Reds-Diamonbacks: Willy Taveras Leads Reds Attack

The Reds started their road trip with a bang last night, pounding the Diamondbacks 13-5.

Check out this statistic.  On April 18, the Reds were the worst hitting team in the National League with a .208 batting average.  They are now tied for fifth in the NL with a team batting average of .262.

There were many contributors in the offensive attack.

Willy Taveras extended his hitting streak to 12 games, going 5-for-5 and scoring four runs.  He also drove in two.

Jerry Hairston had two doubles, scored two runs, and had two RBI.

Joey Votto had two hits, two RBI, and scored a run.

Brandon Phillips collected two hits and two RBI.  Phillips had a double in the fifth inning because he was hustling down the line and took second base on a lazy play by the left fielder.  Hopefully, this will become the norm and we won't have to make a note of every time Brandon Phillips hustles.

Laynce Nix continued to make the most of his opportunities.  He had two hits, one being a 433-foot home run to straight-away center in the fourth inning.

Adam Rosales followed that blast with one of his own, a 424-foot shot to left field.  Rosales had three hits on the night and scored three runs.

Bronson Arroyo was not at his best, but did go seven innings.  He allowed all five of Arizona's runs.  Daniel Ray Herrera and Mike Lincoln closed it out.  With the victory, Arroyo improves to 5-2 on the season.

The Reds have the best road record (11-5) in Major League Baseball so far this season.  Hopefully, they can keep it going tonight.  It will be Micah Owings (2-3) facing his former team, who will send Dan Haren (3-3) to the mound.

Other notes:

Alex Gonzalez took batting practice yesterday, but still missed his seventh game in a row.

I really hope that this is not true.

Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 29 games.

Randy Johnson gave up four runs in five innings for the Giants last night, but still got the win.  It was number 298 for the future hall-of-famer.

Astros hitting coach Sean Berry was released from the hospital following surgery to remove a cancerous kidney.  He is expected to return to the team in a couple of weeks.