So this aged poorly….
Two of the most dominant starters of 2019 go head-to-head.
Who ya got? pic.twitter.com/Si70IIrwPK
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) May 22, 2019
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Brewers (29-22) | 11 | 13 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (22-27) | 9 | 11 | 0 |
| W: Guerra (2-0) L: Peralta (0-1) S: Hader (12) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
THE GOOD
If you told me the Reds would score nine runs in a Luis Castillo start, I’d put my life savings on a win. To quote Jayson Stark: “That’s why you can’t predict baseball.”
The bats went, just not quite enough. Rookie Josh VanMeter started the scoring in the top of the second with a bloop double that brought home two. It was the first double of the kid’s career. After a Castillo flyout, Tucker Barnhart capped the inning with a mammoth three-run homer. Tucker has never been known for his power but just watch this puppy fly:
Tuck and cover! #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/4a3WVYK7l2
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 22, 2019
Derek Dietrich played add-on in the top of the third with a solo shot destroyed to deep center. The ball stopped about halfway up the batters’ eye, estimated at 432-feet. The blast tied Phillip Ervin’s double yesterday as the hardest hit ball by a Red this season at a 111.7 mph exit velocity.
Jose Iglesias continued his clutch hitting tear with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the fifth, putting the Reds up 8-6 at the time. Before that at-bat, Iglesias was hitting .467 with runners in scoring position. Dietrich and Iglesias: The heroes of this season.
Robert Stephenson and Jared Hughes pitched a clean 3.0 innings between them. The rest of the bullpen failed to take notes.
The bats had more chances after that, but a seventh-inning, bases-loaded, ground-rule double by Phillip Ervin was reviewed to land foul and an eighth-inning, potential sac fly by Eugenio Suarez didn’t quite travel deep enough. Sigh.
THE BAD
Neither of the “two most dominant starters of 2019” did much of note this afternoon, with each taking an early shower. Luis Castillo just didn’t seem to have his control, racking up 75 pitches with three walks and two home runs. Both Keston Hiura and Mike Moustakas took the Reds ace deep for solo shots on pitches that caught far too much of the plate.
He almost got out of the second inning with minimal damage but fell behind 3-0 to Orlando Arcia with the bases loaded before leaving a 3-2 pitch up that Arcia laced into left for a two-run double. That was the end of Castillo’s day.
Michael Lorenzen came on in relief and got the final out of the third then allowed two in his second inning of work, tying the game. The rest of the relievers followed Lorenzen’s lead.
Wandy Peralta coughed up the lead in the sixth, and then David Hernandez failed to staunch the bleeding. You have to believe Peralta’s time in the bullpen is winding down, though at this point, who even knows.
Curt Casali got thrown out after a bases-loaded, dropped third strike to Phillip Ervin. Casali must have forgotten the rule that if a base is occupied, the batter may not run to first base. The Reds best chance at rallying died in the most inept way possible.
There are no words for what just happened.
— Redleg Nation (@redlegnation) May 22, 2019
NOT SO RANDOM THOUGHTS
This loss should upset me more than it does, but I find it hard to get mad about splitting a series with the Division leader.
Even if it didn’t end up mattering, this play was cool and fun! Let’s watch it a bunch and forget about the rest!
Catch you on the flippity-flip!#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/cHlacXLJyt
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 22, 2019
Also, Geno is a gem. Remember: Baseball is fun.
Geno or Kareem? #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/cUfxNUmU6B
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 22, 2019
They’ve had six opportunities to get 3 games under .500 since april 26th. They’ve failed to get there in all six chances…Snake bitten team
Yeah, but they all got good pay for the game and also saved 15% on car insurance with Guy-Ko.
The season is still young and the offense is waking up so .500 and better is still within reach. The starting and relief pitching failed today but those games happen occasionally to all teams.
Losing culture.Reds have to learn how to win as silly as that may sound.Peralta just like Sunday couldn’t get a lefty out.Hopefully Bell understands he needs only to pitch at least for awhile in low low leverage situations if he indeed remains in the big leagues.Reds hit some bullets today that were caught and Brewers hit some bleeders that fell in but that’s the way it goes sometimes.I was hoping we were beyond losing games in the 6th inning or later while our best guys watch from the pen but it happened today.Bell playing the match ups but it hasn’t worked the last two times with Peralta and while Hernandez has done well working in back to back games he hasn’t.Just have to wonder what may have happened if Garret and Iggy would have been asked to finish from the 6th on?Easy to second guess isn’t it?
time to cut bait on votto. salary or not. we are getting zero from him and catching position is a mess.
Casali was assuming all runners would advance because the ball went to the back stop, but the guy at 3rd didn’t want to risk it (the ball caromed back pretty hard) so Casali realized the guys ahead of him weren’t advancing and tried to reverse course but fell to the ground. I don’t blame him, I thought there was a good chance to score on the wild pitch or passed ball or whatever it was, but it would have been a close play because of the crazy carom… the runner at 3rd probably saw that and retreated but Casali was stuck in no man’s land.
I can count 6 games that the Reds have simply given away this year. Put those games in the win column and the Reds are 28-21 instead of 22-27. That would put them 2nd place.
I was thinking the exact same thing. The reds are throwing away games they have to and must win. At some point this losing culture should not be tolerated. Those who can’t contribute like Peralta and Duke need to spend some time with Schebler.
Bell really needs to stop giving away outs batting Joey 2nd. He needs to drop him 6th or 7th. Also Reed needs to be on this Roster.
Moreover, once Gennett is back, a tough decision shall be made to either keep Votto (651 OPS) as regular or sit him and play Dietrich (1011 OPS) everyday.
Great post Cossack!
Agreed. You never know what type of stuff a reliever will have when he comes out. Agree with Old-School about Winker too. I never want to sit him in favor of Peraza. If you want to give him his occasional day off against lefties go for it, but making him a platoon player this early in his career I’m not in favor of
Completely agree. Managers are getting to the point where they are pulling pitchers when they get to the third time through the lineup even if they are showing no signs of struggle up to that point. It seems to me, if you are mowing them down the first two times through the lineup, even if you regress a little you are still going to be better than most anyone out of the bullpen. Leave the starter in and see what happens. You can always pull him at the first sign of struggle.
Well reasoned and well stated. Kudos!
I’m more in the middle between you two, but you can’t say Peraza extremely struggling this year and his first year didnt play a part in the benching. Yes, Scooter the first year and Iglesias and Dietrich this year have played extremely well, but Peraza has played very poorly. If he started the picking up from where he left off last season he would be certainly playing more than he is at the moment.
Hey Wesley. I watched this game too and also wasn’t terribly tormented. When they went up 5-0, I almost expected it.
That said, just a quick note on the standings. You wrote: “This loss should upset me more than it does, but I find it hard to get mad about splitting a series with the Division leader”. The Cubs are in first place by 2 games. Could be worst, it could be the whiny birds on a stick.
Peraza will continue to be a Red beyond this year as a utility player, multiple positions, at an affordable salary. Scooter priced himself out of affordability with great but inconsistent offensive production and marginal defense. At nearly $10MM/yr, he’ll be let go like Billy Hamilton.
Iglesias and Dietrich are both more productive per dollar spent than Scooter.