Luis Castillo will take the mound for the second time of the spring for the Cincinnati Reds. He’ll look to improve on his first outing – even though the results don’t really matter. The San Diego Padres will send out Dinelson Lamet to take on the Reds offense at 3:05pm ET.
Cincinnati Reds (3-3) Starting Lineup
- Shogo Akiyama – CF
- Freddy Galvis – DH
- Jesse Winker – LF
- Aristides Aquino – RF
- Curt Casali – C
- Kyle Farmer – SS
- Derek Dietrich – 2B
- Matt Davidson – 1B
- Alex Blandino – 3B
- Luis Castillo – RHP
These guys are expected to pitch in relief today: Tyler Mahle, Raisel Iglesias, Amir Garrett, Michael Lorenzen, Robert Stephenson, Cody Reed, and Tejay Antone.
Reserve players on today’s roster:
Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
- Brantley Bell
- Christian Colon
- Michael De Leon
- Jose Garcia
- Jonathan India
- Alejo Lopez
- Alfredo Rodriguez
- Blake Trahan
Outfielders
San Diego Padres (5-1) Starting Lineup
- Abraham Almonte – CF
- Tommy Pham – DH
- Greg Garcia – SS
- Brian Dozier – 2B
- Jason Vosler – 1B
- Gordon Beckham – 3B
- Austin Hedges – C
- Jorge Ona – LF
- Taylor Trammell – RF
- Dinelson Lamet – 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. The game will be on television on Fox Sports Ohio and MLB.tv.
Reds links and news
Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that both Eugenio Suarez and Nick Senzel were throwing yesterday, and that the trainers reported that it was Senzel’s best day yet.
Eno Sarris has updated his Starting Pitcher rankings for 2020 over at The Athletic. The Reds still have three of the top 30 pitchers in baseball according to the rankings, with Luis Castillo coming in at #8, Sonny Gray at #22, and Trevor Bauer at #29.
Speaking of Trevor Bauer and Sonny Gray, if you missed our post earlier today, they joined CC Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco on their R2C2 podcast this week. Gray talks about how the Reds pitching coaches Derek Johnson and Caleb Cotham we’re able to show him the analytics and help him utilize what he was good at, better, and making it so it’s like “having the cheat code”.
Final: Padres 7 – Reds 3
There were a few good things that took place on Saturday afternoon in Goodyear, but not everything was great.
The Highlights
Alfredo Rodriguez, a 25-year-old shortstop prospect for the Reds, hit a solo home run in the 8th inning. He went 2-2 on the day. The other two runs scored by the team came on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Winker in the 5th, and on a ground out by Jonathan India in the 8th.
Freddy Galvis returned to the lineup – his spring debut – and went 1-1 with two walks on the day. Shogo Akiyama and Kyle Farmer also added singles among the starters on the day. Travis Jankowski took over in center for Akiyama, and he doubled in his at-bat, but also tweaked his hamstring as he neared second base and had to leave the game. He did walk off under his own power, which if nothing else, is probably a good sign that it’s not a very serious injury (*not a doctor*). He was replaced by Narciso Crook, who also doubled later in the game in his only at-bat. Tyler Stephenson legged out an infield single.
On the mound, Luis Castillo struck out four battters in 2.0 innings with one run allowed. Michael Lorenzen, Amir Garrett, Robert Stephenson, and Cody Reed all threw a shutout inning of relief.
Notes worth noting
Raisel Iglesias was charged with four unearned runs in 0.2 innings on 29 pitches. He walked a batter, struck out no one, and gave up what has to be the longest home run so far in spring training. Tyler Mahle struck out four batters in 1.2 innings, but walked two hitters and gave up a 2-run homer.
You can see the entire box score for the game here.
Castillo getting ridiculously squeezed for a spring training game in the 1st inning.
Poor Mahle. I’d love to see him bounce back.
Was Raisel Iglesias pitching or Enrique Iglesias?
