Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals – August 30, 2019

This game has been postponed. The Reds and Cardinals will play a double header on both Saturday and Sunday.

It is that time again for the last time this year. The Cincinnati Reds are set to begin a series against the wonderful lovable dreaded St. Louis Cardinals. The two teams will square off four times in three days.

Tonight’s pitching matchup

Reds – Trevor Bauer (10-11, 4.34 ERA)

Bauer is set to face the Cardinals for just the second time in his career on Friday night. The last time he pitched against them was in 2015 early on in his second full season in the majors. He tossed 7.1 innings while holding the Cardinals to one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts.

Just three Cardinals who played in that game remain on this years team. Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter, and Kolten Wong are the only current St. Louis position players who faced Bauer, that day. Carpenter managed an RBI-single for the one run scored on Bauer.

He will look to bounce back as two of his last three starts have been rather rough. If you combine his start against the Nationals with his start against the Pirates, he pitched 7.1 innings and allowed 16 earned runs. His other three starts in a Reds uniform combined for 18.2 innings of six-run ball. He also has 26 strikeouts in those three starts that aren’t horrible.

Cardinals – Dakota Hudson (13-6, 3.47)

Hudson has been on a really hot stretch lately. He has tossed three-straight scoreless starts, going at least six innings in each one, and striking out 13. His start last Monday (August 19) went 6.2 innings without a hit as the Cardinals blanked the Brewers.

In four games against the Reds, Hudson has pitched 19 innings and allowed just seven earned runs. One may say he’s a bit lucky, though, as the Reds have had 26 base runners (eight walks, 18 hits). Eugenio Suarez is the only Redleg to have homered off Hudson.

In his last start against the Reds (July 18) Hudson allowed three runs in five innings. He did allow that one home run to Suarez, but the Cardinals scored five runs in the sixth (off Robert Stephenson) that gave them a lead the Reds would not recover from.

Cincinnati Reds Lineup

1. Josh VanMeter – LF
2. Joey Votto – 1B
3. Eugenio Suarez – 3B
4. Aristides Aquino – RF
5. Freddy Galvis – 2B
6. Nick Senzel – CF
7. Tucker Barnhart – C
8. Jose Iglesias – SS
9. Trevor Bauer – SP

St. Louis Cardinals Lineup

1. Dexter Fowler – RF
2. Kolten Wong – 2B
3. Paul Goldschmidt – 1B
4. Marcel Ozuna – LF
5. Paul DeJong – SS
6. Yadier Molina – C
7. Matt Carpenter – 3B
8. Harrison Bader – CF
9. Dakota Hudson – SP

Lineup Notes

Josh VanMeter has 8 hits against the Cardinals. He’s got a pair of doubles and a homer while slashing .348/.444/.565 in nine games.

Did you know Joey Votto has four steals this season?

That home run is one of three career hits Suarez has against Hudson.

If Aristides Aquino has as many career at-bats as Hank Aaron, and hits homers at the same pace, he will total 1,784.5 career homers.

Freddy Galvis has a .234 career average against the Cardinals (39 games).

With runners in scoring position, Nick Senzel has a .339 batting average and an .843 OPS.

Even though he has 100 plate appearances in Busch Stadium, Tucker Barnhart has never hit a homer there.

Jose Iglesias has eight extra-base hits this month (91 plate appearances). He’s got five doubles, a triple, and two dingers.

Opposing hitter to watch

Marcell Ozuna – LF

In 24 games played in the month of August, Ozuna is batting .306 with a .927 OPS. He has hit safely in 17 of those 24 games. Bauer has never faced Ozuna, so it will be interesting to see how he approached their encounters.

Wrapping it up

The Reds will look to play spoiler this weekend. The Cardinals are pretty much neck-and-neck with the Cubs as they hold a slight 1.5-game lead. Meanwhile, the Reds are 4.5 games behind the Brewers for third place in the division. So, you know, wins will be awesome.