| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Tigers (2-1) |
3 | 3 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (1-2) |
2 | 6 | 1 |
| W: Cisnero (1-0) L: Lorenzen (0-1) SV: Jimenez (2) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
A third straight day of dominant starting pitching turned into a second straight day of the Cincinnati Reds bullpen and offense not getting the job done against the worst team in baseball during the 2019 season. Trevor Bauer struck out 13 batters and allowed just one run in 6.1 innings in his first start of the year. The offense never really got going, and Michael Lorenzen coughed up his second go-ahead 2-run homer in as many days as the Tigers beat the Reds to take the series.
The Offense
It was another day on the struggle bus for the Cincinnati Reds offense. The team didn’t do a whole lot until the 5th inning. Travis Jankowski had a 1-out walk . Curt Casali crushed a ball to dead center, but JaCoby Jones made a leaping catch as he crashed into the wall to save a run. But singles by Jesse Winker and Joey Votto followed and brought Jankowski around to tie the game up at 1-1. Eugenio Suarez walked to load the bases, but they were all left standing there as the inning came to an end on a Nick Castellanos strikeout.
From there the offense went silent again. Josh VanMeter was hit by a pitch to lead off the 6th inning, the bats went silent after that for the next two innings. Nick Castellanos attempted to get things going against his former team with a 1-out single in the bottom of the 8th, but VanMeter hit one up the middle that deflected off of the pitcher right to the second baseman who got a force out on Castellanos and was followed up by a strikeout to end the inning.
Entering the bottom of the 9th inning down 3-1, Freddy Galvis led off with a ground-rule double that bounced into the seats under the power stacks in center field. Aristides Aquino followed up with a double of his own to drive in a run and make it a 3-2 game. Curt Casali followed with a fly ball to center field that was caught, but Aquino showed off the wheels by tagging up and reaching third base to put the tying run one base away. Jesse Winker was then hit by the first pitch he saw to put runners on the corners for Joey Votto with one out.
But before Joey Votto saw a pitch the Reds somehow used relief pitcher Michael Lorenzen as a pinch runner for Winker. After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Votto grounded into a double play to end the game.
The Pitching
Trevor Bauer made one mistake on the day – and Niko Goodrum hit it into the seats for a solo homer. Aside from that, the right-handed starter put together what may have been his best start as a Cincinnati Red. He threw 6.1 innings while giving up just two hits and a walk. Oh, and he struck out 13 hitters along the way on 105 pitches. His final out was recorded on a 94 MPH swinging strike three by C.J. Cron to begin the 7th. Amir Garrett came on and worked around a 2-out walk to send the game into the 8th inning, still tied at 1-1.
Pedro Strop made his Reds debut with a hitless 8th inning that featured a walk and two strikeouts. The Cincinnati offense was also shutout in the 8th, bringing us to the 9th inning tied up at 1-1 and Michael Lorenzen on the mound. Much like the day before, Lorenzen gave up a go-ahead 2-run homer – but this time it was to C.J. Cron. It’s early, but this bullpen has not shown much reason for confidence.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds are racking up the strikeouts unlike they’ve ever done before.
For the first time since 1893 when the pitcher's mound was moved to its current distance from home plate, Reds pitchers have begun the season with at least 10 strikeouts in each of the first three games (13, 17, 10 so far today). (h/t @EliasSports) pic.twitter.com/B6PP55k0sj
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 26, 2020
Trevor Bauer’s 13 strikeouts were the most he’s had in a start since May 30th of 2017 when he struck out 14 Oakland Athletics while he was still pitching for Cleveland.
During the game it was announced that the Cincinnati Reds claimed infielder/outfielder Robel García off of waivers from the Chicago Cubs and assigned him to the Prasco Park roster.
Reds claim infielder Robel García, assign him to Prasco Park roster
29 combined strikeouts matches the most ever in a Reds 9-inning game.
— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) July 26, 2020
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Monday July 27th, 6:40pm ET
Jon Lester (4.46 ERA, 13-10 in 2019) vs Wade Miley (3.98 ERA, 14-6 in 2019)