I know there were errors. But 4 hits in 1.2 innings…
He gave up some bloops, but also left some pitches up that got hammered.
Two
Sorry- the “two” was for how many innings Castillo pitched (see below).
Iglesias is a huge problem going forward. The worst part was they could have traded him for good prospects 2 seasons ago and decided against it. *SIGH* He could single handedly destroy our season with early blown saves and unreliability. I don’t like it. If Strop shows anything make him the closer and treat Iglesias like an untrustworthy middle reliever that is my advice. I am getting flashbacks to Gary Majewski here. Relievers can make or break a season.
It’s the first week of spring training games for crying out loud
All we fans can hope for is 1) he gets it together or 2) the manager quits relying on him so he can’t hurt the team anymore.
Agreed but if you quit relying on him he really has no business on the roster. Management really dropped the ball in 2018 at the deadline when Iglesias could have been dealt for respectable return. I don’t know what is going on, but hopefully they get it fixed before it sinks the team.
ABH- I agree with that too.
The apparent attitude of R. Iglesias, regardless of the desire of management, that his role on the Reds is only to close is a part of the problem. With all the young pitchers accumulated during the rebuild, it doesn’t seem possible there’s not another closer available other than Iglesias. Ties with him should have been cut some time ago.
If Senzel or Suarez isn’t ready, Aquino is a lock. The only reason someone can come up with is he’ll get AB’s in AAA, but not enough as the 5th outfielder. I personally don’t subscribe to that line of thinking, but as the 4th outfielder, that reason is null and void. I like Payton as well. He’d be my 5th if Aquino slides into the 4th.
I went to this game, and had a pretty good seat behind David Bell.
Castillo was pretty sharp. He gave up a leadoff triple to left center, by a LH hitter. Shogo dove for it, but missed and it went to the wall. After that, he was very good. One hit was a 3/4 El Protecto swing to the opposite field; another was a very slow chopper by a LH up the 3B line; and the other was a broken bat single over the second baseman’s head.
Mahle also pitched pretty well, blemishedby an oppo homer to a very hot hitter. He was hitting 96 mph on his fastball regularly, touching higher a few times, and regularly getting his breaking stuff over the plate. He looked very good overall.
Iglesias was in mid-season form. Unfortunately. He was hurt by Farmer’s not being able to catch a flip from Blandino on what would have been a deft double play by Blandino. Farmer isn’t really nifty and quick enough to play short except in an emergency.
The Padre starter, Dinelson Lamet, was overpowering. He struck out 105 last year in 73 innings, and looks like a late-blooming real McCoy.
The Reds training facility was a huge disappointment, and was the least fan-friendly sight I have seen for spring training. The vibe is that fans are an annoyance – it is as welcoming to visitors as an overflowing port-a-john. The Brewers’ facility, for example, is a much better place to visit, especially for kids.
Regarding Farmer at SS—I can’t see him being any better, and definitely no worse—than Senzel at SS. And since the Reds bosses have made it clear that they don’t think Senzel is a SS, why in the Sam Hill do they think Farmer can play it?
Because a backup shortstop doesn’t actually have to be able to play shortstop on a daily basis.
Doug, that’s also what i was thinking. I don’t see why Senzel couldn’t be a infield utility for 2B and SS. Mouse could pick up the games at 3B, and 1B when Votto and Suarez needs a blow. That would give you 130 games each for the starting 4 plus 1 utility. That would give Senzel no more than 32 starts at SS. I like that plan more than to give that playing time to Farmer.
I mean, he can’t be that guy because he’s a starter. And at least right now – and well into the season, they want no part of him making the throw from the side of the infield.
I guess I don’t see Senzel as the number 1 option anywhere on this roster. Suarez @ 3B, Moustakes @ 2B, Shogo @ CF It’s a weird situation for such a highly regarded prospect to find himself in. When you add in Senzel’s versatility, he sounds like a super utility kind of guy, like Josh Harrison, or Marvin Gonzalez. Sometimes these utility guys can become one of the most valuable players on the roster.