| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Cubs (25-14) |
3 | 11 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (18-24) |
1 | 3 | 0 |
| W: Kyle Hendricks (3-4) L: Tanner Roark (3-2) SV: Steve Cishek (3) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Box Score | Game Thread | Statcast | |||
Another day and another struggle for the Cincinnati Reds at the plate. Cincinnati hitters managed to have as many hits as the opposing starting pitcher, Kyle Hendricks. They had one less RBI.
The Offense
The offense was offensive. As noted above, Kyle Hendricks has as many hits in the game as the Cincinnati Reds did. And he had one more run batted in, too. The Reds got their lone run of the game on a Joey Votto solo home run that was crushed deep into right-center under the power stacks. Jose Iglesias singled, going 1-3. Josh VanMeter had a pinch-hit single, coming in to hit for Tanner Roark in the bottom of the 5th inning. Nick Senzel had the lone walk of the game for the Reds. That’s it. Go get ’em tomorrow.
The Pitching
Tanner Roark had a solid, but unspectacular start. He allowed three runs in 5.0 innings, walked a batter, and he struck out 6. The right-handed took the loss, falling to 3-2 on the season and having his ERA rise to 3.50 on the season. Jared Hughes came out of the bullpen and shut the Cubs down, allowing just one hit while striking out a batter. Wandy Peralta struck out all 3 batters he faced in the 8th inning as he lowered his ERA to 3.14 on the season. Michael Lorenzen worked around two hits in the 9th inning to lower his ERA to 1.64 on the year and give the team a chance in the bottom of the frame. Once again a strong showing by the pitching staff went to waste for the Reds.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds fell to 18-24 on the season and 8.5 games out of 1st place. That’s not ideal ever, but it’s definitely not ideal on May 14th.
Jesse Winker may have been wearing the best cleats ever worn on a baseball field for this game.
Jesse Winker’s cleats are on another level tonight. ?? pic.twitter.com/9MNNyCcFFU
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 14, 2019
If you’re still feeling down about the Reds loss, it was Bark in the Park day at Great American Ballpark on Tuesday evening. And there were plenty of doggos there that were good boys and good girls who I would definitely pet.
Ladies and gentlemen, dogs and pups, it’s time to…
Play ball! #BarkInThePark | #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/E8WLAzilxk
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 14, 2019
The game was a quick one, coming in at 2:39.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds
Wednesday May 15th, 6:40pm
Yu Darvish (2-3, 5.40 ERA) vs Sonny Gray (0-4, 4.15 ERA)
We’re 25% through the season and Votto has 4 home runs and 8 RBI. Woof.
This team competes and stays within reach but not good enough to get it done. This team is what they are which is a last place team. Until they show us otherwise they will continue to be the NL Central’s female dog. They might only win one or none this week.
The hole is getting deeper, like last year…and it will deepen the next two weeks. Time to stop making excuses for a group of “slow starters”.
Wash, rinse, repeat……
Two comments. As bad as the Reds record is, it still all goes back to the first 9 games of the year. They’ve actually been a .500 team (17-16) since that abysmal 1-8 start. In spite of the terrible hitting and five losses by Iglesias and did I mention the terrible hitting? I’m still optimistic. Not playoffs optimistic, but definitely better than recent years, able to win any given game optimistic. And I know I’m in the minority there, and many of you seem to take pleasure in pointing out how bad the Reds are. I’ll choose a different outlook.
BUT there is one thing that is really bothering me about recent play. I haven’t commented on the David Bell approach – too early, not enough data. But I hate some of these shifts. The setup for Descalso with four outfielders, three first baseman and two schnauzers in the right field bleachers was ridiculous. Billy Hamilton could have had a bunt single against that setup. You might as well just intentionally walk Descalso. He showed bunt three times until he finally got one down and poor Tanner Roark covering everything from 2nd base to the Montgomery Inn salad bar had no chance. And that inning was the difference in the game.
Yes, Roark threw Handricks a meatball but it never should have gone to that point. It’s one thing to have faith in a reliever who turns out to be ineffective, or to pinch hit with a guy who turns out to be over matched. But at least there’s a chance those moves work out. Shifting the entire defense to the moon deck is just ludicrous. Descalso > Bell. Reds lose. Make it stop please.
“and poor Tanner Roark covering everything from 2nd base to the Montgomery Inn salad bar had no chance.”
Thank you for the early morning chuckle. That was a good one…and accurate!
You are correct.
WV;
Is there an offence being held hostage for a rescue??
I could not agree more.
David Bell–shifts–UGH, just killin me. Does anyone now understand why they tried to sign JT Reamuto? Catcher is just ugly. Shifts are just ugly.
Give me this pitching staff/ Iggy at SS/ Hamilton in CF. I guarantee you I would have more wins as a MANAGER…
David Bell is atrocious–ATRROCIOUS….
He’s just horrible: .228/.310/.289 right now.
Of course, on this Reds team, that’d put him among the offensive leaders.
Now that 2019 is here, the Reds have pitching for the first time in the past five seasons…but the hitting has disappeared! It would be interesting to know what is currently running through Bob Castellini and Dick Williams’ minds at this approximate quarter mark of the season. Obviously the Reds were never completely “all-in” for 2019 (if they were, Realmuto would be the starting catcher and Barnhart would be a Marlin). Yet they certainly had their eyes set on a winning team, setting the table for a 2020 postseason run. Which brings me to my question…
Is a trade to upgrade the lineup at all likely to come anytime soon, or will the Reds wait until this winter? Gennett should be back in early-to-mid June. That will leave the Reds with the most significant holes at catcher and shortstop (assuming Puig starts to hit and Votto starts getting on base like previous seasons). What are trade possibilities at these positions with multiple years of control remaining? Or are there any free agents this coming winter who would be a good fit in Cincinnati?
