| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (72-81) |
3 | 2 | 0 |
| Chicago Cubs (82-70) |
2 | 4 | 1 |
| W: Garrett (5-3) L: Norwood (0-1) SV: Iglesias (33) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
It was the Iglesias and Iglesias show late on Wednesday night in Chicago. Jose gave the Reds a lead in the 10th inning and Raisel came in for the bottom of the inning to close the game out and seal the win.
The Offense
There wasn’t a lot of offense in this game as neither team scored in the first three innings. But in the top of the 4th inning the Reds got on the board with a 409-foot home run from Eugenio Suarez. His 48th homer of the season was a solo shot that put Cincinnati up 1-0. The Reds wouldn’t score again until the 7th inning. Jose Iglesias and Curt Casali both singled to lead off the inning, then Jose Peraza would walk later in the inning to load the bases. Alex Blandino untied the game with a sacrifice fly, making it a 2-1 game for the Reds.
The game went to extras and Cincinnati didn’t get things moving quickly. Well, sort of. Joey Votto flew out to left field on the first pitch he saw. Eugenio Suarez grounded out on a broken bat on the first pitch he saw. Two pitches, by two pitchers, and there were two outs. Aristides Aquino saw six pitches in his at-bat and came through on the final one with a single into left field. Josh VanMeter then drew a walk on four straight pitches. After taking strike one, Jose Iglesias doubled into right field to score Aquino and put the Reds up 3-2. Tucker Barnhart walked to load the bases, but Michael Lorenzen grounded into a force out to end the inning.
Jose Iglesias had three hits on the day. Eugenio Suarez added two hits. Curt Casali and Jose Peraza both reached base twice in the game.
The Pitching
Tyler Mahle was getting it done for the Reds on the night. He allowed one run on one hit across his 6.0 innings pitched. That run came in the bottom of the 4th inning when Kyle Schwarber plated a run with a sacrifice fly. Of course, that lone run probably shouldn’t have happened. While the hit was clean, Alex Blandino clearly missed the tag at second base despite the ball beating the runner to the bag by 10 feet. Mahle would walk two batters and pick up three strikeouts along the way.
Robert Stephenson took over in the 7th inning and gave up the game-tying home run that was challenged, but upheld. Stephenson returned to the mound for the 8th inning and worked around a 2-out double to keep the game tied up and send it to the 9th inning at 2-2.
Sal Romano came out to begin the 9th inning and got the only two hitters he faced out. With Kyle Schwarber coming up the Reds turned to lefty Amir Garrett to hopefully send the game into extras. And that’s exactly what he did, striking out Schwarber and showing some emotion when he did it. Schwarber wasn’t thrilled about it and told him to get back to the dugout – to which Garrett then sprinted to the dugout and upon reaching the top step put his hands up in the air.
After taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the 10th the Reds turned the game over to Raisel Iglesias. He struck out Willson Contreras to begin the inning, but then saw Victor Caratini double with 1-out to put the tying run on second base. Iglesias came back to strike out Jason Heyward and then rookie Nico Hoerner lined out to Aristides Aquino to end the game.
Notes Worth Noting
Raisel Iglesias picked up his 33rd save of the year. That is a new career high for the Reds closer.
Jose Peraza walked twice. He only came to the plate twice. It’s his first time walking twice in a game since May 27th.
The pitching staff recorded12 ground outs and only had 4 fly outs.
The Reds win the season series 11-8 over the Cubs.
Cincinnati is off on Thursday. They’ll begin their final home stand on Friday against the Mets.
Eugenio Suarez did some more record setting, but we’ll have more of that early in the morning so be sure to tune your radio dial computer to the pages of Redleg Nation.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
New York Mets vs. Cincinnati Reds
Friday September 20th, 7:10pm ET
Jacob deGrom (9-8, 2.61 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo (15-6, 3.22 ERA)
Doug, I read all the time on RLN that Jose Iglesias is not a good offensive player. I really dont understand this. I certainly dont understand the new metrics at all but his” old school ” stats -BA, Hr, hits, runs, rbis,sb compare to Brandon Phillip’s during his last few years as a Red.
It is just confusing to me. Anyway I hope they resign him.
