The Reds beat up on the St. Louis Cardinals as a great way to kick off a seven game roadtrip. Peraza, Votto, Suarez, Winker and Puig all hit home runs. It was the first time in Reds history that batters hitting 9 through 4 in the order all homered in the same game.
Anthony DeSclafani had his second consecutive strong start for the Reds. He held the Cardinals scoreless over six innings. The Reds broke the game open with six runs in the top of the 9th inning, and they forced the Cardinals to bring in a position player to pitch. The Reds are now 10-6 over their last 16 games following their 1-8 start to the season.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals (15-10) | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (11-14) | 12 | 14 | 0 |
| W: DeSclafani (1-1) L: Mikolas (2-2) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Biggest Play of the Game
According to Fangraphs WPA statistic (winning percentage added), the most important play of the game was Jesse Winker’s solo home run in the 4th inning with 0 outs, giving the Reds a 2-0 lead. That play increased the Reds chances of winning by 11.1% (from 57.5% to 74.4%).
Positives
Yasiel Puig hit his 3rd home run of the season to straight away centerfield (it was the hardest hit ball of the night with an exit velocity of 108.7). Puig is now 5 for 12 with 2 HR over the last four games. Puig is starting to heat up, and it’s just about that time of the year for him. He has a career .886 OPS in May (.970 last year). April has never been his month, as he only has a career .691 OPS (just .500 last year).
Anthony DeSclafani turned in his second consecutive stellar start: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K. Disco has now allowed just 1 run over his last two starts (12.0 IP). His ERA has also crept down to 4.26.
Joey Votto had two hits, including his 3rd home run of the season.. Votto’s wRC+ has crept above 100 at 106.
Jesse Winker hit his 7th home run of the season. That already matched his total from all of last year. This is the same guy that hit only 5 home runs in an entire season in the minors in 2016.
Jose Peraza had two hits, including a stunning upper deck home run into Big Mac land. It was Peraza’s first time reaching base multiple times since April 9th.
Eugenio Suarez hit his 6th home run of the season. Suarez now has a 125 wRC+ on the season (he was at 135 last year).
Curt Casali had three hits tonight, including a bases clearing double to really blow the game open. He is now hitting .306/.342/.444 on the season.
Scott Schebler had a pair of walks. Jose Iglesias also had two hits.
Negatives
Nope….nothing to see here tonight.
Not so random thoughts……….
The Reds now have a run differential of +16. That is the 9th best in the MLB at the moment, and it is the 5th best in the NL.
Up Next:
Reds at Cardinals
Saturday, 2:15 PM
TV: FOX Sports Ohio, MLB Network (out of market only)
Tyler Mahle (3.52 ERA/3.24 FIP) vs Dakota Hudson (5.89 ERA/8.79 FIP)
A real drubbing before 45,087.
Iglesias is quietly having an outstanding season, it’s very unlikely he’ll be benched once Gennett returns. Good to see Suarez, Winker & Puig all heating-up.
Im from southeastern Ohio but have been living in southeastern Kansas the last four years. This is Cardinals country out here and Royals country. Had a guy from church invite me over tonight to watch his first place team put it to the Reds. I enjoyed his hospitality, his hamburger, the t bone steak he made me, and then proceeded to watch the Reds T bone the cardinals. It was one glorious evening. Who wod have guessed Winker would be leading the team in home runs after a month? I know it was a beat down and he walked twice but Schebler should be on the negative list. His other at bat’s he looked lost at the plate and struck out on a ball 4 in the dirt. Nick Senzel countdown +/- 10 days?
He’s 29
If i’m In charge, I’d be drawing up a contract offer for Puig like yesterday.
Yep ?
Didn’t mean to put the question mark 🙂
There’s a price on everything. The price for Scooter is too high. Much better values elsewhere.
Not sure about statcast appraisal, but that IF hit by Iglesias in the top of the 9th should have had a very low probability to get on base.
