| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals (7-11) |
5 | 11 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (8-9) |
6 | 10 | 3 |
| W: Sims (1-0) L: Staumont (0-1) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
This team can’t make anything easy. After a strong start by Luis Castillo that was plagued by two unearned runs thanks to three errors, the bullpen blew a 5-3 lead. But Lucas Sims locked things down in the 10th inning, setting up a Joey Votto walk-off double in the bottom of the frame to score Nick Senzel to give the Cincinnati Reds (8-9) the win over the Kansas City Royals (7-11).
The Offense
Joey Votto’s single went to waste in the bottom of the 1st inning. In the 2nd Matt Davidson led off with a walk and was followed up by Jesse Winker continuing to tear things up by lacing a single through the infield. Curt Casali caught a break on what would have been an easy double play, but the grounder hit Matt Davidson, thus making the ball dead – credit Casali for a single on that one in a weird scoring rule – but it only cost the team one out instead two. Christian Colón, however, grounded into a force out at third base to bring Kyle Farmer to the plate. The shortstop to begin the day, Farmer came through with a double off of the wall to put the Reds up 2-0.
Nick Castellanos led off the bottom of the 3rd with a triple past a diving center fielder. After Joey Votto hit the ball 27 feet and Eugenio Suarez struck out it looked liked Castallanos triple would go to waste. But then Matt Davidson took the first pitch he saw 396-feet into the seats in right-center for a 2-run homer to make it 4-1. The offense wasn’t done as Jesse Winker followed up with a 400-foot solo homer of his own to extend the Reds lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the 3rd.
The bats went quiet after that, though. Rookie starter Kris Bubic went 1-2-3 against the Reds in both the 4th and 5th innings as the Royals offense clawed back into the game. Jesse Winker would draw a walk in the 6th, but that went nowhere as he was replaced by pinch runner Travis Jankowski – who was erased on an inning-ending double play. Nick Senzel had a 2-out single and then stole the bag to move up to second, but he was stranded there as Nick Castellanos struck out to end the frame.
After yet another bullpen implosion saw a lead go to waste, the Reds hitters came up in the bottom of the 8th of a tie game with some work to do. Joey Votto walked to lead off the inning, but a strikeout, fly ball to the warning track, and a strikeout followed to send the game to the 9th still tied up. The Kyle Farmer show continued as he lined a 2-out single into left field, but he was stranded at first and the game went into extras.
Nick Senzel, who made the last out of the 9th, began the 10th on second base per the 2020 rules. Nick Castellanos battled for a walk in a 7-pitch plate appearance to put runners on 1st and 2nd for Joey Votto. The Reds first baseman came through with a fly ball off of the center field wall for a walk-off double.
The Pitching
Luis Castillo wasted very little time showing off his full arsenal against Kansas City on Tuesday night, striking out two batters in the 1st inning showing off the fastball, change up, and the slider. Things weren’t as easy in the 2nd as a leadoff single was followed up by a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. The Reds righty battled back, though, getting a strikeout of Aldalberto Mondesi and a fly out of Maikel Franco. But Castillo walked Alex Gordon to load the bases. Nick Lopez worked a 2-2 count before he lined out to second base to strand three runners.
Things didn’t start much better in the 3rd inning, though not all of that was the fault of Luis Castillo. He walked the first batter of the inning, so that one is on him. But he got a weak ground ball on the next hitter only to have Eugenio Suarez bobble it for an error to put runners on 1st and 2nd. The next hitter also hit a weak ground ball, this time to Joey Votto, who also bobbled the ball for an error to load the bases.
Ryan O’Hearn crushed the ball off of the left field wall, but the runners had to wait to see if Winker could make the play (unless he has a 5-foot vertical leap he didn’t have a chance), but questionable baserunning held O’Hearn to a single as everyone else moved up just one base, cutting into the Reds lead to make it 2-1. After a strikeout, Maikel Franko lined the ball to the right field wall, but Nick Castellanos came through with a nice running grab to end the inning. Castillo watched his pitch count jump to 62 after needing to basically get five outs in the inning.
The defense must have decided, for some reason, to make Luis Castillo work on the night. Nicky Lopez had a 1-out double in the 4th and then scored on a single by Whit Merrifield that was bobbled by Nick Senzel, to bring Lopez in to make it a 5-2 game. In the next inning a leadoff single would come around to score after two ground outs and an infield single making it 5-3.
Luis Castillo made quick work of the Royals in the 6th. He struck out Maikel Franco on three pitches, got Alex Gordon to ground out on four pitches, and then saw the inning end two pitches later on a ground out by Nicky Lopez. That put him at 96 pitches on the night, and that last pitch to Lopez would be his last.
Nate Jones came on for the 7th inning and saw the first batter he faced reach on yet another infield ground ball as Whit Merrifield beat the throw to first base by Kyle Farmer who double-clutched his throw. The next hitter lined a single into right field to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Jones came through with a strikeout of Salvador Perez, but against Hunter Dozier a ball in the dirt moved both runners up. Ultimately that wouldn’t matter as Jones walked Dozier to load the bases.
