The Short Version: Reds bats are colder than the weather, Sonny Gray couldn’t throw strikes, and the good guys commit four errors as the best team in the National League drops to .500.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Pirates (1-1) | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (1-1) | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| W: Williams (1-0) L: Gray (0-1) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Box Score | |||
The Good
–Joey Votto was 2 for 4 with a single and a ninth-inning double that was inches away from being a homer. Votto is hitting .375, and I’ll be surprised if that number drops at any point in the season.
–Robert Stephenson began the season like a house afire, striking out three of the first four hitters he faced. Bob Steve’s curveball, in particular, looked great. He was unlucky and did give up one earned run — on a bunt single, an error, a double, another error, and a groundout — but only the double was hit particularly hard.
I have no idea what to expect from Stephenson this year, but I’m encouraged by his first two-inning stint.
–Michael Lorenzen looked pretty good in two and a third innings, giving up one hit and a walk, and striking out two.
The Bad
–The Reds collected just four lonely hits, two from Joey Votto, one each from Tucker Barnhart and Jose Iglesias.
–It was an inauspicious Reds debut for today’s starter, Sonny Gray, as he was unable to escape the third inning. Gray’s line: 2.2 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned, though the unearned run was only unearned because of Gray’s error), 5 walks, and no strikeouts. Gray threw 71 pitches, and only 34 of them were strikes.
It was cold, and Gray pitches better when it’s Sonny, so I’m going to remain cautiously optimistic. But today’s wasn’t a good data point in Gray’s favor.
–The Reds committed four errors: Gray, Stephenson, Eugenio Suarez, and Scott Schebler. I fear that center field is going to be an adventure every day with Schebler out there.
The Recap
–Do any of you live near Minneapolis? Can I crash at your place for a couple of days?
–This was just an ugly game from beginning to end, with the cold weather putting a damper on everything. Gray was unable to throw strikes consistently, and the Reds were unable to muster any offense. Not a fun day at the ol’ ball orchard, though the few fans in attendance did seem to have a good time screaming “Woooo!”
–Gray surrendered one run in each of the first three innings, and the game was pretty much over at that point. The Reds were unable to muster any offense whatsoever against Pirates starter Trevor Williams.
–Wandy Peralta didn’t give up a run in his one inning of work, but he did walk two hitters. I’m still baffled about the decision to keep Peralta on the roster early this season.
–Jared Hughes gave up a couple of hits in the ninth, but neither scored. That’s something, I guess.
–The Milwaukee Brewers visit the Queen City tomorrow, and we’ll get our first look at Tanner Roark.
Today’s Tweets
I’ll go ahead and get this out of the way now, Puig has a .712 career OPS in March/April. That is by far his worst month of the year. pic.twitter.com/LA8jSiveQE
— ???? ????y (@Nicholaspkirby) March 31, 2019
i like when @YasielPuig wiggles his butt like my cats heheh
— calli (@CalliRules) March 31, 2019
It's pretty clear that new Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson has already fixed all of Robert Stephenson's problems, and Bob Steve is almost certainly going to be the best pitcher in the league this year.
— Redleg Nation Radio (@redlegradio) March 31, 2019
DIAKITE AT THE BUZZER! pic.twitter.com/ecRteadkx7
— SI College Hoops (@si_ncaabb) March 31, 2019
I know this was only game 2 but the Reds should be embarrassed.
Defense,offense and starting pitching was just awful
It can’t get worse than this so it’ll get better
Not concerned about Gray yet, and I think the offense will come around (Suarez, Winker, Kemp, and Puig won’t go hitless all season.) My biggest concern at the moment is Schebler in CF. He isn’t strong enough offensively to make up for being such a liability defensively. And I really wish he would just learn how to lay a bunt down ANYWHERE toward the 3rd base side. I just think he needs to be coming off the bench. Hopefully, they can get Senzel up ASAP.
They are a WS contender. It’s impressive what that franchise has accomplished.
