The Cincy Ballers defeated Fred’s Reds 5-1 in the opening game of the Cincinnati Reds Summer Series on Friday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series over the weekend. If you missed it, two coaches drafted teams from the 60-man player pool to stage a series this weekend, with the winning team getting an off-day on Monday before welcoming in the Detroit Tigers for two scrimmages on Tuesday and Wednesday before Opening Day on Friday.
Today the two teams will get back to it at 6:10pm ET. There are six players scheduled to pitch in the game this evening: Anthony DeSclafani, Lucas Sims, Amir Garrett, Nate Jones, Justin Shafer, and Robert Stephenson.
Tonight is also scheduled to be the first scrimmage game that will feature broadcasters. It was a few days ago that the Reds began to pipe in the “crowd” noise during the game and broadcasts, but we still haven’t had any field-level audio or anyone from the booth. Once those things get in I think things will start to sound more normal, even if there is fake crowd noise.
Watch Live
Chris Welsh is on the call for the game tonight. You can watch the game below, just hit the play button. It is also available on MLB.tv if you want to check it out there. The game is also available at this link over at Reds.com.
The Lineups
Fred’s Reds |
Cincy Ballers |
| Shogo Akiyama – CF | Josh VanMeter – DH |
| Joey Votto – 1B | Christian Colon – 3B |
| Eugenio Suarez – 3B | Mike Moustakas – 2B |
| Jesse Winker – DH | Matt Davidson – 1B |
| Phillip Ervin – LF | Nick Senzel – CF |
| Freddy Galvis – SS | Tucker Barnhart – C |
| Aristides Aquino – RF | Kyle Farmer – SS |
| Alex Blandino – 2B | Mark Payton – LF |
| Francisco Pena – C | Boog Powell – RF |
| Lucas Sims – P | Anthony DeSclafani – P |
Cincinnati Reds News and Notes
Nick Castellanos “is fine”, but won’t play today
After being hit in the back by a Tyler Mahle fastball on Friday night and exiting the game, David Bell said that Nick Castellanos is fine, but that he was a little sore and was getting the day off today, but was expected to play tomorrow.
#Reds David Bell says Nick Castellanos "is fine" but won't play in tonight's intrasquad. He's "a little sore" and expected to play tomorrow
— C. ???????????? (@ctrent) July 18, 2020
Reds made six cuts on Friday
In case you missed it, the Cincinnati Reds made six cuts on Friday, sending Aristides Aquino, Jose Garcia, Matt Bowman, Joel Kuhnel, Justin Shafer, and Tyler Thornburg to the “alternate site” roster. All of those players, except Tyler Thornburg, are on the “Summer Series” rosters for one of the two teams and will still be playing, but they won’t be making the opening day roster unless there’s an injury that opens up a spot for them at this point.
Toronto Blue Jays can’t play in Canada
BREAKING: AP source says the Blue Jays denied Canadian government approval to play games in Toronto during coronavirus pandemic.
by @rgilliescanada #MLB
https://t.co/Oj1A2socGF— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) July 18, 2020
Feels like a safe assumption.
The white noise was amusing at first but became annoying over time. Good to have Chris Welsh back but better to have some banter with someone else along.
fake crown noise is not as annoying today with Chris Welsh commentary.
Seems to be quieter.
I like being able to hear the PA announcer.
It happened in the Joey Bats bat flip playoff game.
I’d think Schebler given the outfield depth and the fact that he’s out of options, too.
Saturday afternoon baseball. Life, it’s good.
It might be me, but this team seems really hungry.
Thinking the exact same. Thom who?
Calling this one an inning earlier than planned.
The Cincy Ballers win 4-3 and the series 2-0, but they’ll still play the third game tomorrow at 1:10pmET.
The Cincy Ballers will get their off-day on Monday.