Frankie Montas started for the Reds against the Diamondbacks Tuesday, and looked strong in his first pitching appearance since suffering a large forearm contusion caused by a batted ball. Montas struck out 7 Arizona batters in the game, but that wasn’t nearly enough, and neither were Jonathan India’s solo homer in the 7th inning or Tyler Stephenson’s in the bottom of the 9th. Those were all nice, but needed more material in between them, as the D-Backs won the game 6-2, Cincinnati’s 4th straight loss. The Reds will keep trying to get back on the winning track against Arizona again tonight, in the second of the 3-game series at Great American. We’ll bring you the Reds and the Snakes live, the broadcast arriving on your radio at 6:10, on the Sports Voice, 103.9 FM, WRBI.
Also tonight, it’ll be the second game of the NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals, the Indiana Pacers looking to even up their best-of-7 playoff series with the Knicks in New York at a game apiece. Despite Jalen Brunson scoring 43 points Monday night, New York only edged past the Pacers 121-117 at Madison Square Garden. The Pacers could capture some strong momentum going into Game 3 by grabbing this win. The contest tips tonight at 8:00.
High school action across our region was curtailed quite a bit by showers and thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon, although a few contests did get played. East Central has artificial turf, so its softball doubleheader with Batesville went ahead. The Bulldog girls probably wish it hadn’t, since the Trojans won big in both games, 12-1 and 14-3. North Decatur also played baseball at Lawrenceburg, and the Tigers shut out the Chargers, 15-0.
Even after last night’s heavy storms in many places, today’s schedules include planned games like Jac-Cen-Del softball hosting Southwestern of Hanover, North Decatur visiting Knightstown, Franklin County going to Rushville, South Decatur at Crothersville, East Central heading to Connersville, and South Ripley hosting Milan.
In baseball, the schools hope the weather lets them play games like Jac-Cen-Del traveling to Edinburgh, Milan visiting South Ripley, South Dearborn heading for Rising Sun, and East Central hosting Madison.
If you missed it Tuesday, IndyCar racing’s Team Penske penalized its own cars and drivers for illegal use of the “push to pass” technology in the March St. Petersburg, Florida Grand Prix. The group of 4 Penske officials suspended for the next 2 races, one of which is the Indy 500, includes team President Tim Cindric, who admits he failed leading the team in that case.