Anthony DeSclafani heads to mound this afternoon to take on the Oakland Athletics. He’ll be making his first start of the spring and taking on hero whistleblower Mike Fiers at 3:05pm ET.
Cincinnati Reds (2-3) Starting Lineup
- Jesse Winker – DH
- Joey Votto – 1B
- Phillip Ervin – RF
- Tucker Barnhart – C
- Josh VanMeter – 2B
- Jose Garcia – SS
- Mark Payton – LF
- Christian Colon – 3B
- Travis Jankowski – CF
- Anthony DeSclafani – RHP
These guys are expected to pitch in relief today: Tony Santillan, Josh Smith, Jose De Leon, Ryan Hendrix, Vladimir Gutierrez, and Alex Powers.
Reserve players on today’s roster:
Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Oakland Athletics (2-5) Starting Lineup
- Dustin Fowler – CF
- Tony Kemp – LF
- Franklin Barreto – 2B
- Sheldon Neuse – 3B
- Jonah Heim – DH
- Eric Campbell – 1B
- Skye Bolt – RF
- Ryan Goins – SS
- Carlos Perez – C
- Mike Fiers – RHP
Where to watch/listen/follow the game
The game will be live on the Reds on Radio Network. In the greater Cincinnati area the game will be available on 700 WLW AM. There will be no televised version of the game.
Reds links and news
Nick Castellanos was scratched from the original lineup. He’s sick, according to Mark Sheldon of Reds.com.
Castellanos was scratched because he’s sick. Moustakas left camp to be with his wife, who is about to give birth #reds
— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) February 28, 2020
C. Trent Rosecrans asked Mike Moustakas what it was like to face each of the projected Cincinnati Reds five starting pitchers over at The Athletic on Thursday afternoon. He’s had next to no success against Sonny Gray or Anthony DeSclafani. The Reds new second baseman has plenty of praise for his new teammates. Go give it a read.
Trevor Bauer spoke about one thing he was looking for as a potential thing that could help him decide where to sign in free agency. He told Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he would like to pitch every four days as a starter rather than every five days. That, was just one of the things he spoke about, but his reasoning was interesting.
Final: Cincinnati 10 – Oakland 1
Jose Garcia continued his destruction of spring training pitchers in the Reds win as the team from Cincinnati put together an all-around gem of a game that doesn’t count for anything other than making us feel better.
The Highlights
Jose Garcia homered once again, giving him a double and three home runs this spring in nine at-bats. He would add a sacrifice fly later to also give him three runs batted in on the day.
Name: José Garcia
Age: 21
Skills: Hitting baseballs very far#RedsST ??? pic.twitter.com/qg9yYFISMa— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) February 28, 2020
Outfield prospect Andy Sugilio would add a home run of his own in the 8th inning, but his would be an inside-the-park job after the Athletics left fielder came up short on a dive attempt and stayed down until after the play. He would remain in the game.
Jesse Winker returned to the lineup and went 1-4 with a run scored. Joey Votto walked all three times he came to the plate. Phillip Ervin went 1-3 with a double, run scored, and he drove in a run. Josh VanMeter went 2-2 with a walk, steal, and he scored two runs. Mark Payton, the Reds Rule 5 pick, went 1-2 with two walks, an RBI, and he scored two runs. Travis Jankowski went 2-3 with an RBI. Blake Trahan went 1-1 and scored a run.
On the mound it was much like yesterday for the pitching staff. Anthony DeSclafani made his spring debut with 2.0 perfect innings and he picked up two strikeouts along the way. Josh Smith, Alex Powers, Jose De Leon, Ryan Hendrix, Tony Santillan, and Brandon Finnegan all tossed a shutout inning of relief. A solo homer off of Vladimir Gutierrez in the 9th was the only thing preventing a shutout of Oakland on the day. You can see the entire box score for the game here.