2012 Cincinnati Reds season

The 2012 Cincinnati Reds season was the 143rd season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their tenth at Great American Ball Park. The Reds improved on their record of 79–83 in 2011 and became the first team to clinch a playoff berth in 2012 by defeating the Cubs 5–3 on September 20. They clinched the National League Central with a 6–0 victory over the Dodgers on September 22. Their final record was 97–65 and they subsequently lost in five games to the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS.
As of 2025, this represents the last playoff game win and division title for the Reds.

Regular Season Highlights

Opening Day Starting Lineup

Position	Name
Starting Pitcher	Johnny Cueto
Catcher	Ryan Hanigan
First Baseman	Joey Votto
Second Baseman	Brandon Phillips
Third Baseman	Scott Rolen
Shortstop	Zack Cozart
Left Fielder	Ryan Ludwick
Center Fielder	Drew Stubbs
Right Fielder	Jay Bruce

April

April 5: The Reds opened the season with a 4–0 shutout victory over the Miami Marlins in front of 42,956 fans — the largest crowd ever for a regular season game at Great American Ball Park. This was the first Opening Day shutout win for the Reds since 1980.

May

May 13: Joey Votto homers three times, including a walk-off grand slam in a 9–6 win over the Washington Nationals on Mother's Day. Votto became the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit three homers and have one of them be a walk-off grand slam in the same game.May 21: In a 4–1 victory over the [2012 2012 Atlanta Braves season|Atlanta Braves season|Atlanta Braves], The Reds had 4 solo home runs in one game, including three in a row in the 4th inning by Mike Leake, Zack Cozart and Drew Stubbs. Both Leake and Cozart's home runs were caught by the same fan, Caleb Lloyd. Mike Leake went 8 innings with 6 strikeouts to earn his first victory of 2012.May 21–24: The Reds complete a four-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves. The Reds hit 10 home runs during the series. It was the first 4-game sweep of the Braves since 1990. At the end of the series, the Reds ascended into first place by half a game when the Cardinals lost to the Phillies.

June

June 12–14: The Reds sweep their in-state rivals, the Cleveland Indians, in three games. During the three wins, the Reds outscored the Indians 24–9 and outhit them 37–26. June 15–17: The Reds win three straight games against the New York Mets for their second straight sweep, making 6 straight wins.June 18, 19, 20: On June 18, 19, 20 the Indians swept their instate rival Cincinnati Reds in Cleveland scoring 21 runs to the Reds 12, beating LeCure, Chapman and Arroyo.

July

July 16: Joey Votto is placed on 15-day DL due to arthroscopic knee surgery.
July 19–29: The Reds beat Arizona in a, then sweep Milwaukee at Great American Ball Park, Houston and Colorado on the road to go on a 10-game winning streak. All of these wins came without 2010 MVP and All-Star First Baseman, Joey Votto. As a result of the streak Hall of Fame announcer Marty Brennaman had his head shaved, with proceeds going to Cincinnati area charities.

August

August 29: The Reds became the first team in MLB to reach 80 wins with a 6–2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was also the fastest the Reds have reached 80 wins since their 1976 season.

September

September 20: The Reds became the first team in MLB to secure a spot in the playoffs with a 5–3 win over the Chicago Cubs.September 22: The Reds became the first division winner, with a 6–0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the win gives the Reds their second NL Central title in three years.September 28: Homer Bailey no-hits the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Only two men reached base, Barmes on a fielding error by Scott Rolen in the 3rd and a walk by McCutchen in the 7th. It was the 15th no-hitter in the long existence of the Cincinnati Reds. Frazier's sacrifice fly, scoring Phillips in the 1st was the lone run. Bailey struck out 10.

Postseason

Game log

National League Division Series: vs. San Francisco Giants

Game 1

Saturday, October 6, 2012 – 9:37 pm at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California

Game 2

Sunday, October 7, 2012 – 9:37 pm at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California

Game 3

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 – 5:37 pm at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati

Game 4

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 – 4:07 pm at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati

Game 5

Thursday, October 11, 2012 – 1:07 pm at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati

Player statistics

''Up to date as of 2012.''