He is going to be a free agent and he will probably try to test the market. The Reds got him because he was under valued, but that seems unlikely to happen again as he fired his last agent and signed on with a new agency, so obviously he wants to get a good contract. Do the Reds want to offer a multi year deal to this guy, and btw he has missed several games with back issues already when they have Galvis and Blandino? Don’t get me wrong I think Iglesias has been a very good player with clutch hitting but he is also playing for free agency and players tend to have their best seasons when they are motivated that way. If they can scoop him up again at a bargain sure, go for it, I just think you need to realize the Reds as a small market team are always trying to be shrewd and looking for under valued targets and not get into bidding wars. Also there are times Jose will swing at absolute garbage and he tends to get behind in the count. I think when you go back and look at his baseball card at the end of his career this might be his best season ever and that really isn’t saying much in this day and age of slugging, but I mean no disrespect he is a defensive wizard and a great guy.
Before the game tonight his OPS+ was 83, which means he was 17% worse than the league average hitter. The league average OPS is .756 this year. His OPS is .718. And he plays in a ballpark that boosts offense a little bit, and is still significantly below-average at the plate. Hopefully that helps you understand what people are saying when they make those comments.
But who is the alternative? He would be fine at short if they bolster the offense at other positions.
If only Jose Iglesias could find a way to draw about 30 more bb during the season……then I would be all for them resigning him. He is not that guy, and he never will be. If the Reds want to win, they have to find a couple more guys who can put up a .340 or better OBP.
worst strike zone on the team now that Scooter is gone. He makes Peraza look patient
Iggy the SS doesn’t walk which hurts his ops, but he does get big hits. Of course the new guys don’t believe in “clutch” hitters.
George Brett for instance.
He hit .444 in the ’76 divisional playoffs with a double, triple and HR and .778 slugging.
He hit .389 with 3 home runs in the ’78 divisional series, with a 1.056 slugging percentage.
In the ’80 series he hit the big 3 run series winner off of Gossage.
In ’85, he won the third and second to last games of the regular season BOTH with late INSIDE THE PARK home-runs against the Angels. The 3 game series began with the Royals with 89 wins and the Angels with 88, and the two wins clinched the division.
And he almost single handedly won the ’85 playoffs with 3 homers, a .348 average and an .826 slugging percentage.
And his .373 World Series average is 3rd all time.
But they’re no such thing as clutch hitters? Eli Manning is a B- minus QB overall and always has been, but he can get hot in the playoffs!
I think Iggy the SS has some of that in him. Now he hits into as many double plays as he turns and when he’s batting 5th I turn the channel out of principle, but if they bat him 8th or 9th then thats ok by me!
I think there is now some debate about ‘clutch’ hitters. Earlier it was thought that ‘clutch’ hitters are just basically good hitters…that their performance is the basically the same whether they are in a clutch situation or not. Brett could easily fit into that category. Because clutch situations occur less frequently, the stats can skew one way or the other.
Yes Iggy’s OPS is low, because he doesn’t hit many HRs and he doesn’t walk. However, Iggy has 114 ABs with men in scoring position, hitting .316 (slightly better than his overall avg.) with an OPS of .832 with 42 RBIs. Interestingly, perhaps because his strike zone is large, he is more often (228 ABs) than not (83 ABs) having to hit behind the count. However, he hits .311 when behind in the count (only .205 when he’s ahead in the count)…making him a tough out, which probably adds to his ‘clutch’ rep.
Iggy is having a career year. He’s 29. Will he regress to his career averages or does he have a couple more 2019s in him? His defense is valuable. He seems to be a good locker room presence. I say if he can be signed for a reasonable price/time, hold on to him.
Agree, Indy. The Reds need more offense if next year is to be anything but disappointing, but Iggy is a premier fielder and not useless as a hitter. I also agree with MasonRed that he would be okay if the Reds were able to surround him with other hitters and didn’t bat him 5th. Fielding–at short and catcher and, to a degree, center still has value.
Indy,
Clutch hitters are not valued as much (and should not be) in baseball as in other sports like basketball or football because the scoring is comparatively low and opportunities for a hitter to be productive are less frequent, so practically every opportunity (that is, every at bat) is a “clutch” moment. In baseball like in soccer, scoring runs early in the game is just as important as scoring late. Although, the Reds have been the exception to that principle this season.
Ergo, Iglesias’ “clutch” hitting should not be a major influential factor to decide whether to offer him a contract or how much to offer. His age, his overall hitting ability, and defense should be considered.
