Votto tied Tony Perez for third place on the Reds' career home run list with 287. He passed David Concepcion for seventh place on the all-time RBI list with 951.
Gray pitched six innings and extended his streak for holding opponents to six hits or less to 35. He allowed two runs on four hits. Francisco Lindor hit his third home run of the season in the first inning off Gray. The Reds' starter gave up a single to Oscar Mercado in the second. Gray was charged with an error on a bad pick off attempt. Two wild pitches sent Mercado to the plate with an unearned run.
The righthander wasn't pleased with his first two innings.
"I was so upset with myself," Gray said. "I came out with the wrong kind of energy. I told the guys pick me up, pick me up, pick me up. That was a team win, man. I'm so proud of those guys."
Votto was not consumed with joining Reds' history so much as he was picking up his teammate on the mound.
"The competitor in me doesn't get too caught up in things like that. Fans love those guys here. I get to be mentioned beside them. I don't think a lot about it but it is cool for sure," Votto said. "Sonny is very competitive. He chose to come here in the prime of his career. He is the kind of guy, who is easy to compete along side."
Manager David Bell was happy with the win but also has a sense of history with the Reds' franchise. His grandfather, father and brother played for the Reds and he grew up in Cincinnati, watching Tony Perez and Dave Concepcion.
"Joey's one of the best of all-time," Bell said. "There's no question about that. I grew up watching those guys so I understand the history behind it. He's in a good place right now."
Bell can also appreciate overcoming a start like Gray had.
"In starts like that when you're not really on and battle through it shows toughness," Bell said.
NL player of the week, Nick Castellanos, hit a solo homer off Plesac in the fourth inning.
Michael Lorenzen pitched a scoreless inning.
Nate Jones worked through some drama in his scoreless inning. He hit number nine hitter Greg Allen with a pitch. Cesar Hernandez hit a hot smash to Freddie Galvis. It took a bad hop and Galvis had to eat it. Jones faced Lindor after he struck out Jose Ramirez. He threw a ball in the dirt that hit off Tucker Barnhart's shoulder. Although Lindor held up his arm to tell his runners not to take off, Barnhart was able to nail Hernandez at second with throw to Galvis that held up under replay review.
Barnhart had to pick himself up. He wasn't sure he did all he could to block the wild pitches that allowed Mercado to score.
"It was a quick read," Barnhart said. "It happened so fast. You don't want to have a runner on third with less than two out but I'm comfortable just keeping the ball in front. I had no chance at Allen at third but the runner at first broke a little late. I get frustrated when I don't block a pitch. I will have to look to see how hard the wild pitches were to block."
"Those plays by Barnhart, changed the whole complexion of the game," Bell said. Barnhart also threw out Lindor trying to steal in the sixth inning.
Raisel Iglesias picked up a save with his scoreless inning with two strikeouts.
Sonny Gray
David Bell
Tucker Barnhart
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