For those of you who have been following along with the Strat-O-Matic simulated Reds season, it’s the All-Star break and you’ve got to wait until Friday for that season to resume. But no fear, there’s actual, real-life baseball going on now, too. Later this afternoon the Cincinnati Reds are scheduled to play a 5 1/2 inning intrasquad scrimmage at Great American Ballpark. The game is supposed to once again be streamed live at Reds.com and we’re going to have another “watch party” here at Redleg Nation in the comments below if you would like to participate. We’ll embed the game as long as MLB allows it as an option and we’ll have a link to the game for everyone that wants to watch it elsewhere.
Cincinnati Reds Lineups
Here’s the lineup, via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic, and cleaned up for you below.
Away Reds |
Home Reds |
| Travis Jakowski – CF | Jesse Winker – LF |
| Jose Garcia – SS | Josh VanMeter – 1B |
| Alex Blandino – 1B | Eugenio Suarez – 3B |
| Christian Colon – 3B | Mike Moustakas – 2B |
| Scott Schebler – RF | Nick Castellanos – RF |
| Tyler Stephenson – C | Freddy Galvis – SS |
| Jonathan India – 2B | Tucker Barnhart – C |
| Boog Powell – LF | Mark Payton – CF |
| Anthony DeSclafani (4IP) – P | Sal Romano – P |
| Raisel Iglesias – P | Michael Lorenzen – P |
| Jesse Biddle – P | Amir Garrett – P |
| Pedro Strop – P | |
| Justin Shafer – P |
Pre-Game Reds news and notes
All-Star game stand outs
While this would normally be the night we all get together and watch the Home Run Derby in a non-2020 kind of year, some past All-Star games have fallen on this date in past years and there were a few that went very well for some Reds.
In 1976 the All-Star game was held in Philadelphia, but it was a very Cincinnati game. Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Johnny Bench, and Dave Concepcion all got into the game. Rose was the only player with multiple hits among the National League All-Stars, but it was George Foster that took home the MVP trophy that year. In the 3rd inning he crushed a 2-run homer off of Catfish Hunter to make it 4-0 for the NL, a lead that they would never cede in a 7-1 victory. You can check out the box score for the game here. And if you want to actually watch the entire game, you can check it out on youtube here. Foster’s home run can be seen at the 47:00 mark of the video.
On this date back in 1982 the All-Star game was held in Montreal. There wasn’t as much Cincinnati representation as there was in 1976, but the Reds still had three players make the team. Dave Concepcion was named a starter at shortstop, while pitchers Mario Soto and Tom Hume were named to the pitching staff. Just like in 1976, it was a homer by a Red that led to the game’s MVP. In the bottom of the second inning Dave Concepcion, who took home the MVP hardware on the day, took Dennis Eckersley deep for a go-ahead 2-run homer and the National League never looked back as they went on to win 4-1. Mario Soto pitched a shutout 6th and 7th inning with four strikeouts. Tom Hume got the save, recording the final out of the game. Here’s the box score for the game. And here’s a highlight of the Dave Concepcion homer.
Updates on Robert Stephenson and Tyler Thornburg
Mark Sheldon of Reds.com provided an update on two pitchers for the Reds who have been dealing with some injury issues of late. Robert Stephenson, who is expected to play a significant role in the Reds bullpen this year is back on the mound and threw to hitters on Sunday out at Prasco Park in Mason. Tyler Thornburg is cleared to throw after having his elbow checked out.
Tyler Thornburg had a sore elbow get checked out. But he was OK and cleared to throw. … Robert Stephenson (right wrist) threw live BP yesterday at Prasco. #reds
— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) July 13, 2020
Everyone’s favorite shortstop prospect, Jose Garcia, cracked a double on a line drive to left field in the first. But he was also just thrown out by 7 feet trying to steal 3rd base by Tucker Barnhart – who has a pretty good arm. Barnhart then picked off Alex Blandino at first to end the inning.
Why is aquino not in the lineup! Why no dh? what is the point of that when you could be seeing extra guys such as aquino!
I’d bet there is a DH and we just didn’t see it on the lineup sheet for some reason. We’ll find out soon enough, but outside of letting Lorenzen hit for himself, which he may need to do as a pinch hitter at times during the season, it makes no sense for any other pitcher to hit.
I hope so.
Turns out he didn’t get picked off because it was strike three and that technically ended the inning. Small wins, lol
Ok. I think DH confirmed because ervin isnt in the lineup
Never mind. No DH. The level of stupidity is unbelievable. Why not see two extra guys hit?
I walked out of the room for a second. Did they just skip over the 9 spot, or did they let a pitcher hit?
I mean, isn’t this the most perfect time to have the guys come in and try out the “broadcast while watching a monitor” like they’re going to have to do for road games?
Of course, maybe there’s some reason why they can’t do that right now, too. It would be cool if they had some sort of audio, though.
Why is mark payton even still in our camp. Hasnt got a single hit in the 4 scrimmages so far. Strikes out on dead red fastballs. Give me someone else. The fact that hes going to make the thirty man while aquino doesnt is ridiculous.
Respectfully disagree. Payton has potential, and his numbers from last year at AAA alone are worthy of giving him a shot once the actual season starts. Aquino, while powerful, strikes out way more than he should himself, and pitchers have somewhat caught on to that.
Meanwhile, if we give up Payton we sacrifice a guy that could be a wonderful top of the lineup guy at his best, and we’d be giving him back to Oakland by removing him from the 30-man roster. I think our team should give him a shot, he might simply be just out of rhythm right now. Happens to the best of them, plus our pitching staff is really good on the whole.
I dont see how payton hitting 30 homeruns in triple a is more impressive or shows more potential than aquinos showing in the big leagues. How do you not give a guy like aquino a chance to figure things out on the roster. His numbers in spring are more impressive than payton so far and that should count for something. Everybody’s argument against aquino is that he had one bad month and then went 0-17 in spring training. Mark Payton is at least 0-14 from the at bats i have seen. Regardless of paytons ability aquino should not be at prasco while he is at gabp.
Doug they skipped the nine spot completely
Really nice to see Moustakas going to left field with only one infielder on the left side of second base and Disco pitching outside. Good professional hitting which hopefully we’ll see a lot more of this year.
I do find it encouraging to see India hit a couple homers in scrimmages, even if it’s against the good guys.
He has solid plate discipline and I think he has more than what we’ve seen so far.
I’m guessing Suarez won’t let this fade away gracefully for quite awhile. I wouldn’t.