It was nice to see a win last night, right? The Cincinnati Reds will try to make it back-to-back victories against the Miami Marlins Tuesday night at Marlins Park.
Tonight’s pitching matchup
Reds – Luis Castillo (12-4, 3.04 ERA)
La Piedra is jonesing for some strikeouts. His K/9 is up over 10 this year, but he has just seven strikeouts over his last two starts. Good news for him, the last time he faced the Marlins (April 9 at GABP) the Reds won 14-0 and he struck out eight while allowing only three base runners (two hits and a walk).
Castillo matches up well with the Marlins that he has faced. Much of last night’s lineup he has never pitched against before, but of the ones he’s seen just Neil Walker has homered.
This will be the third time in his career that Castillo will pitch in Marlins Park. The previous two times have been rousing successes. He’s tossed 16.1 innings and allowed just one earned run. Last season he pitched 8.1 shutout innings only to be handed a no-decision. Yet another example as to why using pitcher records to determine pitcher quality is utter madness.
Marlins – Caleb Smith (8-7, 3.82)
Smith may be the Marlins best starter. In 117.2 innings he has struck out 138 while keeping the base runners down with a 1.096 WHIP. He gets in some trouble with the long ball, though, as over a quarter of the hits he’s allowed have left the park (23 homers out of 86 hits allowed).
The 27-year-old has faced the Reds once in his young career. He tossed 5.2 shutout innings in 2018. Only Joey Votto, Jose Peraza, and Scott Schebler notched a hit against Smith on that day.
He’s gone through a bit of a rough stretch as of late. Two of his last three starts have seen the opposition score at least five times. He has also allowed two home runs in each of those games.
Lineups
Cincinnati Reds Lineup
- Nick Senzel – CF
- Joey Votto – 1B
- Eugenio Suarez – 3B
- Aristides Aquino – RF
- Phillip Ervin – LF
- Jose Iglesias – SS
- Curt Casali – C
- Freddy Galvis – 2B
- Luis Castillo – SP
Miami Marlins Lineup
- Jon Berti – SS
- Harold Ramirez – RF
- Garrett Cooper – 1B
- Neil Walker – 3B
- Isan Diaz – 2B
- Jorge Alfaro – C
- Lewis Brinson – CF
- Austin Dean – LF
- Caleb Smith – SP
News and Notes
Joey Votto was activated prior to the game and the team optioned Jose Peraza to Triple-A Louisville.
The #Reds have optioned Jose Peraza to Triple-A Louisville and activated first baseman Joey Votto from the injured listhttps://t.co/M15uox9ubE pic.twitter.com/FfjzxlwE3i
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) August 27, 2019
Redleg Nation’s own Jason Linden wrote about Triple-A baseball at The Hardball Times earlier today and it’s a fascinating, if not sobering read that you should check out.
I somehow didn't realize this was going up today, but I wrote a thing about watching the minor leagues for the last several years. You can read it if you want. https://t.co/rsDfETtlwt
— Jason Linden (@JasonLinden) August 27, 2019
Aristides Aquino’s been killing the ball since he arrived in the Majors earlier this month. But before that he killed the ball for the Louisville Bats and took home some hardware for his efforts today as he was named the league’s rookie of the year and named to the postseason All-Star team.
BREAKING: Aristides Aquino Named 2019 International League Rookie of the Year; Postseason All-Star
?: https://t.co/Nd6U041CDL pic.twitter.com/Ql17sgNEDe
— Louisville Bats (@LouisvilleBats) August 27, 2019