennett from their time spent in Sarasota, FL.
• * cough cough hackle grumble sneeze cough cough *
• Matt Harvey will get yet another start for the Reds on Saturday in a somewhat star-studded matchup between he and Giants starter Madison Bumgarner, at least in terms of name recognition. First pitch is set for 7:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.