Votto mic’d up, other takeaways from Reds’ season-opening win over Braves

Earlier in his career, Votto was the golfer aiming for the fairway, and as he showed last season, he’s now going the opposite way with his approach to generate more power.

However, in the first game of the 2022 season, it wasn’t the longest-tenured Red, Votto, but one of the newest Reds, Brandon Drury, who showed off the power. Drury hit a three-run home run in his Reds debut to power the team to a 6-3 victory Thursday against the Braves on the night they celebrated their 2021 World Series championship at Truist Park.

The Reds opened the season on the road for the first time since 1990. They beat the Houston Astros 8-4 that season and started 9-0 on their way to a wire-to-wire run to the Western Division championship and then their last World Series title. No one’s predicting this victory will lead to that kind of success It’s a good start, though, especially considering the payroll-shedding moves that dominated the headlines in the offseason.

Here are five takeaways from Game No. 1 of 162:

1. Lineup choices: With left-hander Max Fried starting for Atlanta, the Reds started right-handed batter Aristides Aquino in right field instead of Tyler Naquin, who hit .197 against left-handers last season and .283 against right-handers.

Two players the Reds picked up in March started the opener. Tommy Pham hit third and played left field. Drury hit ninth and played third.

2. Early offense: A single by Kyle Farmer scored Tyler Stephenson in the second inning to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. A single by Votto scored Jonathan India in the third, and then Stephenson followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Reds a 3-0 lead against Max Fried.

Fried allowed five earned runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He was 14-7 with a 3.04 ERA last season and gave up five or more earned runs in a game only three times in 28 starts.

3. Drury makes most of Opening Day start: The Reds signed Drury, 29, to a minor-league contract March 22. He hit .274 in 51 games with the New York Mets last season. He hit four home runs last season and 51 in seven big-league seasons.

Considering he wasn’t on the roster a month ago, he was an unlikely choice to hit the Reds’ first home run of the season, but that’s what he did Thursday. After flying out in the second inning and singling in the fourth, he hit a three-run home run in the sixth to give the Reds a 6-1 lead.

4. Solid pitching: Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson each pitched a scoreless inning of relief after starter Tyler Mahle allowed one unearned run in five innings.

Dauri Moreta gave up a two-run home run to Austin Riley with no outs in the eighth but got out of the inning without allowing any more damage. Tony Santillan pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.

5. Opening Day success: The Reds have now won their first game of the season three times in David Bell’s four seasons as manager. His predecessor, Bryan Price, was 2-3 on Opening Day. Dusty Baker, who preceded Price, was 2-4.

“We have guys that are going to get an opportunity to play,” Bell said during an in-game interview on ESPN. “We have young pitchers getting their first-time opportunity. We have guys coming in that are hungry. Then we have our core group of veterans that have been here. We would love to see what happens when we play to our potential because we believe great things can happen here.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

The seventh different pitcher to start Opening Day for the Reds in the last eight seasons, Tyler Mahle allowed three hits in five innings and struck out seven. The only run the Braves scored during his time on the mound was unearned and came on a throwing error by Brandon Drury.

STAT OF THE GAME

Joey Votto, who entered the game with 8,128 plate appearances, popped out to the pitcher for the first time in his career.

LOOKING AHEAD

Left-hander Reiver Sanmartin (2-0, 1.54 ERA last season) will pitch the second game of the season for the Reds at 7:10 p.m. Friday. The Braves will start right-hander Charlie Morton (14-6, 3.34).

Sanmartin, a native of Colombia, made his big-league debut last season for the Reds. He gave up two earned runs in 11 2/3 innings in two starts.

The series continues at 7:20 p.m. Saturday with Vladimir Gutierrez (9-6, 4.74) getting the start for the Reds. Then in the finale at 1:35 p.m. Sunday, Hunter Greene will make his big-league debut for the Reds.