The Cincinnati Reds (18-22) will go for a road series sweep of the San Francisco Giants (16-23) today at 4:05 PM. The Reds are now 32-21 against the Giants since 2013. The Reds haven’t had a road sweep since May 2018.
Starting Pitchers
This afternoon starting pitching matchup features the only two starting pitchers on each team that didn’t pitch in the four game series last weekend in Cincinnati. It also features two of the best command pitchers in baseball. Madison Bumgarner is 6th in the MLB in BB/9 at 1.85 and Tyler Mahle is 16th at 1.85.
Mahle is off to a tremendous start to May. He has a 1.64 ERA through 2 starts with 15 K and 1 BB. He has only faced the Giants once in his career, last May in San Francisco: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 K.
Bumgarner is also off to a good start to May, as he has a 3.00 ERA with 16 K and 3 BB in 2 starts. Bumgarner is in the middle of serious trade rumors and his no-trade list was leaked yesterday (the Reds aren’t on it). Bumgarner has a career 4.21 ERA with 49 K and 9 BB in 7 starts against the Reds. That doesn’t count when the Reds beat him around in the 2012 NLDS either.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds
- Nick Senzel – CF
- Joey Votto – 1B
- Eugenio Suarez – 3B
- Yasiel Puig – RF
- Jose Iglesias – SS
- Kyle Farmer – 2B
- Curt Casali – C
- Tyler Mahle – SP
- Jose Peraza – LF
San Francisco Giants
- Joe Panik – 2B
- Steven Duggar – RF
- Evan Longoria – 3B
- Pablo Sandoval – 1B
- Mac Williamson – LF
- Brandon Crawford – SS
- Kevin Pillar – CF
- Erik Kratz – C
- Madison Bumgarner – SP
Conclusion
The Reds have crawled back in contention as they are now just 4.0 games out of the second wild card spot. The Reds have a run differential of +31, which is remarkably 70 runs better than the team they are sitting directly behind in the NL Central. It would be nice to see the Reds pick up a sweep today before they play 12 of their next 18 games against NL Central teams. Go Reds!