Joey Votto entered play on Wednesday having faced off against Chicago Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks 52 times in his illustrious career, in which time he’s done a whole pile of sockin’. To be more precise, he’d gone 13 of 26 against Hendricks with 4 homers and a Vottonian 15/7 BB/K, the kind of offensive dominance that’s impressive even by Votto’s own elite standards.
Despite it being almost impossible to improve upon a career line like that, that’s exactly what Votto managed to pull off tonight, as he homered and tripled in a 3-ribbie performance that led the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 win.