| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (56-61) |
6 | 11 | 0 |
| Washington Nationals (63-55) |
7 | 11 | 0 |
| W: E. Fedde (3-2) L: A. DeSclafani (7-7) S: S. Doolittle (27) | |||
| Statcast | Gamecast | Game Thread | |||
1J.R. House stands, sentry-like near the third base box, cheerfully waving runners home like a Walmart greeter waving customers to the homewares section. In tonight’s first inning, he sent Joey Votto, known for his wheels, right?, plate ward. Votto was out by a Bob Evans Country Mile, undermining what could have been a very productive inning against Erick Fedde. Still, a first pitch home run by Jesse Winker—his 10th opposite field HR of the season—gave the Reds the early lead. In the bottom of the inning, erstwhile Cardinal Matt Adams continued to torment Reds’ pitching, albeit in a different shade of red, going deep to centerfield to quickly erase the good guys’ early lead.
2Jose Iglesias brought the Reds a run closer in the 2nd, doubling in Tucker Barnhart. All season, Iglesias has been coming up with huge hits in key situations. Just another night for the Reds SS. Ho hum.
4In the 4th inning with his pitch count climbing, it was clear Disco was not going to be around long. By allowing pitcher Fedde to slap a 2-out single into right field, DeSclafani extended the inning for leadoff hitter Trea Turner. His 3-run jack came on Disco’s 76th pitch of the game, putting the Reds in a hole they could not climb out of.
6Fedde appeared to be on the ropes, wobbling in 6th as he crossed the 100 pitch threshold, but the Reds couldn’t get the big hit.
8In fact, Reds bats went largely silent until the 8th inning, when Aristides Aquino left the surly bonds of planet Earth for his 8th HR of his very short career, bringing the Reds to within 3.
9Sean Doolittle had no sooner finished licking his wounds from yet another beatdown at the hands of the New York Mets over the weekend, when Phillip Ervin tattooed him for a solo HR in the ninth. Jose Iglesias continued his fine night, singling before Votto doubled off the wall to nearly bring Doolittle to his knees. However, Josh VanMeter would pop out in foul territory to end the game, leaving Doolittle red-faced, but with the save.
The Good
Aquino has become the first player in major league baseball history to hit 8 home runs in his first 12 career games. Jose Iglesias must have heard the footsteps of Freddy Galvis. Jose Iglesias went 3-4, with a double, triple and single. Joey Votto had 2 hits and 2 walks in another Votto-like night. Kevin Gausman acquitted himself well, pitching 2 solid innings.
The Bad
Starting pitching. DeSclafani continued his recent trend of giving up multiple runs in the first inning, handcuffing the Reds before the game has barely begun.
The Ugly
This loss was just another in what seems like an endless stream of games this season that were oh so winnable, but slipped through the hands like sand in an hourglass of a season that is running out of time.
The Acquisition
Surely it was those sweet Cueto-like locks that sealed the deal, as the Reds picked up Freddy Galvis today. It’s sure looks like a savvy pick up for the Reds, who has been a nice surprise with the bat this season, to go along with an outstanding glove. Now, the Reds have another smooth fielding Venezuelan shortstop. Davey… meet Freddy.
All in one motion. How?! ? pic.twitter.com/Jb3RHd6ePK
— MLB (@MLB) July 13, 2018
Disco always gets killed by the long ball. I would rather see him in the bullpen than starting. I believe he’ll be more effective
Totally agree. Disco is a fastball slider pitcher, just like Amir. He should be in the pen and Lorenzen, he of 5 pitches, Sonny Gray athleticism and Aquino exit velocity should be getting 200 innings and 70 abs
If I’m not mistaken, this was Doolittle’s third game in four days. Hughes getting out of the 8th inning (shakily) allowed us to see their closer for the 3 run lead save. Of course, with Ervin leading off with a homer it was suddenly a ball game. Joey’s double was almost a homer, but should’ve been caught by Parra. At least, all of this action necessitated a 24 pitch inning by Doolittle. Hopefully he won’t be available on Tuesday.
With Iglesias and Dietrich both likely gone at the end of this season, Peraza has a spot on the 25. Unless, of course, the Reds can find a quality SS over the winter. Peraza has enough versatility to be on the bench in 2020.
As poorly as Disco has pitched over his last three games, he still qualifies as a quality 5th starter. Even if they re-sign Alex Wood, Mahle and Disco should fight it out for the final spot in the rotation. They need to go more than 5 deep in starting pitching: someone will get hurt.
Hughes has seemingly lost the confidence of Bell (and many a fan). I agree that, in this case, it’s time to have one of the youngsters come up and show what they can do.
I’ll ask again, is Reed still in the Witness Protection Program? What is his ETA? We might have a need for a lefty in the BP at SOME point …
Earmbrister,
DD is 3rd year arbitration eligible next season, so hopefully he’ll be on the team. I’d rather have him than Peraza as a bench player.