With a lefty coming up, David Bell chose to stick with Nate Jones instead of going to Amir Garrett, and Kyle Farmer bailed him out as a Ryan O’Hearn 103 MPH liner was fielded up the middle and turned into a double play to end the inning and preserve a 5-3 lead.
Amir Garrett came out for the 8th inning and gave up a 1-out single to Maikel Franco and then a game tying 2-run homer to pinch hitter Ryan McBroom. A line out to Nick Castellanos and that was all that was in store for the Reds lefty on the day as Cincinnati went back to the bullpen to bring in Raisel Iglesias, who got the final out of the top of the 8th to give the offense a chance to give him a save opportunity. The offense was not able to come through in the bottom of the frame, but Iglesias took care of his end of the 9th with a 1-2-3 top of the frame.
Lucas Sims took over for the top of the 10th with the new rule of a runner starting at second base waiting to trot home if given the opportunity. Sims wasted no time striking out the first two hitters he saw, but he walked the next batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. After falling behind 3-0, Sims worked his way back to a full count before inducing an inning-ending grounder to Joey Votto and keep the game tied up.
Notes worth noting
The Cincinnati Reds have won 6 of their last 10 games.
Jesse Winker is 11-19 over the last seven games.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Kansas City Royals vs Cincinnati Reds
Wednesday August 12th, 6:40pm ET
Brad Keller (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Wade Miley (0-1, 27.00 ERA)
So far, at least in the regular season, I have no problem with the DH, seven inning doubleheader, and runner on 2nd in extra innings.
DH I am fine with, Tired of watching wasted outs or bunts by pitchers anyway.
7 inning Double Header. Makes sense keeps teams from burning up all their pitchers.
Extra Innings- Well even though the Reds won I am not really liking this, Yes it speeds up the game but no just doesn’t feel right.
Agree about the wasted outs. I’m certainly not sad to see all the bunts go away.
The runner on second does make things rather exciting and tense — sort of like sudden-death overtime in the NFL. I agree with Melvin, my initial reaction to these changes has been positive.
Me too. It was fun to watch. I was surprised that KC didn’t bunt their runner over right away. The whole strategy of extra innings will be interesting to see play out. How do different teams deal with it, based on their circumstances (bullpen, bench). It was great to see Votto come through in the clutch though the CFer that KC put in, really botched the play. A good Centerfielder would have caught that ball.
Reds win is all that matters but this bullpen never disappoints lol. Raisel and Sims were amazing and Kyle Farmer is probably the MVP for tonight’s game. Bell is just terrible at his job as well. How do you take out Winker and Davidson for the worst hitters on the team? I’d rather have winker as a defensive liability than Jankowski who can’t hit if his life depended on. But nice to get a win nonetheless. #FreeAquino
Yeah, I could see switching Winker for Jankowski in the field after Winker’ at bat because Winker wouldn’t likely bat again. But, I don’t get Jankowski batting for him.
It worked out but I hope Bell knew something we didn’t. Or, as my wife said, “maybe Winker just needed to poop.”
That’s as good a theory as any.
How about Josh Van Meter? He’s just bad. I give him that he puts up quality at bats but he just can’t hit! This team needs Aquinos thunder.
Hey, a win is a win but removing two of our hottest hitters didn’t make sense to me. Davidson has 12 HR’s off Royals pitching. PHing Van Meter for him was over managing. Left-right nonsense. Removing Winker made less sense.
I didn’t understand waiting on Garret to pitch either against the lefty in that inning.
Time is moving on in this short season and Aquino should be on the roster. This is a guy who can provide some positive surprises.
I think Farmer should be given more chances to be the starting SS. He had an amazing game.
Farmer was awesome last night. He seemed like a throw-in, in that Dodger trade and he’s turned out to be a really good pickup and the only piece left out of that trade. He made a case to be the regular SS – at least against LHed pitching. And I think he is definitely a better fielder than Galvis.
We’re thinking of the one-month version of Aquino, but that was, so far in his career, a singular event. Let him play, by all means in this strange season, but it seems unlikely that he’s a savior.
I’m leaning in your direction greenmtred. At this point do we get the Aquino of August or September last year, or something in between?
yes, dear god someone else has finally said it. Aquino needs to be on this team. He can run and is explosive. Almost as good as a defender as Jankowski, who I like, but just cant hit. Something is wrong with D Bell
haha. We might have to call him off of a roller coaster.
Between the pitching struggles of Castillo and Garrett, the sloppy defense, and the bats going completely quiet for about 6 innings, this felt like one of those games the Reds would let slip away in recent seasons. Not tonight. Kudos to Iglesias, Sims and Votto late, and Winker, Castellanos (including some nice defense), and especially Kyle Farmer for bringing this one home. A really nice win for the Reds. And even though I’m not a fan of the extra inning rules, so far the Reds are 1 for 1. Can’t wait for tomorrow night. Go Reds!
Didn’t mean to forget Davidson. I’m not sure he belongs on the Reds 26 man roster, but there’s room for him now and he bailed out Votto and Suarez in the 3rd. Nice work Matt.
Looks like Farmer has earned full time starts vs. Lefties….and I’d be OK with him at 2nd over JVM while Moose is out. Galvis better pick it up against righties too, or Farmer might steal some ABs there also.
