Brandon Drury powers Reds to win over his former team in Arizona

PHOENIX –– In April, when Cincinnati Reds infielder Brandon Drury made the Opening Day roster as the injury replacement for a backup infielder, he was only expected to be a platoon player against left-handed starting pitchers.

Then when second baseman Jonathan India and third baseman Mike Moustakas each missed half of the first month of the season, the window cracked open for Drury to get playing time. Two months later, Drury is one of the Reds’ most valuable players of the 2022 season.

On Monday at Chase Field, Drury hit the game-tying three-run home run as the Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-4. Drury erased a three-run deficit and hit his team-high 12th home run of the season.

Brandon Drury now 'a really big part of the team'

"I’m excited to keep proving myself," Drury said. "We’ve still got a lot of games left but I’m looking forward to it for sure.”

No other Reds player has more than eight homers all season. Among the team's qualifying hitters, Drury leads the Reds with a .276 batting average and a .861 OPS. His OPS ranks 21st in MLB.

“I’ve been trying to let the ball travel (to me) a little bit more," Drury said. "Letting the ball get a little deeper on me and taking an aggressive swing. I think that’s allowing me to pick up off-speed (pitches) a little bit better and just see the ball better."

Drury only got his first consistent opportunity of the season when India and Moustakas were injured. On Monday, for the first time since April 14, India and Moustakas were both available to play in the same game.

India has missed most of the year with a hamstring injury, and Moustakas has had three different stints on the injured list. India didn’t start on Monday because he was a late addition to the active roster for the game, but he’ll start every day at second base going forward. Moustakas, who signed one of the biggest free agent deals in Reds history, will continue to have a role as a power hitter in the lineup.

But Drury has shown enough that his playing time isn’t expected to go down even with India and Moustakas’ return. Even though Drury plays the same two positions India and Moustakas play, Reds manager David Bell said Drury’s role has been established.

“Not only the home run but just everything he brings to our team, the intensity, the competitive, he’s a great guy," Bell said. "(He) wants to be up in all the situations... He’s just a really big part of our team in every way.”

Now, Drury and Moustakas could split time between third base and designated hitter, and Drury is expected to stay in the No. 2 spot in the Reds order. His contributions for the offense have been too valuable for his role to change.

"He cares a lot about his craft and he works at it," Moustakas said. "He comes in every day ready to work, and he plays the game the right way. He’s a great teammate and a great baseball player, and it’s been fun to watch him have success this year. He has always been a good player ever since I’ve known him. I’ve always watched him from afar."

Following Drury’s homer in the fifth inning, Moustakas gave the Reds a 5-4 lead with a broken-bat RBI single in the sixth. In his first game back, Moustakas' RBI to shallow right field was the difference.

"I felt good at the plate today all day," Moustakas said. "I put some good at-bats together and I’ve been putting some good at-bats together even before I went on the IL. It always feels good to help win a ballgame, but today was a good one."

Could Mike Minor be turning a corner on pitching?

Reds starting pitcher Mike Minor, who had allowed multiple home runs in each of his first two starts with the Reds, made his best appearance with the team versus Arizona. While he allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings, two of those runs scored because of missed opportunities in the Reds infield in the fourth inning.

"Early on, (my command) was pretty bad," Minor said. "In the first inning, I was misfiring and stuff like that. I just felt like I was attacking the hitters a little bit better later in the game. Some of my pitch sequences earlier, they were sitting on them with the way they were swinging. I threw a lot more fastballs later in the game and they weren’t seeing it well."

Even after Minor allowed two runs in an unlucky fourth inning, he responded with 2 ⅓ more scoreless innings. He almost exclusively threw his fastball and his slider, but Minor had more success with his two most reliable pitches by getting ahead in the count and tossing 20 called strikes.

When Bell pulled him with one out in the seventh inning, Minor got high fives and pats on the back from every Reds infielder.

"Mikey through the ball fantastic for us," Moustakas said. "He battled, went out there and competed the entire game."

Reiver Sanmartin, pitching in his first game as a member of the Reds bullpen following Monday’s callup, was immediately thrown into a high-leverage situation in the eighth inning. He was moved to the bullpen after a demotion in Triple-A, and Sanmartin said he got his “confidence back” after a very disappointing start to the year in Triple-A.

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Brandon Drury powers Reds to win over his former team in Arizona

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