Was at the game today. Good seats right by Votto. (Lots of good seats were available). Two thoughts on Sonny Gray.
1. It was cold at GABP. Very cold. I’m not worried. Sonny will be a different pitcher in warm weather–in baseball weather.
2. Sonny actually had the first inning under control, but the fielding unnerved him–including his own error that led to a run and an amazingly prolonged pitch count in the first inning. Someone above mentioned Homer Bailey. I hope Gray can show greater composure and, unlike Homer, does not let the little things on the field rattle him.
Agree 100% on Yelich. He was great with the Marlins. Brewers paid a high price for him. Just because some people thought the Reds should trade for him doesn’t mean we need to hear about every hit he has with the Brewers.
Cubs fans’ comments will be interesting tonight. That pitching to date…..
Reds fan since the 1960s here and I got to tell you I don’t know if I can take another year of this Bad News Bears routine. I mean this is going on 6 years people.
4 errors. Lazy base running, confused swings. Just worries me that this is the second game of the season and there is already a lack of enthusiasm that was present during the Price/ Riggleman era. I’m just worried that Bell may not be the guy that can motivate our reds team!
Teams always look lethargic when they have nobody on base. Its not a question of motivation. Its just a team that has some bad defenders and some bad/slow baserunners and a thin bullpen. It will be an interesting team in the end, but they’ll be doing well to get close to .500.
My worries are Senzel’s health and where they go after all these contracts expire at the end of the year?
Will most of their guys in their mid to late 20s blossom? Guys like Castillo, Disco, Garrett, Sonny G., Lorenzen, Mahle, Peraza, Schebler, and Winker. They can’t afford to miss on too many of those guys. The Cards have too many strong arms and Milw scores a ton and has good arms. The Cubs are loaded with an everyday 8 and $$, and the Pirates always seem to play a little smarter and a little more fundamentally sound then the Reds do.
And I agree with you Indy Red man we probably don’t have the talent to compete right now in the nl central and honestly may never really compete for a World Series again with the changes in the game and huge contracts. And honestly I am fine with that but come on man I just want to see more effort and desperation, that’s all.
Like take the 9th inning. I know we are down 5-0 and the game is probably over but Joey needs to make that double a triple. He was just staring at the ball and jogging into second base. I mean he is the leader of our team. At least bring a little excitement to the game!!
Jreis I was out in left field, good angle to watch it, and he’d have been out by a country mile. And losing a baserunner there does way more to kill the momentum and sends the wrong example.
Jreis. Sure we need to manage our own expectations about this being a transition year, but i dont think you could say a WS is never gonna happen. The Royals and Astros are good examples in recent memory. If the Reds can at least get back to some semblance of a .500 team the key pieces will be in place for a PS run in 2020.
Pirates are going to have decent to good starting pitching.
Too bad they did not play on Friday, the weather wasn’t bad that night.
Those bleachers were COLD today. It looked like Sonny just didn’t have his curve at all today, tough for him to be successful without it. It looked like almost all of them were going about 55 feet. Just guessing on the pitch selection from the outfield, but that’s what it looked like. He was really spinning ’em in Arizona though, bet it’s tougher in a cloudy 36°. Here’s hoping to a rebound next time.
Stephenson looked great until everything got shaky, he made at least 3 guys look SILLY. Joey is swinging with authority, looks a lot more willing to pull the ball so far this year. Might have 2 HR so far if this were June weather.
Still excited about this team!