How many comeback wins do the reds have after the 7th inning? I work early so go to bed early and can’t recall one time the reds surprised me with a late inning comeback.
I was disappointed by yesterday’s late loss to the Cubs. I was actually angry at tonight’s loss to the Nationals. Fedde just didn’t look that good, but DeSclafani sure made it easy on him. The first and fourth innings were painful, and it felt like everyone could see it coming except Disco himself. So frustrating. And of course the night started with an awful decision by House in the 3rd base coaches box. A huge gift to the Nationals and, in the end, probably the difference in the game. Maddening.
I was glad to see VanMeter get the last at bat against a tough lefty, even though he failed. But he can’t learn to succeed there without experience in those spots. On the other hand, as Thom was running down the list of bench players who were no longer available to hit for JVM, was anyone else thinking – Lorenzen? Lorenzen. What about Lorenzen? That would have been fascinating to see. Oh well. Now the Reds really need to step up and take the next two.
Disco has shown what’s he capable of: 5 innings & 4 runs per game, 1-2 HR included. If the team is capable of scoring more than that, along with a decent bullpen, then he should be a mainstay in rotation’s 4th or 5th spot, otherwise ship him away to the bullpen or any other team.
5th spot a best.Sign wood and let disco beat out one of the young arms in spring training.If he can’t earn the 5th spot pit him in the been or get rid of him.
put him in the pen.sorry
Maybe just me but I question whether Disco will be part of the starting rotation next season. Those first inning woes continue to haunt. I also seriously doubt this team will ever get to .500 this season. So frustrating.
I just don’t see another one run loss. I see another loss period and that’s 3 out of the last 5 against teams with real playoff aspirations. The Reds have shown they can compete but they just can’t string together enough wins to make a real playoff push. Also pull the plug on Disco especially before next season.
At 56-61 they’ve just overcome 2 games after a 1-8 start, and much more than that is needed to make a push for the playoffs. Unfortunately, there’re still several weak spots in the roster (Disco, Peraza, Hughes) that will prevent from doing so. Also, the bullpen is now even shorter without Garrett for 8 games.
Its just who the Reds are right now but they are playing younger guys with upside so its promising for the future.Still more work to do to find out who is here for the long haul.When you battle and they did in the 8th and 9th and come up short there is always enough plays or lack of making plays that contribute in a big way to the loss.The baserunning in the first inning and not able to get a guy home from third in the 7th stand out but again its who we are and have been for a long time.All bad teams or average teams do those things and a lot.Good teams don’t do them as often because their attention to detail is better and they are better at fundamental and situational baseball.The Reds have lost for so long and we have talked forever about the same things that cost them tonight.However winning cures a lot of things and they will have to get better in those areas to become a winning franchise and I believe they will.Even though he popped out it was great to see JVM get a shot,maybe because we had nobody else,against their lefty closer with the game on the line.
Ive been trying to figure out the reds and you explained it perfectly.Same mistakes at the wrong time all year. Our stud Catillo up 3-0 but they find a way to lose. Base running blunders all year.otto was out by 10 yds last night!Not even close. No clutch hitting. Thanks for the great post.
Are stats available on reds thrown out more running bases…or..on certain reds batters leaving runners on third base with less than 2 outs….votto must be leading those stats
Was at last night’s game. It was a sight to see in person how fast and far both Aquino’s and Ervin’s HRs left the yard…and watching the Nats fans hold their heads and wonder. Wasn’t clear that Joey’s fly ball (after just missing being stuck out the pitch before) would carry to the wall. Should have been caught…but two years ago it would have been over the wall. Clear Disco was struggling…couldn’t put people away after getting ahead. Including allowing Fredde to literally throw his bat at the pitch to loop one into right. A real back breaker. Hope for a better outcome tomorrow. Note: these games important for staying alive in the WC race.
Votto’s at-bat against Doolittle was quite telling imo. In a full count and after seeing Votto swing late thru fastballs on strikes one and two, everyone in the stadium and at home knew Joey would be getting another fastball. Even knowing what was coming, it took 3 foul balls before he put a good-ish swing on the ball. Fortunately, the left fielder misplayed it.
Doesn’t leave me optimistic about his career moving forward.
Free Philip Ervin!!!!
If reds need a walk….call votto
JV has been an av3rage to below average hitter for more than 1.5 years now. Probably a bottom third 1B guy. He is not going anywhere though. Best solution is probably batting him 6th and having him swing for homers and hit 250.
I agree Rob that Joey isn’t going anywhere.Best thing for the Reds is to fix everything else they need to fix and Joey’s situation takes care of itself but not until then.Joey has been the face of this franchise for years and he is one of the very few guys left that should not be and will not be just pushed out.Pujols and Miggy fall into that category and I probably am missing a few.In time he will be pushed down in the order as you said but it ain’t happening this year for sure.