Nice win. With the shortened season, I just don’t see sticking with a couple of these bench guys that appear lost at the plate any longer. Just seems that a couple of better options to hit off the bench would help greatly. I guess Moose will eventually take one spot, but Aquino has demonstrated he can hit a little – he can’t do worse than .000. What am I missing?
Votto smoked 96 mph to win the game after being late on fastballs early in the game.Not sure whats going on but he knows better then anybody else for sure.He wasn’t in that deep crouch and he wasn’t choked up as much in that last at bat so maybe he found something.You could argue the centerfielder should have caught it but he still smoked it which is encouraging since he hit a couple of dribblers earlier.
Yep. Whether it should have been caught or not…he smoked it. It was great to see.
Garrett, the Reds most dependable reliever to date is the one who gives up the game tying home run tonight. I guess Iglesias takes back the most dependable moniker for now.
Good to see Winker on a heater. But then Castellanos gets cold. It would certainly be nice to see 3 or 4 players get on a heater together at the same time. That’s when winning streaks start to happen.
I have watched Iggy pitch the last few times out and honestly he has looked better than at the start of the season. Maybe he was not fully ready due to short summer camp when the Bell rang to open the season. Sims has done a nice job for the team overall too.
Sorry to see Nate Jones struggle a bit tonight. One thing that does bother me about how he pitches his how straight his pitches are. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of spin or movement on them.
Sometimes you have to give credit to the opponent, and McBroom smoked a pitch which was buried low and in — not a hanger by any means.
Since Votto killed them on a couple defensive plays he needed to do something offensively. On his error why he would back hand a ball he was in front of I’ll never know. And if a ball hits you in the glove on the fly he should catch it. They talk about how hard he works on defense but he gets a little worse all the time.
And this one is property of the Reds
It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win! Farmer is a solid player and really bailed them out tonite! I only saw it once, but I thought Garrett slowed his motion down a little and telegraphed that breaking ball HR. I could be wrong?
The bullpen is an issue, but they have what they have. They’re not the only ones struggling. Philly was up 3-0 after 5, and gave up 10 to Baltimore! Now Colon they’ve got to correct. He’s not a big league hitter! JVM just missed one tonite and flew out to the track. Play him or bring back Scooter, DD, or virtually anyone. Play Farmer/Galvis together every day. We need every stick we can get! Its also not a good idea right now to keep taking Winker out? A 2 run lead in the 7th with our pen means very little. The chances that Jankowski will make a play in tiny GABP that Winker can’t make is not that high. The chances that Winker will outhit Jank are sky high by comparison! KC has some hitters though. It would be nice to get 3 of 4 vs them!
Farmer is the type player whose a little rough around the edges, but he gets it done.
Just 2 days ago Indy you said seeing more of Farmer was less. Now he is solid?
Solid bench player. Does anyone want to see him start?
Jankowski was also brought in to pinch run, which turned out to be moot because of Casali’s DP.
I don’t mind him being a late inning defensive replacement. It was the 6th with a lead. Chances are Winker wouldn’t even get another AB.
Last year everyone was talking about his change-up and how devastating it was. This year he doesn’t seem to be using it as much and going to the slider instead. He has personally performed fine overall though. Just some bad luck getting wins and having some bad plays made behind him in more than one of his starts too.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Farmer get some more regular playing time at SS, even against RHP. His defense seems solid and I don’t notice any kind of a drop off when Galvis isn’t playing.
Also, really nice to see Raisel looking like his old self.
I agree. Let’s see more of what he has to offer. Galvis has been meh so far.
Colon, JVM and Jankowski do not belong to the majors. Maybe JVM will, later. Until Moose is back, Farmer should take over 2nd base. Once he returns, he should share SS duties with Galvis. Also, not sure what’s the issue with Suarez, but he’s struggling badly, both hitting and fielding. Maybe he should sit sometime and allow Davidson or Farmer to spell him.
Was a big JVM fan last year after his AAA season and the start of his time in Cincy. But he’s ice cold now and just looks like he has no confidence. He finally at least got a hold of one last night and hit it almost to the wall (fly out). But yeah, he’s not getting it done. And he’s not a particularly good defensive player either. I’d really like to see them bring up Garcia, move Farmer and even Galvis to 2B and see what he can do.
Votto put good wood on that flyball.
Hard to believe it was his first walkoff hit since 2016.
Almost his second of the year too.
A little misplay in CF helped … but he looked for it and smacked it without hesitation.
Sims stepped up in a very difficult situation … that’s good to see.
Iggy knuckled down and did what he’s supposed to do without regard to a “save” … he preserved the game and gave us a chance.
Farmer was more than adequate … I’m on board with seeing him at SS more until we have a definitively better option.
Joey redeemed himself … but he did put himself into that position.
Geno still looks lost at the plate … and the defensive lapses don’t help.
One down with KC. Got to win the first one to sweep, right?
YEah it would be nice to sweep but I’m not keen on Miley. Hope he can get it together today but I’m not optimistic. Much rather see Mahle as a SP but then again, our bullpen is a mess so maybe he can help there.