This game offered a lot of firsts and plenty of excitement to go along with it. To start things off, Yusei Kikuchi made his North American debut. The 27-year-old Japanese import served up a scoreless first inning that included a strikeout of Joey Votto, who weakly swung at a devastating breaking ball.
The second inning was a bit of a struggle for Kikuchi, though some of his misfortunes were out of his control. After Kikuchi walked Eugenio Suárez to start the inning, Reds catching prospect Chris Okey grounded a routine double play ball that Tim Beckham mishandled, allowing both runners to reach safely.