| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (24-28) | 10 | 17 | 1 |
| Chicago Cubs (30-21) |
2 | 8 | 2 |
| W: Roark (4-3) L: Quintana (4-4) |
|||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Reds got started early, scoring twice in the 1st inning. And then they just kept playing add-on as they took the game, and the series from the Cubs on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley. Fly that L, Chicago. Fly. That. L.
The Offense
Nick Senzel was the spark plug in the game today for the Reds. He went 3-5 with a walk, a double, and he scored 4 runs. Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Yasiel Puig, Jose Iglesias, and Curt Casali all had 2 hits on the day – with Casali adding a walk to his 2 hits and he had a 2-run homer off of backup catcher Victor Caratini in the 9th inning. For Eugenio Suarez he drove in 3 runs, in part, thanks to 2 sac flies.
The team had 17 hits on the day and walked 3 more times – putting them on base 20 times. The offense is coming around, and it’s looking good of late.
The Pitching
Another day with Tanner Roark on the mound, and another good start for Tanner Roark. He came out and shut out the Chicago Cubs for 5.0 innings. That in itself is good to see. The fact that he walked just 1 batter and struck out 9 made it even better. The 32-year-old righty now has 59 strikeouts on the season in 56.1 innings. Raise you hand if you saw that coming. Why is no one’s hand raised? I guess you’re all honest people. That’s appreciated. For his efforts, Roark watched his ERA on the season drop to 3.20 through 11 starts. With many underrated pick ups this offseason (Jose Iglesias, Derek Dietrich, Kyle Farmer, DEREK JOHNSON), Roark gets overlooked some, but he probably shouldn’t.
The bullpen took over in the 6th inning with a 7-0 lead. Michael Lorenzen allowed a solo home run to Willson Contreras, but that was all that the Cubs got off of the righty. Jared Hughes came on for the 7th and kept Chicago off of the board…. in that inning. He returned for the 8th and gave up an oppo-taco to Javier Baez that made it 8-2. Robert Stephenson came out for the 9th and worked around an error with 2 strikeouts to seal the win on Sunday, as well as seal the series victory.
Notes Worth Noting
The Cincinnati Reds have reportedly acquired Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So we're watching the Reds vs Cubs game with the subtitles on and whatever program fox sports uses to produce their subtitles doesn't recognize "Eugenio Suarez" when spoken on the broadcast and instead displays it as "Arnold Schwarzenegger"
— ? (@BravesGasm) May 26, 2019
Nick Senzel picked up his first outfield assist, gunning out Anthony Rizzo at home.
The young gun. #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/GP3QooSAWt
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 26, 2019
Since starting 1-8, the Cincinnati Reds have gone 23-20.
The pitching staff has allowed 191 runs this season. Only two other teams have allowed fewer than 200 runs in baseball this year. Tampa Bay with an incredible 159 runs allowed, and Houston with 190 runs allowed.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds
Monday May 27th, 1:10pm and 7:10pm
Reds Starters: Luis Castillo (5-1, 2.38 ERA) and Sonny Gray (1-4, 3.78 ERA)
Pirates Starters: Nick Kingham (1-1, 8.76 ERA) and Mitch Keller (MLB Debut)
Great win.Could have won them all.Went toe to toe with one of the top teams in the league on their field against 3 starters that are pretty good.Shows what can happen if this team hits.Winker with two hits as well I believe.Farmer with a big pinch hit in the 4 run sixth.
Is there any word on Senzel’s left arm? I just saw the vid replay on mlb and it looked like he bumped it pretty hard coming into 2b on the blown rundown play.
That’s good to hear.
How sweet it is: a series win at Wrigley. It could be sweeter tomorrow with a double win against the Pirates.
Votto was 7-13 with a walk and a sac fly this series. If he is heating up then look out
Great win and series overall. Two things stuck out to me this weekend. One, Robert Stephenson definitely seems to have been relegated to mop up duty only. Chris Welsh mentioned that he is going 3-4 days between appearances and how tough that probably makes it to be consistent when he finally gets into a game.
Two, Joey Votto finally seems to be heating up. It was really good to see him looking like his normal self the last few games.
Go Reds!
Not for sure why but Welsh is right about how long he sets between starts.He has shown he can get people out so I am not sure why he doesn’t pitch more.He was out some in spring training so maybe that has something to do with it.His last pitch today was 95 at the knees to end it with a strikeout.That plays along with his almost unhittable slider.Maybe he will get more action as we go forward.
I agree that he should get more opportunities in higher leverage situations. I’d rather give RS a shot in a close game than go to Hernandez or Lorenzen a second or third day in a row, which seems to be the preference at the moment. Maybe he hasn’t been completely healthy.
First win on a Sunday! Now it is time to break the curse of making to three games under!
If we sweep the Pirates, the areas will be two under .500.
The schedule is so weird this season? They play @ Milw again from June 20-23 then all the way to Anaheim for June 25-26 & then all the way back home for 7 straight at home with the Cubs for 4 and Milw for 3. Why go all the way to California for 2 games? No Cards or Rockies on the way or Arizona on the way back? They should have a shot at 3 of 4 from Cleveland this year. They’re not hitting at all. No losing teams thru July 7 though except 3 with the Nats and the 2 in Anaheim. They just have to get on a roll and play with confidence like they did today! Roark threw a ton of pitches, but he was making them foul stuff off. He wasn’t nibbling.
Bottom line….if they get thru this stretch at .500 then they might make some noise?
Sims & Cody Reed. I just looked at stats for AA. They have a lefty named Devin Smeltzer! He’s pitching for our AA and also AAA Rochester this year. 54 ip combined with 39 hits (.199 allowed) and a 1.15 era. I’d put him sight unseen over Zack Duke:)
Never mind. Smeltzer is a Twin. No wonder he pitched for Rochester. Pensacola is with Minnesota now? I didn’t know that.
This was a really satisfying win. Roark, a righties without a devastating pitch, against a really potent lineup including a couple of very strong left handed bats. And yet – zero runs allowed. And everybody hit (excluding Peraza of course). A series win in Chicago that wasn’t that far off a sweep. I feel like the Reds are playing with ever increasing confidence. Bring on the Pirates!
great win today the nationals should be be worried
Marty said during Saturday’s broadcast that the Cubs home cook the scoring decisions more than any other mlb team.
Over/under on how many Reds batters are hit by Clint and his evil Pirates in the double-header at GABP today?!
I’ll set the line at 3.5….
The Reds are now 9th in all of MLB and 4th in the NL in team OBP. That sure did happen quickly. Votto, Puig, and Winker are all still likely to improve in that regard too based on their lower than normal BABIP. The offense is finally coming around!
Ok, I knew that seemed too good to be true. I was looking at 2018 stats on Fangraphs, my bad. The offense is still clearly improving though.
One game at a time.Things looking up if they continue to hit but its a long season.Baby steps but they are competing and its been so long since that has happened its hard not to get excited.I would love to see us get to 500 just to see what happens.We have lost for so long and it would be great to develop the culture that this team can win.Saying it and believing you can is one thing but the record speaks for itself and right now we are last in the Central.Still trying to get to 3 under on our what 7th try with our best on the mound just like his last start.Maybe today is the day.Need to jump out early and lets see.
The lineup looks good! The guys were spraying the ball around in Wrigley and should be able to keep that going vs a guy with a 8.76 era!
The Pirates are going with a top prospect Mitch Keller in game 2. A 3.45 era in AAA with 47 ip, 47 hits, 56 ks, 20 walks, and a 1.43 whip. Good, but not overwhelming. I’d like to see JVM get a start in that one? Need a sweep, but have to get the first one first!!