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; AVG = Batting average

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	AVG
	30	63	4	9	1	0	1	3	0	.143
	33	70	1	8	1	0	0	5	0	.114
	155	560	89	141	35	5	34	99	9	.252
	70	150	9	28	7	2	1	13	4	.187
	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
	17	18	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	.056
	138	561	72	138	33	4	15	35	4	.246
	32	67	3	6	1	0	0	2	0	.090
	128	422	55	115	26	6	19	67	3	.273
	8	20	1	6	0	0	0	2	0	.300
	112	317	25	87	14	0	2	24	0	.274
	25	44	5	5	4	0	0	2	1	.114
	120	347	44	92	16	5	7	31	6	.265
	32	65	2	12	1	0	1	4	0	.185
	34	61	8	18	3	0	2	3	0	.295
	47	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
	125	422	53	116	28	1	26	80	0	.275
	54	165	17	35	8	0	5	14	1	.212
	24	69	6	20	3	1	2	12	0	.290
	4	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250
	55	86	8	27	5	1	2	7	4	.314
	147	580	86	163	30	1	18	77	15	.281
	8	10	4	3	1	0	1	2	0	.300
	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
	12	14	0	3	1	0	0	2	0	.214
	92	294	26	72	17	2	8	39	2	.245
	35	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
	136	493	75	105	13	2	14	40	30	.213
	77	194	15	40	4	0	0	15	3	.206
	111	374	59	126	44	0	14	56	5	.337
Team totals	162	5477	669	1377	296	30	172	636	87	.251

''Full batting stats can be found here: ''

Pitching

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; HLD = Holds; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; WHIP = Walks and hits per inning pitched

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	HLD	ERA	SO	WHIP
	66	0	61.0	6	2	1	12	2.95	62	1.38
	32	32	202.0	12	10	0	0	3.74	129	1.21
	33	33	208.0	13	10	0	0	3.68	168	1.24
	14	0	8.2	0	0	0	1	5.19	7	2.31
	25	0	22.1	3	3	4	10	2.82	20	1.03
	68	0	71.2	5	5	38	6	1.51	122	0.81
	3	0	5.0	0	0	0	0	1.80	9	1.20
	33	33	217.0	19	9	0	0	2.78	170	1.17
	28	0	30.2	1	0	1	1	2.05	31	0.98
	33	33	209.1	14	4	0	0	3.48	185	1.16
	48	0	57.1	3	3	0	7	3.14	61	1.20
	30	30	179.0	8	9	0	0	4.58	116	1.35
	73	0	61.0	5	5	9	22	2.51	74	1.16
	63	0	54.2	5	2	2	13	3.46	39	1.50
	1	1	3.1	0	1	0	0	10.80	2	3.60
	36	0	61.0	3	2	1	1	2.66	52	1.43
	1	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0.00
Team totals	162	162	1453.0	97	65	56	73	3.34	1248	1.23

''Full pitching stats can be found here: ''

Farm System

Minor league standings

Standings as of: September 11, 2012

Level	Team	League	Manager	W	L	Position
AAA	Louisville Bats	International League	David Bell	51	93	4th, INT West
AA	Pensacola Blue Wahoos	Southern League	Jim Riggleman	34	35	3rd, SOU South
High-A	Bakersfield Blaze	California League	Ken Griffey, Sr.	31	39	4th, CAL North
Low-A	Dayton Dragons	Midwest League	Delino DeShields	30	38	7th, MWL East
Rookie	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rookie	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Pat Kelly	21	17	2nd, PIO North
Rookie	AZL Reds	Arizona League	José Nieves	18	38	4th, AZL Central
Rookie	DSL D-Backs/Reds	Dominican Summer League	Henry Martínez	16	53	8th Boca Chica South
Rookie	DSL Reds	Dominican Summer League	Joel Noboa	40	29	3rd Boca Chica Baseball City