This one’s for you, Jack: Phillies 4, Reds 1

I’ll admit it. I didn’t have any hope for Nick Pivetta this season. He’s done nothing but disappoint when given the opportunities to succeed and still many of us keep coming back to the well. The fastball is too good, the curveball is too good, it’s all there for him to be really good. And yet he continually disappoints.

Not on Saturday.

Nick Pivetta was incredible. He went the full nine innings, notching his first complete game of his career, scattering six hits with nary a walk allowed. His first inning was a little rough, giving up a double to Nick Senzel and a single to Joey Votto to begin things, but after a double play that allowed the run to score, Pivetta was locked in. Until Votto again singled in the seventh inning, Pivetta set down 17 Reds in a row. Everything was working for him. He was getting groundballs, striking men out and genuinely looked like the breakout candidate many had touted him to be.

The Phillies’ offense helped out quite a bit. In the first inning, Jay Bruce continued his offensive onslaught as a Phillie by beating the shift and delivering a bases loaded single that gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead. It would stay that way until the top of the fourth when J.T. Realmuto stepped to the plate against Tanner Roark.

There have been some dark corners of the internet a smidge disappointed with Realmuto’s offense this season since it’s not the same numbers he had last year with Miami, but I’m not sure what game those people are watching. Realmuto has been everything the team could have asked for.

In the fifth, Bryce Harper singled, then took second on an error by Roark and brought Jean Segura up to the plate. He...well, this tweet sums it up perfectly.

In a week where Segura endured to insane ramblings from a local radio host blaming him for Andrew McCutchen’s freak injury, he delivered here with a clutch triple that sealed the deal for the Phillies.

The big story was Pivetta. He was great. We can throw the caveat that this is Reds and that we’d still like to see him do it more, but this is two starts in a row he has been really good. Last weekend it was the Dodgers on the road and here it’s a complete game victory. I feel like we say it often, but hopefully he is beginning to turn a corner. So, celebrate this one like you’re a Fritz. It was a good day.