Welp, definitely a lackluster performance all around. However, hats off to Trevor Williams on doing a great job of not allowing the Reds to get anything going. I don’t know what he does to make that 91 mph fastball look like a 98 mph fastball but the Reds bats looked like they couldn’t catch up to it at all today. It’s already been noted that the defense performed poorly so not going to beat a dead horse. Its early, its cold, and guys like Schebler/ Peraza are not in same positions they were in last season. Sonny Gray really looked nervous out there. Not sure if it was the weather, or first game jitters, but he was off his element. The bats didn’t have it today, though its encouraging to see Votto lacing doubles deep into the outfield again. Hopefully all his work in the offseason pays off and he will once again be an MVP frontrunner. Not concerned right now. I still think this team is going to score a ton of runs. This series against the Brewers is going to be a tough one. I don’t want to put much of an emphasis on it, but it may provide an early litmus test for how well the Reds handle big teams all season. Don’t fret Reds fans, the team will not go 1-161 this year.
Its going to be a fun year! I think Puig will be a star in Cincy when he gets going! I think Bell has shown that he’s willing to look outside the box. Personally I’d like to see Lorenzen in the rotation at some point and maybe a few starts in CF once in a while? The guy has unusual talent for sure. I feel like he’s always experimenting out on the mound instead of sticking with a certain delivery and selection of pitches. If the new pitching coach can find a way to get him to just pound the zone with power sinkers then he could be a guy that could get doubleplays and get thru 5 ip with 60 pitches. BobSteve has raw stuff…and Mahle, Garrett, and Reed. Senzel and Winker on offense. We have talent but this is the year to sort it out and polish it up!
Come on folks. This was one cold, blustery game against a pitcher who was dealing, with either a generous strike zone or Cervelli getting an A+ in pitch framing. The defensive lapses are disappointing, but perhaps it gives DB an opportunity to clarify the effort and mental attentiveness that he’s expecting. The Reds did not just go from World Series favorites to obvious cellar dwellers in one rough game. Patience everyone.
Observations taken from today.
Grey had no curveball or breaking pitch AT ALL.
Grey was afraid to put the ball over the plate,he was nibbling and home plate ump did him no favors,not once.
Tucker is the worst framer in the league.He needs to learn to bring the ball into the strike zone ,not just to the black.
Weather was a huge factor .Reds looked like,from first pitch that they didnt want to be playing.
Suarez needs more ST.He looks like he is a bit late on every swing at the plate.
Joey is going to get back to hitting over 25 maybe 30 bombs this year.
Had to mute our beloved broadcasters about 5 times today.Cant stand how the opponent is the topic 90% of the broadcast.
After reading comments here:
We need to back off on criticizing Schebler.He has pretty much done everything that Senzel would have in the field.
Our offense needs to get going,RIGHT NOW.
Lorenzen seems to be a few steps ahead of the rest of the pen.Could break into the rotation if anyone fails.
The team will be just fine when 1-6 hit like capable,pitchers start putting the ball in the strike zone and the temperature goes above 60.
Hard to frame when pitches aren’t even close.
Chad Dotson’s middle name is facetious. His parents didn’t do him any favors with that one.
Enjoy the Cavs in the Final Four Chad!
They did me a favor by beating Purwho. The bucket to tie the game in regulation was nuts. Edwards and cline finally ran out of rabbits.
Hard to frame when pitches aren’t even close.
Jreis’s comments earlier today are RIGHT ON !!!
I too have been a fan since the early 60s.
Is the problem LAZINESS or a lack of enthusiasm? You tell me. How do you think the 8 starters feel playing with Votto who makes more per game/year than all 8 COMBINED. Especially when the 8 typically out-play Votto on a regular basis. Huge contracts do tend to create RESENTNENT especially when their performance does NOT justify the income.
Replace Votto with Pete Rose at Votto’s age and the Reds are an absolute CONTENDER.
Show Votto the Door. Votto 2 for 4 BIG DEAL. The money he makes per game ($136K) that should be a daily expectation.
The path to a WS is NO MORE HUGE CONTRACTS. Instead, seek out as many CHARLIE HUSTLES you can find.
No manager can instill enthusiasm within a team like the Reds as it currently exists as long as RESENTNENT fester’s in the mind of players making LOW income.
How would you feel if a co-employee of yours earned over 10 times your pay and you out performed him on the majority of days? Enough said.