The Reds will try to avoid being swept by the Brewers this afternoon in the first quick turnaround game of 2019 at 12:35 in GABP. The game ends also ends the first homestand of the season. The Reds are a disappointing 1-3 to date. The Brewers on the other hand are off to a flying 5-1 start.
Starting Pitching
BREWERS
Right hander Freddy Peralta will make his second start of the season for the Brewers. The not quite 23 year old Peralta made his MLB debut with the Brewers in May of 2018. By season’s end he made 16 appearances of which 14 were starts, compiling a 3.93 FIP. Peralta will attempt to right himself today after opening the 2019 season on a sour note when he allowed 4 earned runs in just three innings of work.
Peralta is a fastball/ curveball pitcher. Expect to see his 4 seam heater on about 78% of his pitches and the curve around 19% of the time. He flashes a few change ups to round out his arsenal. Peralta does not throw an overpowering fastball. Instead he relies on the speed difference between his fastball (low 90’s) and curve (mid to high 70’s) to keep batters off balance. Accordingly, control and location are of utmost importance for him. If he runs deep counts and leaves pitches in the hitting zones, trouble will find him.
REDS
Luis Castillo is also making his second start of the season. However, unlike Peralta, the Reds rightie is coming off a very strong 6 inning/ 1 run opening performance. Castillo struggled through April and early May last season. It will be a very big positive for the Reds if he can consistently approach his first start numbers. To learn more about Castillo, check out Matt Wilkes’s Redleg Nation Series about him part 1 and part 2.
| PITCHER (2018 Stats) | FIP | WHIP | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freddy Peralta | 3.72 | 1.14 | 0.92 | 9.5% | 29.9% |
| Luis Castillo | 4.32 | 1.22 | 1.49 | 6.9% | 23.3% |
How about Peralta’s K%? His K%-BB% differential is nearly as high as Castillo’s K%; and, Castillo’s K% is borderline ace level in its own right! Obviously the area Castillo needs to improve is is HR/9.
Bullpens
Brewers
The Brewers used 3 relievers to cover 3.1 innings. Josh Hader and Alex Claudio worked second consecutive days totalling 32 pitches for Hader and 28 for Claudio. Junior Guerra worked 2.1 innings (28 pitches). Given the quick turnaround, all three rate as questionable for today. However with Brewers off on Thursday, don’t be surprised if Hader pitches an inning in a save situation.
REDS
The Reds used 4 pitchers to cover 4 bullpen innings. Robert Stephenson worked 2 full innings (24 pitches) and is probably unavailable today. Zach Duke (14 pitches) and Michael Lorenzen (16 pitches) most likely have limited availability given the quick turnaround.
Lineups
| BREWERS | REDS |
| 1. Ben Gamel (CF) 2. Christian Yelich (RF) 3. Ryan Braun (LF) 4. Travis Shaw (3B) 5. Jesus Aguilar (1B) 6. Mike Moustakas (2B) 7. Manny Pina (C) 8. Orlando Arcia (SS) 9. Freddy Peralta (P) |
1. Jesse Winker (RF) 2. Joey Votto (1B) 3. Matt Kemp (LF) 4. Eugenio Suarez (3B) 5. Scott Schebler (CF) 6. Derek Dietrich (2B) 7. Curt Casali (C) 8. Jose Iglesias (SS) 9. Luis Castillo (P) |
Today marks consecutive starts for Derek Dietrich. Could the Reds be moving toward making him the regular 2B? Hoping this is just an off day for Yasiel Puig. Nothing moving on Twitter to the contrary at this time.
News and Notes
Here is Anthony DeSclafani on his first April start since 2015.
Following a strong start to his season, Anthony DeSclafani will continue to work on honing his curveball consistency.#Reds | #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/J3F4S5HxKg
— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) April 3, 2019
Michael Lorenzen explains what went very wrong in the fateful 6h inning last night.
