The 4th inning was a struggle for Tyler Mahle, as the San Diego Padres touched him up for a 4-run inning. That was all he’d give up in a 6-inning performance that included nine strikeouts. Unfortunately that was all the Friars would need on the day to come out victorious.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (8-13) | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| San Diego Padres (12-11) | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| W: Lucchesi (3-2) L: Mahle (0-2) S: Yates (10) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Box Score | |||
The Big Play of the Game
Wil Myers double in the 3rd inning took a tie game to a 3-1 lead for the Padres. They would tack on another run that inning, but that big blow took their chances of winning up significantly more than any other play in the game.
The Positives
Eugenio Suarez smacked his 5th home run (372 feet) of the season. Kyle Farmer went 1-2 with a walk and his 3rd home run (393 feet) of the season. Jose Iglesias racked up three hits, and the out that he made was a laser hit right at the center fielder. Tyler Mahle punched out nine batters without a walk. Michael Lorenzen threw 1.2 shutout innings to lower his ERA to 1.74 on the year. Yasiel Puig made an outstanding catch.
This home run from Eugenio Suárez got out faster than you could read this tweet!#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/XbbJzohnw7
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 21, 2019
This Farmer can also hit baseballs! ???#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/4Usc63aB6y
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 21, 2019
Hoppy Easter from @YasielPuig! #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/eWvvVlnJaO
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 21, 2019
The Negatives
Matt Kemp had to exit the game after running into the wall. He had been 1-2 with a double at that point. Jesse Winker’s slump to start the year continued as he went 0-4. The same can be said for Yasiel Puig, who struck out three times. They are hitting .172 and .164, respectively. The loss puts an end to the small 3-game winning streak that the team was on. They finish up their west coast trip by going 4-5 if we include the two games in Mexico. Cincinnati is now 8-13 and 5 games behind the Pirates and in last place in the National League Central Division.
Up Next:
Atlanta Braves at Cincinnati Reds
Tuesday, 6:40pm
TV: Fox Sports Ohio
Kevin Gausman (1-1, 2.75 ERA) vs Sonny Gray (0-3, 2.79 ERA)
I think Schebler needs to get sent down and bring up Ervin. Scheb just stinks right now. As for Peraza his starting job is slipping away by the day especially if Iglesias keeps playing like the way he has.
Agreed. I’m also really tired of watching Matt Kemp play and hit cleanup (despite the double today) but I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon.
The great Ervin is hitting .224 at louisvile.
In other news, I had the misfortune of having to listen to the Padres radio feed on Sirus radio in my car today and at the end of the game the Padres announcer (Ted Leitner I believe) said, “And this one belongs to My Padres”. I swear I’ve heard something similar to that before…
Even though nine hits looks promising, something like four of them never left the infield. This is a big time slump. It’s a testament to the pitching staff that the Reds have eight wins.
And what if Kemp makes the catch on that ball where he hit the wall? Just sayin’
You’re right. Kemp is a bottom 10% fielder at this point in his career. Most LFers catch that ball, and it’s still a 1-1 game. Defense matters, runs saved are just as important as runs scored.
It’s not just the losing, it’s the way these hackers go on their approach. 90% of the time they swing at first pitch, good or not. They don’t work the count, everybody swings for the fences.
Tough luck for Mahle because that ball was catchable. Kemp must go ASAP. But the kid must work on his secondary pitches. Cannot live on fastaballs at mlb level.
It reminds me of college basketball: 3-pointer, dunk, or foul shot. The sports are losing some dimensionality. Though I’ll admit, I enjoy watching a good pitcher work. Pitch selection, location, change of speed, change of arm angle, change of timing, variation each time through the lineup . . . interesting stuff. Poor pitchers . . . not so much.
The highest BAs in the lineup belonged to the backup SS and backup C (.269 and .267) . . . yikes.
Puig, Votto, Winker, and Kemp have combined for 14 walks with 71 Ks. Joey only has 7 walks (20 Ks) so far? I think he’s try to lift and separate which is all the rage….probably hit 20 hrs, but his strength has always been to drive the ball to left and left-center? Now he’s rolling over into the shift all the time? Advance scouting picks that up and they act accordingly. Why nibble and walk him when he’s not going to hurt you away like he used to. Puig is at 2 walks/20 Ks? He just drew 64 walks (.346 obp) 2 years ago? Hopefully he’s just trying to do too much for his new team. Basically these guys are just hacking away? Peraza is the worst. I’d play Farmer at 2B before I’d play Mr. Soft F9! That should be his new identity SF9!
Atleast Winker is really showing his potential. Its not that common to see a guy unloading the opposite way on an outside breaking ball. A ball he hit today goes off/over the LF wall in gabp. I’d keep running him out there vs lefties.
Overall they’re going to hit better and score more runs, but the pitching will struggle with gabp as well. It will be interesting to see if Bell keeps riding with Garrett and Stephenson (and Peralta?) over the old-timers in high leverage situations. Atlanta put up 11 tonite. They have some weapons and will be a great test.
Here is a surprising and depressing stat. Billy Hamilton has two more walks this year than Joey Votto.
Not to be surprised: Hamilton, 28, still has some upside (0.5 WAR so far) while Votto is already in a downward (0.1 WAR).
Hope they’ll do some roster moves before next 20-game in a row schedule. The eight-man bullpen will still be needed, hence the position players should be refreshed, at least with a Schebler or Winker move in favor of Ervin. Senzel should be promoted in early May to replace the other one left, if everything goes right, leaving Gennett to return in mid-June to replace Peraza.
Yesterday’s game: Reds had 27 outs, 9 of which came on K’s, 18 on fielding plays. 2 walks. 2 homers. Pads had 24 outs. 9 on K’s, 15 on fielding plays. 0 walks. 1 homer.
Well, WV, the Fat Lady hasn’t sung yet, but I’m afraid that when she does, it will be a sad song.
It seemed to me that the ball, where Kemp hit the wall, would have been catchable by a faster more agile outfielder. Kemp has had a good career, but he has nothing to offer the Reds now so they should take a loss to either trade or let him go. At least the Dodger trade was the way to say goodbye to Bailey, which took a while. More time is needed to tell how this big offseason trade ultimately turns out.
The biggest positive for me yesterday when the comeback came up short was how Mahle bounced back from a rough 4th inning to give them two more excellent innings. Little things like that add up for a team that has leaned heavily on the BP so recently due to extra innings etc.