Wow! That was some Reds game last night! After a couple losses, to the Cubs last Sunday and the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday, the Reds got back on track in a big way last night, mostly due to the bat of Jeimar Candelario. He calmly belted a homer to center right in the bottom of the first inning, then with a couple teammates on base in the 6th, Jeimar ripped another farther to right, putting Cincinnati back on top of the Guardians 4 to 2, which ended up being the final, for a split of the 2 games. That makes the Reds’ season record 33 & 35 going into Milwaukee tomorrow, where they’ll face the Brewers for 3. So no game tonight, but we’ll have all the action for you again tomorrow evening, the broadcast arriving on your radio at 7:40 Friday, on the Sports Voice, 103.9, WRBI.
The guy who’d been the Reds’ Number 2 prospect, 22-year-old 3rd baseman Noelvi Marte, began a rehab assignment Tuesday, with the Triple-A Louisville Bats. That’s believed to be the final step before he can return to the majors, after an 80-game suspension that started in early March. It was due to the banned anabolic-androgenic steroid Boldenone showing up in his system on a routine test. Marte recently went 2 for 5 in a game, with a first-inning double and a run scored, in a 3-2 Louisville loss to St. Paul. He’ll be eligible to return to the big leagues on the 27th of this month, when the Reds are in St. Louis.
This week, the IU Natatorium is hosting the first National Parks & Recreation Swim Championships, sanctioned by USA Swimming, until Saturday. The event features swimmers from public pool swim clubs across America. Leland Brown the 3rd of USA Swimming says in these words, “This is for our kids in urban settings and our kids in Parks & Rec facilities to help see themselves as elite swimmers.” The event leads up to the US Olympic Swim Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Congratulations to another local athlete, and it turns out this time for getting onto a bigger stage, for potentially more success. Batesville High School’s consistently winning high jumper, rising senior Ayden Eckstein, is heading east. Ayden only came in 6th in the state track & field meet at IU in Bloomington on the 2nd of this month, yet in a qualifying meet last weekend at Marian University, reports say he set a new personal record above the 6 feet 6 he’d cleared at state, which sends Eckstein on to the Outdoor Nationals, this coming weekend in Philadelphia. Best of luck to Ayden in that one.
Checking the high speed schedule, there’s no IndyCar race this weekend, but the tour fires back up on the 23rd, a week from Sunday, with an evening eastern time race, the Grand Prix of Monterey, California. The current point standings have Will Power in first place at 236 after his big win last week at RoadAmerica in Wisconsin. Only 5 points back in 2nd is Alex Palou, and just 6 behind him in 3rd place at 225 is Scott Dixon. Also in the top 5, Pato O’Ward and Scott McLaughlin.