The Cincinnati Reds (15-21) will try to recover after being no-hit early this morning. They’ll play the second of three games against the Oakland A’s (16-21) tonight at 10:07 PM.
Starting Pitchers
Sonny Gray will make his return to Oakland Coliseum tonight. Gray made his MLB debut with the A’s and pitched 4.5 seasons in Oakland. He has a career 3.50 ERA in 60 career starts at Oakland Coliseum. He has only made one career start against the A’s, coming last year: 5.0 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 HR, 3 BB, 2 K.
Gray has been really good the first two times through the order (.344 OPS 1st time, .592 OPS 2nd time), but it has been the third time through the order that has killed him this season. He has allowed a 1.047 OPS the third time through the order. Gray’s 2.36 FIP ranks 4th in the MLB (min 30 IP) as his peripheral numbers all look very good.
Brett Anderson has one of the lowest strikeout rates in baseball, but the 31 year old continues to be successful by limiting walks and home runs. He is coming off a good performance in Pittsburgh, allowing just 1 run in 6.0 innings. Anderson has a career 5.17 ERA in 3 starts against the Reds, with the last coming in 2016.
Starting Lineups
Jesse Winker is out again against a LHP. Winker is hitting .077/.250/.077 vs LHP this season. His career line is .168/.295/.263. His minor league numbers vs LHP aren’t good either: 2018 (.690 OPS), 2017 (.653 OPS), 2016 (.756 OPS) and 2015 (.654 OPS). The A’s also only have 1 left-handed reliever. Winker and Dietrich will probably both get in the game, maybe even in a big spot for a weaker bat. I wrote more about Winker’ usage vs LHP a couple weeks ago.
Other news and notes
Iglesias after meeting with Bell: “I don’t know how he’s going to use me. … I'm just going to go out there and I’m going to pitch and I’m going to do my job well." https://t.co/WjfSrm2wIh #Reds https://t.co/HfhJqA9r28
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) May 8, 2019
Christian Yelich had batted balls of: 111.9 MPH, 112.2 MPH & 113.1 MPH today
The #Reds and #SFGiants as teams don't have 3 batted balls 111 MPH+ ALL season.
— Daren Willman (@darenw) May 8, 2019
Small sample size on Josh VanMeter vs LHP in 2018, but he hit .394/.462/.939 with SIX home runs against them in 40 plate appearances with Louisville before his call up. https://t.co/GmDQYg8xC2
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) May 8, 2019
Reds currently have 5 starting pitchers with 30+ IP and an ERA under 4.00 for the first time since the end of the 2014 season.
On this date last year, the lowest ERA by a Reds SP was 4.21 by Sal Romano.
— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) May 8, 2019
David Bell said Alex Wood's latest exam on his back didn't show anything new and he's going to rest for 2 weeks before throwing again. #Reds https://t.co/veUVyYvGoW
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) May 8, 2019
Cincinnati #Reds outfielders "Outs Above Average" according to Statcast (expected catch%/actual catch%)
Nick Senzel +1 (88/100)
Scott Schebler +1 (88/90)
Yasiel Puig 0 (79/90)
Matt Kemp -1 (70/65)
Jesse Winker -3 (93/89)— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) May 8, 2019
?????????
Due to the NBA game in the arena tonight, parking will be $40 the entire evening. A's prepaid parking passes will still be accepted. Championship Plaza will be closed, and the food trucks will be relocated to Lot A. https://t.co/tH9qJZ59pa— Oakland A's (@Athletics) May 8, 2019
Conclusion
It is never fun to be no-hit, but last night’s game was so bizarre that hopefully the Reds can just shake it off as one of those weird things that happen and move on. The Reds have certainly showed resiliency lately, coming back the next day with big wins after devastating defeats twice in the Giants series. Go Reds!
Reds getting swept. I can’t see them scoring more than 3 runs. But we’ll see.
Until he finds his swing, (we hope) keep moving Votto down the lineup. That .218 average isn’t cutting it at $25 mil a year. Maybe tonight he comes out of his funk. Maybe?
I remember Winker taking Blake Snell deep in a AAA game 3-4 years ago. If he can take him deep then he can hit lefties! Way too early in his career to just throw up your hands and bench him vs LHP.
Stuck in traffic coming home and listened to Lance on WLW. He was taking calls about why the Reds can’t hit this year.
Here is my unsolicited thoughts….not necessarily in order.
1. The Reds have assembled a roster of way too many low IQ baseball players. Plus a culture that doesn’t emphasize playing the game the right way. For example. Senzel has already walked 4 times and just came up. Most of the Reds hitters act like they’re trying to get the at-bat over as quickly as possible?
Fundamentals you ask? The ball beats the runner to the plate by a mile last night, but Barnhart just blindly waves his glove outside and somehow misses the guy sliding straight into home? Votto continues to run the bases like a drunk stumbling out of his favorite watering hole at 2am. Peraza makes 3 outs on 6 pitches. Not only do our pitchers always fail to get a bunt down, but guys like Schebler can’t even bunt?
