| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Nationals (26-33) | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (27-32) |
1 | 3 | 1 |
| W: Scherzer (3-5) L: Gray (2-5) SV: Doolittle (12) |
|||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Some days you run into an unstoppable train. Max Scherzer was that train on Sunday and he took care of the Reds like the Cy Young winner that he is.
The Offense
There wasn’t much to write about today from the offense. Back-to-back doubles in the 4th by Joey Votto and Derek Dietrich brought in the Reds only run and also represented 2 of the teams 3 hits. Tucker Barnhart also had a double to lead off the 8th inning. Josh VanMeter would draw a walk and Jesse Winker wore a hit by pitch as the only other Reds to reach base. The team struck out a combined 16 times during the game.
The Pitching
The arms did better than the bats, but it was a mixed bag. Sonny Gray allowed 2 runs in 5.0 innings. The righty struck out 4 batters and walked just one, throwing 88 pitches with 55 strikes and generating 9 ground outs. His ERA now sits at 3.54 on the season.
The bullpen got shutout innings from Amir Garrett and Wandy Peralta. For Garrett, it lowered his ERA to 1.82 on the season. Michael Lorenzen recorded 2 outs before being replaced by David Hernandez. He got the final out of the 7th, but was charged with 2 runs in the 8th inning. He left runners on base when Raisel Iglesias came on with 2 outs trying to hold onto a 2-1 lead. He would not be successful. He walked the first batter to load the bases, then gave up a 2-run single to Brian Dozier on an 0-2 count. Peralta came on for the 9th inning and kept it a 4-1 game.
Notes Worth Noting
The Major League Baseball Draft begins on Monday night and runs through Wednesday. Rounds 1 and 2 will take place Monday, followed up by Rounds 3-10 on Tuesday, and then Rounds 11-40 on Wednesday. For up to the minute coverage on that, I’ll be working non-stop at RedsMinorLeagues.com for that one. The Reds will draft 7th overall. My personal Top 20 draft board can be found here. All of the pre-draft scouting reports can be found here.
Joey Votto’s double in the 4th put him into 4th place on the All-Time doubles list for the franchise. He now has 382, trailing Rose, Larkin, and Concepcion. He’s likely to catch Concepcion this season, who has 389 to Votto’s 382.
Goat-like reflexes. ?#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/hAikgJDkYV
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 2, 2019
Joey Votto’s got some defensive skills left.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals
Tuesday June 4th, 8:15pm ET
Luis Castillo (5-1, 2.45 ERA) vs Genesis Caberera (0-1, 7.36 ERA)
I’m a Suarez fan, too. But Winker and Puig each have 10 home runs.
We all know Puig has made more contact with his knee when he breaks the bat after an at bat than he does with the ball. It’s going to be interesting once Gennette is back because the way Dietrech has been playing he looks like he will pick up an outfield spot. Winker might be the odd man out because of his defense.
Loving Dietrich but he’s even more abysmal than Winker defensively in the OF. I’m not sure how this will all shake out but it’s actually a good problem for the Reds to have.
I do not understand why people keep thinking Blandino is going to add. He is another light hitting, middle infielder. We have enough of those already. Farmer has more power, and they both hit RH. When Scooter returns that pushes DD somewhere, not quite sure what Blandion adds that is not already there. Some may say JVMR is where Blandion goes, they are the same kind of player and JVMR is LH. Peraza seems to have staying power and his age and control seems to be the reason.
After past two series results against Pirated and Nats, I think it’s safe to say Reds are already out of contention. Unfortunately, despite FO offseason efforts, the combination of an inexperienced manager, Gennett’s injure and poor performances from several players (Puig, Peraza, Votto, Winker and Schebler) makes a long winning streak very unlikely. Even though they’ve received unexpected contributions from Iglesias and Dietrich, yet Puig, Winker and Schebler (before demotion) poor numbers cannot be overcome.
They are 6 1/2 games down in the division and 5 back in the WC. You want to throw in the towel? Sell for more prospects? How many more years of rebuilding do you want? Giving up one possible winning season for hopes of one 2,3,4 or more years down the road makes no sense to me.
The issue is the way the Reds went in this year. Half the team is in the final year of a contract. They are not going to sign all of the players whose contracts are up this year. If they do not sell then they will get nothing. It would be better to sell and at least get something in return.
The Reds inability to reach .500 and stay there is frustrating for fans, but I would not give up on the 2019 season just yet. A lot often happens to teams in the second half. The return of Scooter, hopefully Wood, and possible trades could make a positive difference. The Reds are not yet that far back.
I agree this team is better then in the past but we still are a last place team until they prove they aren’t.Nobody is coming back the Reds,they must go past them.Team is just so consistently inconsistent on offense.Still struggle to manufacture runs,still struggle to move runners over,still struggle to come up with a big hit.Pounded Corbin on Friday and after he left through Saturday’s loss they were shut out for 8 innings by the worst bull pen in the league.Yesterday was the 12th time this year they have scored 1 run or less in a game.Just won’t get it done if this continues.Lots of guys on one year deals which is ok but need to decide if anybody such as Ervin and others need some time to see what they can do.No need to keep running Puig out there although I personally like him,I see no scenario at all that he is here next year.To me it all comes down to the fact is this ownership looking to win and win a lot or just looking to compete.The moves they make will let us know.Go Reds.
Puig is now tied for last among qualified OF’s in WAR on Fangraphs. He licks his bat though.
The Reds have 3 players with a wRC+ over 100, excluding the back up catcher
The pitching has been great, due to a combination of performance, coaching, a manager decision making. The pitching is likely not good enough to support the awful hitting. There is little to no hitting help coming and Dietrich and Iglesias will return to norms at some point.
Not sure there is a path for this team to pass 4 teams in the NL Central.
Schebler has been pretty poor in AAA as well. That was a bad decision to utilize him out of spring training. Ervin is a much better option.
The decision making of the FO in regards to pitching is encouraging. Getting two starters on minor league contracts is as well.
The trade with the Dodgers is not working as hoped, but, it needed to be made. Puig is hurting the team right now and no value has been derived from the other players in the deal.
Hopefully they will improve. Gennett and improvement from others will offset any regression of Iglesias and Dietrich. Also, it is not like Iglesias is some amazing hitter, below 100 wRC+.
Votto will hit better, not sure the power will return. Who knows what normal is for WInker at this point. Seems that it he will improve. To some, Puig has really been producing, is there really any room for improvement there?
Hey Matthew
Puig is really producing as you noted. Impressive wRC+ of 61.
Any other snide comments?
Sliotar, I know that for some reason, you just do not like #JVMVP, it’s clear in most of your posts. But JV is still the best hitter on this team, and has more productive seasons ahead of him. Votto has started slow, but is picking up. Votto is only two seasons removed from an MVP that was stolen from him based upon HR. I think he is still the most talented hitter on this team, and he will be for the next few seasons.
And Votto actually. Although Joey is showing signs of coming around so maybe hold off on that. .342 OBP, while not good for Votto, is good enough to hit 2nd in this lineup.