Reds start Nationals series with a win as tempers flare

A couple of home runs, a couple of timely hits, some good pitching and some emotion all played a role for the Reds Friday night.

The Reds beat the Washington Nationals 5-2 before a crowd of 28,877 at Great American Ball Park.

"A lot of things to go around in that game," Reds manager Bryan Price said.

Rookie right-hander Anthony DeSclafani went six innings and allowed two runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out one.

Joey Votto and Todd Frazier homered. The Reds also got two-out RBI hits from Billy Hamilton and Zack Cozart.

BOX SCORE:Reds 5, Nationals 2

The emotion? Votto loudly took exception to the way Bryce Harper acted after getting hit by a pitch from Tony Cingrani in the seventh.

"I don't remember," Votto kidded. "I don't know what you're talking about. I really like him as a hitter."

Said Cingrani: "It ran up and in. He should've jogged. Be a baseball player."

The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the first. Votto hit a 2-2 pitch out to left-center for his eighth home run of the year. It was his first home run since April 28.

"I lost my wallet two weeks ago," Votto said. "It's so annoying. Then one day I found it in a door of my car. That's how I feel with my swing: I finally found my wallet. It took a long time."

Washington starter Stephen Strasburg exited the game without retiring a batter in the second inning.

DeSclafani worked out of a jam in the first and then got on a roll after that, retiring 11 of 12. The one hitter who reached was eliminated on a double play.

The Nationals scored one in the fifth and one in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead.

Meanwhile, the Reds could not get that elusive big hit off Taylor Jordan, who replaced Strasburg. They put runners on in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, but they were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Jordan was recalled from the minors on Sunday.

The Reds finally broke through against him in the bottom of sixth. Marlon Byrd walked with one out. Skip Schumaker hit a bolt that got over Harper's head in right for a double.

Brandon Phillips, out of the lineup for the third straight game with turf toe, pinch-hit for DeSclafani. Phillips lined one to medium left that Michael Taylor caught. Taylor's throw easily beat Byrd, but catcher Wilson Ramos couldn't come up with the ball. A sac fly tied it.

But the Reds weren't done. Hamilton blooped one into center for a hit to score Schumaker. Hamilton stole second on the next pitch.

Cozart lined one into center to get Hamilton home and make it 4-2.

"That was big," Cozart said. "Hitting with runners in scoring position has been a point of emphasis in our meetings."

Things got interesting in the seventh. Jumbo Diaz started the inning. He gave up a single to Denard Span and then struck out the next two. The Reds brought in the left-handed Cingrani to face Harper. Cingrani hit him with the first pitch.

Harper made a production of going to first. He walked toward the base, turned around and came back, flipped his bat and then walked slowly to first.

Votto had words with Harper as he approached first. First base umpire Andy Fletcher got between them. Cozart and Span walked toward the two. But nothing really happened.

Harper downplayed it after the game.

"It just got away from him," he said. "It's part of the game. It just got away. There's nothing I can do. It just hit me."

As for his words with Votto, "we were just having some playful conversation."

"We're not going to intentionally hit him in that situation," Price said. "Guys get pissed when they get hit. I get it. I don't think it will escalate."

Frazier made it a 5-2 game by leading off the Reds' seventh with a 428-foot shot into the second deck in left for his 15th homer of the year.

Cingrani walked the bases loaded with two outs in the eighth. The Reds brought in J.J. Hoover to face Ian Desmond. Hoover struck him out to leave them loaded.

"That's what we want to do as relievers," Hoover said. "I love striking people out. It was great to do it in that situation."

Aroldis Chapman closed out a good and interesting day for the Reds.

"We have to be competitive when we're down," Votto said. "We have to always be on the attack. We need to come out with more wins. It hasn't been a very good month for us. The only way we do that is having games like tonight, over and over and over again.

"That's the only chance we have."