In what qualifies as a scheduling quirk, the Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks face each other for the first time this year in September. Six of Cincinnati’s next nine games are against the D-backs, and the Reds are hoping to change their recent losing-six-of-nine streak beginning this evening at 7:10 p.m. Eastern time at Great American Ball Park.
Starting Pitchers
| Name | IP | ERA | xFIP | K% | BB% |
| Robbie Ray | 152 | 3.97 | 3.75 | 30.8% | 10.8% |
| Tyler Mahle | 108.2 | 4.72 | 3.83 | 24.1% | 5.7% |
In terms of xFIP, this appears to be a fairly even starting pitching matchup. Mahle pitched well in his first start back after his injured list stay and then demotion to Louisville. He struck out five, walked none, and allowed only one earned run in 6.1 innings against St. Louis. Arizona has won eight of Ray’s last 10 starts, so the visiting team obviously likes their chances tonight.
Bullpen
Robert Stephenson and Raisel Iglesias have both appeared in the past two games, and that’s as close as anyone in the Reds bullpen could come to being considered as not available tonight. In other words, all hands should be on deck.
Starting Lineups
| Diamondbacks | Reds |
| CF Ketel Marte | 2B Alex Blandino |
| 2B Wilmer Flores | 1B Joey Votto |
| 3B Eduardo Escobar | 3B Eugenio Suarez |
| 1B Christian Walker | RF Aristides Aquino |
| LF Josh Rojas | SS Jose Iglesias |
| RF Adam Jones | CF Phillip Ervin |
| SS Nick Ahmed | C Curt Casali |
| C Carson Kelly | LF Jose Peraza |
| P Robbie Ray | P Tyler Mahle |
It’s an all-righthanded-batting starting eight position players (with the exception of Votto) against the lefthander Ray. D-backs first baseman Walker passed through the Reds roster one spring training during the height of the rebuild and did not stick. He’s landed with Arizona and has hit 25 homers this year with a 110 OPS+.
Additional insights into the statistical history of the players in today’s game is available all season long at BaseballSavant.com.
News and Notes
It’s Fiesta Rojos night …
The Reds tonight will don Los Rojos jerseys as part of “Fiesta Rojos” as we honor the local Hispanic community and the rich cultural history of the franchise. #RedsThreads pic.twitter.com/N8Y73ddraX
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 6, 2019
Earlier today at Redleg Nation
The Reds are showing interest in reliever Jeremy Jeffress, who is a free agent and can be signed right now.
Matt Habel takes a look at whether or not the strength of a teams wins matters or not.
Where is O’Grady…..seriously. Is there some contest you win to set the lineup every game, that is the only logical reason for the constant changes….no major league manager would do that?
It seems everyone are platoon players with the exception of Votto, Suarez, J Iggy and Aquino….young players and the FO will never know without the opportunity……and you need to be given the opportunity to prove it one way or the other..
Show em Alex. There is nothing wrong with taking a walk!
This is the perfect game to show that. Alex Blandino, the leadoff hitter tonight, has drawn 2 walks. Both times he has scored! It’s a beautiful thing! 2 runs scored and the Reds didn’t even have to hit a HR to do it!
Mahle needs to move to a team with a bigger park. Just too many home runs allowed.
Post test
I mean, if you want to argue he should play over Peraza, that holds water. But anyone else on this roster is a tough one to buy. Blandino was a below-average hitter in Triple-A this year in nearly 300 plate appearances (he had a .758 OPS in 293 PA this year – the league average OPS this year in the league was .787). He draws walks. He also hit .247 and slugged .372.
+1
You asked why he should sit out ANY games. I told you why he should sit out almost all of them. Then you tried changing the question you asked.
Start over who? Literally everyone else that’s a starter has a much stronger history and resume than he does. There’s no argument to be made, at least logically, that he should start anywhere other than Louisville. If you want to argue, again, that he should be the 25th man on the roster instead of Peraza, sure, that’s an argument that can be made. Beyond that? There’s no argument.
Well, if we’re going to argue who should actually have had all of Peraza’s starts, it’s Josh VanMeter, not Alex Blandino.
So, Josh VanMeter outhits Alex Blandino in Triple-A by like 350 points of OPS, comes to the Majors and is ALSO a better hitter than Blandino’s ever been in the Majors (while being 2 entire years younger right now, too), and it’s Blandino who should be starting?
Alright, man. You do you. I’ll bow out and let you argue with yourself from now on.
I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. But I’m just going to go ahead and make the executive decision and put you back on the “not allowed to comment” list. Feel free to go post on twitter while intoxicated. You simply aren’t worth the headaches you cause.
If you look at the construction of the roster of 25 right now, the four man bench would have to be Casali/TB, Farmer, Winker/Ervin, and Galvis…that assumes JVM at 2B and 8 RP. That means no DD as well. Everyone else is at Louisville. Next year we will see, but he is probably on the bubble.
Suarez with 42 homers is pretty fantastic. Would’ve loved to have seen someone go yard, or even knock a double in the 9th there, with Votto and Suarez getting on, and then Aquino made contact to advance Votto to 3rd. JVM had a big opportunity to deliver but struck out big time on pitches right over the plate. Oh well. Ervin took a walk with ball 3 barely over the plate. Then Casali gave it a shot. Wasn’t a terribly played ball game, but there sure were a lot of missed opportunities.
I like Mahle’s stuff but he really gets knocked around. Such a shame. I agree with earlier comments that maybe he just needs to pick up another pitch in the off-season, because a lot of what he’s doing is really good.
Hitting coach(s) change needed in the offseason.