Michael Lorenzen breaks down what happened in the game-turning at-bat against Orlando Arcia.#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/l7kYx0ADrj
— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) April 3, 2019
And can you believe it was 19 years ago today when this happened???
Watch this date 2000:
Jr. makes his debut.https://t.co/DZlf3Sm6eE #Reds pic.twitter.com/BFmZMSiiyd— Lance McAlister (@LanceMcAlister) April 3, 2019
Final Thoughts
The Reds lost another tough one Tuesday night. The Brewers are showing the Reds (and the world) why they were where they were last October. Let’s hope the Reds are taking notes of how the Brewers are going about their business and soon begin to apply the lessons being demonstrated to them. The season is still young. Plenty of time remains for the Reds to get their house in order. Every journey starts with a first step. There is no better time than today for the Reds to begin their journey to respectability and beyond. GO REDS
Stats and data courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, and MLB.com
A day at the office of listening to Reds baseball is something I missed for a long time. Go Reds!
This really feels like a must win situation. Stop the bleeding and turn this ship in the right direction. It’s early, but it’s hard to dig out of a deep hole.
The Reds starting outfield today is a collective 0-for-31 so far this season, and every one of them is below average defensively.
There shouldn’t be any weather excuses today.
Castillo strikes out the side !!!!!!!
Here we go again with this weak offense. I say winker gets a hit before scheb and kemp.
Yes I’m sticking with my gut lol
There goes Scheb with the 2 strike crouch again. Didn’t he learn last season that didn’t work. He stinks right now.
thought we stole this great hitting coach away from the dodgers?
Did the whole team just decide to start swinging at pitches at the eyes?
These guys starting to look like the 3 -18 Bryan Price Reds. This is embarrassing they get nice pitching bit cant hit. I guess it’s a sweep.
The Reds will find a way to lose today, and the Brewers will find a way to win.
Trying not to be negative, but frankly the Reds were lucky they weren’t blown out of the water by the Bucs on Opening Day, considering all the men the Reds put on base through walks.
Again, trying not to be negative, but this team doesn’t seem to have a sense of how to play winning baseball. The players for the Reds seem to have a low Baseball IQ; repeated mental mistakes will not be compensated by the alleged talent that “advanced metrics” indicate they might have.
Or to be totally subjective, the team looks flat. Somebody really needs to come into the clubhouse and yell at them about playing like MLB professionals.
Price, Riggleman, Bell. It doesn’t seem to make much difference here.
Well, that certainly helps their BABIP and exit velocity, huh? Yeah, all that stuff.
It needs to be said. We have been getting a much tighter strike zone than the Brewers this entire series. Yelich just got a ball called on the exact same location Votto was rung up on. I don’t know if it is pitch framing or blatant umpire bias, but it is unacceptable and changes the outcome of the at bats. Then I noticed yesterday when Brewers took a 3 run lead magically the zone changed more in favor of the Reds, which makes me think the umpires are corrupt. I know no one likes conspiracy theories but the only alternative is Barnhart is terrible at framing pitches and umpires make calls on the catcher’s mitt and I don’t really believe that. Either way baseball needs to fix this issue ASAP. I also recall the umpires were vehemently against the digital display of the strikezones during games, gee I wonder why? They know they are wrong a ridiculous percentage of the time and they didn’t want to be exposed.
These guys starting to look like the 3 -18 Bryan Price Reds. This is embarrassing they get nice pitching bit cant hit. I guess it’s a sweep.
Peralta has 65 pitches through 6. Man! He’s on pace to have a CG with under 100 pitches thrown. Let’s get that pitch count up
He’s listed as their #2 starter behind last night’s, Chacin.
Welp at least Reds fans will get to beat the traffic. 2 hit game going fast
How I feel about the Reds offense
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Someone mentioned it last night and I really believe it to be true so far, The team misses Scooter’s infectious smile and spirit on the field. He can be at the ballpark and offer whatever he can but it’s not the same. I think his injury is going to be the real story over the next 2 months. (but I hope I’m wrong)