Just as I feared, the Reds are right on track to be 10+ games out of first place by June 1st. On another note, Jesse Winker once again looked really bad at the plate tonight. Is it possible that he just isn’t as good as we all (or at least me) thought he would be? 25% of the season is over and his numbers are just pitiful. Not even taking walks anymore and his OBP is below .300. Maybe the quad injury is having some kind of impact?
I really wish I didn’t care about the Reds so much.
I think Winker will be fine. His prior two seasons equaled about a full season of ABs and his numbers were in the Votto-lite range. I think he’s got what the whole team has right now, I dont know if it’s their approach, Turner Ward, or bad luck, but something has the whole team not looking like themselves.
How is Gennett the key
Dietrich has a wRC+ of 147. Gennett will not produce that level. The production from 2B has not been the problem.
Even if the hitting improves, that does not mean the pitching will stay as productive.
Hendricks reminded me of Maddox a little bit. Efficiency with a limited amount of pitches and hitters walking back mumbling to themselves. As for the ridiculous shift for Descalso, he told them what he was going to do three times. Hello? Next time Descalso came up, Suarez was playing by 3rd. Should have thought of that sooner. I shake my head at Bell nearly every game now.
And is anybody surprised that a guy with a career like Descalso’s could and would bunt for a free hit? I could see assuming David Ortiz wouldn’t bunt, but Daniel F. Descalso was certainly going to do it.
It killed Roark’s concentration and karma for a few hitters, although the fat pitch to Hendricks is wholly on him.
Why don’t Reds take the free hit?
The title of the column says it all. It’s hard to remember a time when the Reds offense was so anemic to go along with good pitching. What a strange season in what looked to be a turnaround year.
Here is my 2 cents:
Votto needs to be moved down in the lineup!
“Shifts” need to end!
Quit taking 87 MPH fastballs in the middle of the plate! (Get a hit instead)!
Agreed. Last year, the Red Sox started their season with the premise that they were taking too many pitches in the strike zone, and focused on swinging at good pitches.
Nothing about hitting ever strays very far from Ted Williams’s first rule: “Get a good pitch to hit.”
Maybe
Although, looking at the core hitters, only Votto has a lower swing rate at pitches in the zone than his career rate.
The Reds do have the lowest BABIP, so, there is hope for some improvement.
At least there are flashy, artistic cleats and bow-wows to distract us from the baseball stuff. When is the next bobblehead night that I won’t be attending?
Reds hitting started going south last few weeks of last year and has continued this year.Better pitching means no cookies to hit late in a game down by 5 runs.Stat padding in blow out losses is over.Question is what to do about it?Current guys need to make adjustments and it isn’t happening.Truth appears to be that we have been a bad hitting team for years now but it was masked by the fact we always were so far behind and then and only then did we score.Time to look closely at every position player and ask the question would any other team want them as one of their starters or are they young enough to improve.I’ll take Senzel,Winker and Suarez.The rest are what they are at this point in their career.Its not about past performance its about now,age and potential to get better.Puig and Peraza are interesting but Puig is a guy the Dodgers didn’t want and Peraza is doing the Billy thing of is this the year he turns the corner.Not willing to throw in the towel but this offense is so far away from even competing in the division its foolish to think it will with this current group.Time to look elsewhere.Problem is we don’t appear to have any talent that isn’t 2 years away and how many times have we heard that one.The Cubs are much younger and more talented at almost every position.Its like night and day.Done with the rant but it is what it is.
Unfortunately, I pretty much agree with all of this. Sad times.
I agree.Just so tired of this same stuff year after year.Now we can pitch but can’t hit.Truth is we never could hit as a team.Get some of these younger guys up here.Siri is hitting at AA and already has the speed and defense to play.Give the kid they just called up some starts at second.Maybe 10 in a row and lets see what he can do.Lost season by June 1 anyway so why try and convince anybody its going to change.This is a team that moved their #1 prospect to the outfield because he was blocked in the infield.Are we kidding?This is a team that has maybe one or two position players that another team may trade for.The others they wouldn’t even take if you just gave them away and paid them to do it.The Yanks lost 5 starters and brought up guys from the minors and haven’t missed a beat.Thats how far away this club is from competing.
The normally smooth Iglesias probably had his worst game in the field at SS. A throwing error and a slow, cement-like non-response to a ball that he should’ve easily reached, led to two runs. The misplays seemed to unsettle Roarke a bit and added to his pitch count. Had Iglesias made those plays, it would’ve been a much different game. It felt like someone else was playing shortstop and wearing Igelsias’ uniform. He’s much better than that.
Almora made a pretty nice play in center–worth noting.
The operative word in the title is “again.” Since the team is going nowhere will Van M ever get consistent AB’s?
Puig is definitely pressing
Teams are throwing more Fastballs to Puig
His chase rate and swing rate is way up so far. Swinging strike rate is up as well.
His contact rate on pitches in the zone is down as is his overall contact rate.
Puig and Votto are similar in that their Fly Ball rate is way up this season. Votto’s line drive rate is way down
What are you talking about?