“There’s always tomorrow.” That seems to be Cincinnati’s motto this week, as the Reds (1-6) try yet again against the Pirates (3-3) to break the losing streak and get its first win since Opening Day.
First pitch is at 1:35 ET.
Starting Pitchers
REDS
Tanner Roark will make his second start of the season and his second start against an NL Central opponent. He faced the Brewers on Monday and gave up three runs on six hits in 4.1 innings. He struck out six, but walked three.
Roark throws six pitches, but will hardly ever use his cutter. In 2018, he relied on a sinker and a four-seamer most, followed by a curve, slider, and change up, in that order. In his first start of 2019, he still threw fastballs the most, but he mixed in more sliders and curves as well. His four-seamer was all over the place, however, and that’s the reason for the three walks, despite Roark not being a pitcher who gives up a lot of walks. His career BB% is 6.9%.
Francisco Cervelli, JB Shuck, and Adam Frazier all have two hits off Roark.
PIRATES
He will be facing a tall task in Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams. Williams has been the best Pirates pitcher since the middle of last season, and it didn’t change when he faced the Reds on Sunday and allowed only three hits in six innings while striking out six and walking one.
In 2018, he had a 3.11 ERA and a 3.86 FIP. After the All-Star break, his ERA was 2.20 with a FIP of 2.04. But his BABIP was also .261 and not many of the fly balls he gave up were home runs (8.0% HR/FB). Williams also doesn’t strikeout a lot of batters. His K% last season was only 18.0%, and it really was never too much higher in the minor leagues.
In 2018, he relied on his four-seam fastball 51.5% of the time. He doesn’t have much of a pitch selection to turn to if the four-seamer isn’t working on a particular day. It’s tough to tell if he will develop into an ace. This is only his third full season at the major league level and between his four-seamer averaging 91.1 mph and his lack of pitch variety, it will be interesting to see how he pitches over the course of this season.
| IP | ERA | FIP | WHIP | HR/9 | BB% | K% | |
| Tanner Roark (2018) | 180.1 | 4.34 | 4.27 | 1.28 | 1.2 | 6.60% | 19.20% |
| Trevor Williams (2018) | 170.2 | 3.11 | 3.86 | 1.18 | 0.79 | 7.90% | 18.00% |
Lineups
| REDS | PIRATES |
| 1. Scott Schebler (CF) 2. Joey Votto (1B) 3. Yasiel Puig (RF) 4. Matt Kemp (LF) 5. Derek Dietrich (2B) 6. Jose Peraza (SS) 7. Curt Casali (C) 8. Kyle Farmer (3B) 9. Tanner Roark (P) |
1. Jason Martin (LF) 2. Starling Marte (CF) 3. Colin Moran (3B) 4. Josh Bell (1B) 5. Melky Cabrera (RF) 6. Kevin Newman (2B) 7. Jacob Stallings (C) 8. Erik Gonzalez (SS) 9. Trevor Williams ( |
-Joey Votto is 9-for-20 with three doubles off Williams.
News and Notes
Here’s a depressing stat for your Saturday.
The Reds lost 2-0 to fall to 1-6, despite the fact that they’ve allowed only 21 runs (3.00 per game).
They're the 3rd team in MLB history to lose 6 of their first 7 games despite allowing 3.00 or fewer runs per game, along with the 1905 Boston Americans & 1907 Brooklyn Superbas.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) April 6, 2019
This is the bad part about being in a competitive division. One bad week, combined with an extremely good week from the Milwaukee Brewers, puts the team in a terrible position already.
2019 #Reds
1-6, 5.5 games out of 1st place.
2018 Reds
2-5, 3.5 games out of 1st place.— Lance McAlister (@LanceMcAlister) April 6, 2019
Final Thoughts
It’s not that the Reds have lost six in a row, but rather it’s how they are losing. The starting pitching has been excellent. The bullpen hasn’t been terrible. This offense has been painful to watch, which no one saw coming to start the season. Some of it could be luck, because the team BABIP is only .214. However, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an entire team go through a batting slump all at one time. It’s just weird to me.
Anyway, I have to try to end on a positive note, so here’s a highlight of Sonny Gray striking out his opposition on the mound last night, Joe Musgrove.
¯_(?)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/x0KXCCBlJG
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 6, 2019