Can’t understand Schebler’s clumsiness at the plate now, the guy destroyed pitching during last ST, 1st half of 2018 (until injured) and all of 2017. Perhaps his reassignment to CF has something to do with it.
Just an eye test, but it seems (as in the past) that Schebler is a sucker for the low inside breaking ball. What seems a little different perhaps is he’s not getting to the high fast ball. Meaning, the pitchers are attacking his weaknesses. That said, he still pretty much scorches the ball when he hits it (unfortunately, the shift probably robs of quite a few hits). There was a time when he used to choke up with 2 strikes and go the opposite way more often. Seems to have abandoned that.
At the beginning of the season the TV announcers were talking about how he can’t lay off the high fastball. I just think right now he doesn’t look good on anything. If he gets hot we’ll all forget it at least momentarily but he’s starting to make Jay Bruce look like the picture of consistency.
Looks like Reds struck gold with Iglesias: outstanding defense & base running skills, coupled with a 284/324/373 line.
The boys are looking good! What a turn around by the pitching so far! 77 ER allowed and 19 HR through 25 games. That is #1 in MLB right now. Thru last April, the Reds pitching had allowed 136 ER and 41 HR. If they can keep this up, who knows what can happen?
I think Iglesias has been a great pick up, not quite sure I want to jump on the bandwagon of signing him up for a three or four year contract. He is probably never going to be a great hitter, but I do like him at short better than Peraza. First of all his defense is way better than Peraza’s and secondly I think his plate discipline is better. Peraza may hit for more power and may even hit for a marginally better average but I think that Iglesias will have over a career a better OBP.
Iglesias (SS) is 29. Scooter will be 29 next week. DD will be 30 in July. Some tough decisions. I think most players start fading at 32 and definitely at 33. I wouldn’t be signing anyone to a 4 year deal. In fact if they wanted to keep Scooter they would’ve done it by now. We’ll see what happens when he gets back? This Josh VanMeter kid is on my radar as well. He’s hitting .349 with 7 bombs at Louisville and he’s only 24! He’s a lefty hitter as well.
I throw out alot of stink and some of it sticks to the wall. I was calling for Puig and Sonny Gray 2 years ago. I was also on the sign Scooter bandwagon, but predicted he’d go to the Yankees. It makes more sense then ever now….with all their injuries. Work out something for RHP Johnny Lasagna
I agree that Iglesias age is against him, which is why I am not jumping on his bandwagon, at least totally. No way do I sign him for 4 years. 2 maybe? I don’t think his decline is going to be as great as Scooter’s will be. He seems to have good plate discipline. He has a 270 career BA and career 315 OBP. Not outstanding but not bad for a defense first SS. Peraza is 277/313 career and does not bring as near a s good a glove. At least to me, Iglesias would bring better value than Peraza for the next 2 years. Yes Peraza is younger but unless he can get a better grip on the strike zone he is not going to improve. Last year could have been an outlier.
Why did Bell take Garrett out with 2 outs and the game under control? Lorenzen is a good pitcher but not a good inherited runner pitcher. The Reds should have shut out the Cards with two outs and a runner on first, Bell should have let Garrett work it out just like he does when Garrett get inherited runners on 3rd and holds the run. Use analytics when needed Bell and quit wasting our bullpen arms!!
Maybe it was a good chance for Lorenzen to work on coming in with runners on in a game the Reds had under control? Maybe a good chance to get some work in since he had only faced one batter since last Sunday. Maybe other reasons.
Overall, the bullpen is pitching fewer innings than last year, and the load is spread over an extra arm (8, versus 7 most of last year). While Bell may be switching a little too often, it is too early to tell whether the bullpen winds up overworked as we get into the summer.
Sorry, but Schebler looks lost at the plate. AAA is calling!
Today will be a test to see if the Reds can break the bugaboo (common to all teams) of not being able to score much after a blowout.