Wait. Are you comparing Jose Iglesias to George Brett? The reason George Brett put up those numbers in the post season is due to the fact that he was one of the greatest hitters of all time. In 21 seasons Brett had an OPS+ of 135. In 8 seasons J Iggy has topped 100 only twice with a max of 115. I mean no disrespect but it is an apples and oranges comparison.
No….I knew I was setting myself up for a Brett-Iggy comparison. Thats not what I’m saying of course. Brett was a HOFer, but his career #s were even close to his postseason #s where the pitching was tougher.
Reggie Sanders was 100x the hitter that Iggy is, but who do you want with a man on 2nd and down 1 in a playoff game? Give me Iggy all day and twice on Sunday!
It’s absolutely ridiculous that the Cubs struggle even with the talent they have but it’s sure enjoyable to watch.
Yes, what a nice close to a frustrating season–hurting the Chubbs playoff chances! Marty B must have been especially happy.
And Kyle Schwarber can stick it!
Great win vs a team desperate for wins and trying anything and everything (complaining to umps about both Bob Steve and Iglesias) gloves they have used all season to try and distract them.
Team is single win away from the do no lose 90 goal.
Team is 2 game under 500 since April 7th after the awful 1-8 start.
7-12 vs Cards
5-11 vs Pirates
1-5 vs Dodgers
1-5 vs Nationals
14-33 vs these 4 teams are what doomed this team to not being in contention.
Reds need to figure out how to be a 500 club vs Cards and dominate the Pirates (reverse the record) to contend in 2020.
Schwarber is the offensive version of Lester (pun intended). Constantly whining about the strike zone to get ridiculously favored calls.
And in this day with bat flips and long stares after homeruns, I don’t get Schwarber’s comments toward Garret after the strikeout. Amir walked off the mound pumping his fists and chest and shouting something towards the dugout or at himself – it was a big out. It wasn’t like he starred down Schwarber shouting at him and showing him up.
Just another reason I hate the Cubs, with their constant entitlement and expectation of preferred treatment.
Jose Iglesias is having a worse season this year than he had last year. And this past offseason he couldn’t get a guaranteed Major League deal.
Everyone in baseball’s numbers are up. His are up LESS. His OPS+ and wRC+ are significantly lower this year.
His season in 2019 is worse than his 2018.
He was a bargain for the Reds this offseason. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s a worse player this year than he was last year.
The problem I see with your analysis Doug is that OPS and wRC have a bias towards the increase in power seen around baseball, wether its the ball or the emphasis on launch angle.
Hitters like Jose I. never had their offensive game tied to power, and are unlikely to change their approach as it wouldn’t make as big of a difference to their output. So as good power hitters get great and middle of the road power hitters get good, it creates a bit of a smokescreen in those numbers. So a comparison of his wOBA or BABIP to career numbers or to others of a similar profile might be more revealing than a league wide comp.
Amir Garrett running back to the dugout to avoid Schwarber was the single best moment of the game. “Yes sir, I can honestly say I’m a changed man.”
…or am I being obtuse?
“[September] is one dang* fine month to be striking out some Cubbies in the 9th inning”
Entirely too appropriate….
+1000
DocProc I think those numbers tell you how poor of an offensive season the rest of team had as a whole.
The Reds offense is anemic and the answer is to sign a poor hitting SS to a 2 year contract?
Jose has a wRC+ of 198 in high leverage situations this year, really good
Jose had a wRC+ of 42 in high leverage situations last year, really bad
Is he clutch or not?
Agreed. Count me among those who don’t believe in criticising the cuisine before it is served. The first season under a new skipper, new batting coach, new pitching coach, to say nothing of the rest of the coaching staff OR the new starting rotation, is hardly the time to start flinging wild accusations about “this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing,” yada yada yada.
What I do believe, like Jim here, is that while the Reds did have a significant swoon in the 2nd half, the entire thing hasn’t resulted in the club’s trademarked Post-All-Star-Break Fade Into Obscurity.™
I’ll take that. For now.
I mean, look: We could make a pretty good list of Moves The Reds Front Office Made This Season That They Never Would Have Made Previously when they were married to: A.) proving themselves right, at all costs, with regard to their previous moves; and B.) keeping fan favorites, no matter what.