Logic tells me that players that suck at other fundamentals of the game are probably going to have worse atbats as well. Votto is usually the one exception
2. Votto is washed up. Father Time always wins…just a matter of how many rounds you go, but you will get knocked out!
3. Unjustified faith. Results matter. In fact thats all that matters!
Barnhart is ok, but no reason he should be getting 350-400 atbats a season? No reason whatsoever? Casali can hit!! He has 34 doubles and 23 hrs in 594 career atbats! Plus he might actually get a little better if he played more? Just a crazy thought!
Peraza? Don’t get me started. DD has 86 plate appearance vs softF9s 114? DD is the one that hits lefty! Idiotic?
4. GABP…..Reds hit a bunch of 360 ft oppo hrs then find out the hard way that it doesn’t translate on the road.
Reds – Colt 45s had back-to-back no-hitters way back when. Jim Maloney no-hit Houston. The next game, Don Wilson no-hit the Reds. But consecutive no-hitters by the same team, I think you’re right.
Can we keep Jim Day as a play by play guy? I am tired of Thom Brennaman’s boring take on the game, maybe move him to radio? His voice his perfect for it, put’s the old guys to sleep during these late games.
Jim Day is growing so well into the role, him and Chris Welsh are getting this back and forth that sounds great and works really well for TV.
I could be the lone guy here but its just my take. GO REDS!
Couldn’t agree more Ferris, Thom Brennaman is unbearable.
I live on the East Side in Cincinnati and occasionally you will see Thom out and about – UDF in Mariemont, recently at the Cincinnati Sports Club. He is unfailingly gracious, patient, polite, and approachable. A very nice guy. That said, I prefer Jim Day.
The way he does things is so plain…like he reads the notes for the game and doesn’t do his own research. Add something interesting please, even as a play by play guy Jim Day adds more and more each time I hear him.
Alrighty then? Say you’ve dropped 8 of 9? The Reds can fix that! This team? I think I’ll stay tuned in long enough to see VanMeter hit. That’ll be with 2 outs in the 3rd.
Already shut out 6 times and 19 times with 3 or less. Haven’t played the Cubs yet and they always play with supreme confidence against the Reds. I give the Reds 5-6 wins against them at best. They’re a little better then last year overall, but I can’t make it to August like last year.
Farmer! I like this guy! Looks like he’s got short arms which equals a short swing! Props to Bell to give him some starts at 2B!
JVM! His stance looks a little like Daniel Murphy! Who was a 13th rounder and also not a real prospect per se.
Is there a worse team on the base paths than the Reds this year?
According to the Fangraphs baserunning metric, yes. But the Reds are very bad. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2019&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=17,d
I assume that is a cumulative/counting stat in a similar manner to WAR, so even the dismal numbers fail to really measure how bad this team is at baserunning since no one on this team is ever on base. 🙁
Votto’s sudden decline (this doesn’t feel like a slump in the same way his previous slumps have been) is much harder to watch and stomach than I figured it would be.
I wish he’d try giving up the silly choking up on 100% of swings. He’s giving away something like 5-10% of his bat speed. That’s why he can’t put a fast ball down the middle in play anymore. He keeps fouling them off, doesn’t it seem?
How about the no effort on trying to catch the ball at first too, ended up tying the ball game without coming off the base even though the runner was already safe. Barely stuck his glove out on the passed ball….disappointing to see.
LeCure after the game even commented on it…glad I wasn’t the only one.
Once they build a bit of futility momentum (a couple bad innings in a row) they all go to the plate looking like they’re just up for their turn at fail.
Suarez has let his last year affect his current year. (3rd baseman of the future, 7 year extension). He’s not working as hard offensively, but his glove is still doing work. Amazing what a guy without a guaranteed contract can do (Iglesias, Dietrich). Don’t get me started on Puig, he’s just lost at the plate and will be lucky to be in the league next year at this rate. It’s no wonder that front offices were being cheap this past spring. (Harper is batting .236, Machado is batting .237, making 30 million a year to hit near the Mendoza line is wonderful when a name is bigger than the team.) Show me what you’re worth on the field and I’ll pay you a worthy salary. I guess team ownerships are starting to see the TV money now and “Big Names” add to team value more than attendance and concessions. Sad state of baseball right now and I am glad teams aren’t paying some payers what they think they are valued at (Keuchel, Kimbrel). It also doesn’t help that teams have to give up a draft pick to sign players who turn down qualifying offers, but that is a different story. Going to be an interesting future for MLB if they continue putting the players ahead of fans.
It has to be an approach thing with these guys. They aren’t all this bad at the plate. Very few hard hit balls all year. Curious what, if any, changes Ward has made this year systematically.
Good defense up the middle tonight!
I would have liked to see Iglesias go two innings
It’s getting a little late for this Reds’ fan, who happens to live in Pacific time (technically mountain standard aka Arizona). I’ll catch the end via my online radio app. 700 WLW can’t be picked up, so I listen via the Lexington feed.
It’s looking like we’ll need to get Cody Reed on a plane asap to Oakland.
How can a whole team hit this poorly?
Votto almost seems like he’s overcompensating everytime he goes to the plate. But I also wonder how injured his back is at the moment. Hasn’t really been the same since he took a couple of days off in San Diego. Doesn’t have an extra base hit in May yet and doesn’t seem to hit much hard.