April 24, 1985 Game 171: Reds (9-5) at Astros (4-10)

The Astros have lost 3 in a row and the Reds are playing well.  This game was a premier matchup as Nolan Ryan takes on Mario Soto.  Ryan has struggled a bit and Soto leads the Majors in strikeouts.  However, the story of this game would be Nolan Ryan.

In the 2nd the Reds get on the board.  Concepcion doubles, Krenchicki doubles and Concepcion scores and it is 1-0 Reds. Ryan would take over from there as he would over power Reds hitters for the next 8 innings.  They would threaten in the 4th with runners in 1st and 3rd but Ryan was able to get Soto to popout to short.  In the 6th they would get runners on 1st and 2nd but Ryan would strikeout Van Gorder and Soto to end the inning.

In the 9th Garner walks, Ashby singles, Ryan walks, to load the bases,  Doran hits a SACFLY to center and Garner scores to tie the score at 1.  In the 12th with the game tied Walling hits a 2 run homer to win the game.

Ryan would scatter 8 hits over 9 innings he walked one and struck out 16. He struck out 2 an inning 5 times and the side only once.  He would strike out everyone at least once.  Milner, Easaky, and Van Gorder would each strike out 3 times.  His 16 k's are a season high in the majors this season.

The Final Score 3-1 Astros