| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (11-16) | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Milwaukee Brewers (12-15) |
4 | 7 | 0 |
| W: Anderson (2-2) L: Bauer (3-1) SV: Hader (6) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Another day and another struggle for the Cincinnati Reds offense. Trevor Bauer was solid in his start, allowing four runs in 6.1 innings while striking out eight batters, but that was too much for the struggling offense to overcome against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.
The Offense
There wasn’t much going for the Reds in the first five innings of the game. They had a few hits, but those baserunners were almost immediately erased on double plays. But things started turning around in the 6th when Curt Casali got a hanger and put it into the seats in left field to cut into the Brewers lead and make it 4-1. The next inning it was time for Eugenio Suárez to follow up his outstanding defensive play in the previous half-inning with a solo home run of his own to make it 4-2.
Unfortunately the offense went quiet in the 8th inning, setting up what would be a match up against Josh Hader, who hadn’t allowed a hit all season in seven games. Joey Votto made Hader work for it, though, and Votto came out ahead by working a walk on six pitches. Nick Castellanos also made Hader work for it, but he eventually struck out on the 8th pitch of the at-bat for the first out of the inning. Eugenio Suárez popped out, bringing up Matt Davidson to face off against the lefty ace from the Brewers bullpen. It wasn’t to be as Davidson grounded into a force out to end the game.
The Pitching
The Brewers got to Trevor Bauer early after Christian Yelich doubled and scored on a single by Justin Smoak in the 1st inning to take a 1-0 lead. Smoak did damage again in the 3rd, crushing a 2-run homer into the upper deck in right field to make it 3-0 for the Brewers. Omar Narváez added to the Milwaukee lead in the 4th inning with a solo home run. Bauer worked around a hit in each of the 5th and 6th innings to keep them at four runs as the Reds offense went to work to try and get back into things. When he took the mound to start the 7th it was trailing 4-2.
But a walk with a steal led off the inning and following a line out that moved Avisail Garcia to third, the Reds opted to intentionally walk Christian Yelich and then bring in Tejay Antone. He got Keston Hiura to fly out for the second out of the inning and Nick Castellanos throw kept Garcia at third. Antone followed that up with a strikeout to end the inning and strand both runners.
Robert Stephenson, who was activated from the injured list earlier in the day, took the mound for the bottom of the 8th. It wasn’t easy, but Stephenson got through the inning in 1-2-3 fashion to keep it a 2-run game.
Notes worth noting
Offense still struggling to figure something out.
Tejay Antone has struck out 22 of the 62 batters that he’s faced this season. The Reds rookie reliever lowered his ERA to 1.65 on the season as he continues to break out in 2020.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers
Tuesday August 25th, 8:10pm ET
Luis Castillo (0-3, 4.44 ERA) vs Brandon Woodruff (1-2, 3.23 ERA)
This all or nothing HR philosophy isnt fun to watch. I’m becoming less of a baseball fan.
PS – this team is terrible.
agree
The talent is there. The leadership and chemistry is not.
I agree, too, Jesse. My interest is waning rapidly.
I’m jumping in on this wagon. Homer or nothing isn’t fun to watch. I am losing interest in games easily. I need a sustained rally every now and then and its not just the Reds but the MLB across the board.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. This team is suffering from a complete lack of desire and has zero energy. We get one home run and then the next few innings are a ground ball here and there, a strike out, then a double play. They are defeated before they take the field, and you have cast offs on the team instead of the young talent that needs to be there. This was supposed to be the year, yeah sure. Maybe if the young guys were brought up and Bell was fired, you might see some kind of enthusiasm. As someone else said, watching these games is beyond boring.
I agree 100%. Had the exact same thoughts watching the game last night. This team is terrible and boring. Offensively, let’s wait for the bomb. Meanwhile, get a runner on first and ground into a DP. I even chanted a Riggelman and said: bunt him over to 2nd! Never see that from the Reds even if the situation calls for it. Bell’s gotta go. Team needs a wake-up.
Forgive me if this was discussed in game thread I wasn’t watching tonight. But does anyone have an explanation as to why Winker was hitting 7th!? I hope I am missing something?
Votto: .207/.337 is your leadoff man?
Suarez .149/.282 is your #3?
Player you pick off scrap pile Davidson as your cleanup hitter?
I got a good idea let’s bat our best hitter 7th and sandwich him in between a guy hitting .103 and a guy hitting .167….. I mean what?…
Winker, yea he’s cooled off a bit but was burning his hands for a few weeks. Remember, at the beginning of the season when Winker was batting well below .200, Bell put him in the lead off spot for several games. Now that he is hitting well, I guess #6 or #7 is more suitable. Wow, the data is way beyond me… Farmer has perked up lately but gets a #9 spot for the second best average on the team. In spite of the manager, there’s a little daylight with Antone and Stephenson building some backbone. Now is the time to get the Prasco hitting team some playing time and bench some of the under performers (pretty obvious who). Lite a fire under these guys, show some B, and change the dynamic to get these guys in first gear for once.
Votto is about to go sub .200. I never thought I would see so many guys hitting below .200. Mario Mendoza would be batting cleanup on this team. How is Phillip Ervin making a living as a baseball player? .094 BA, 0 RBI, 0 Home runs only hitting against left handed pitchers.
Yeah…never quite felt Ervin had it in him. Time to dump the Shogo/Ervin platoon. Shogo not doing much better but hoping for a better upside to him…get him some reps.
“Mario Mendoza would be batting cleanup on this team.”
I laughed at this….to keep from crying.
I’d say a loss tomorrow should trigger a Milton the goat sighting. And we are probably past due for the *TOS disclaimer.
I was so hoping NOT to see Milton this year but…
Hoping Castellini is looking at the front office and field manager and realizes that changes are needed. Fire Dick Williams, Nick Krall, and David Bell. Hire a manager and GMs with proven success. Do the Cardinals, Rays, or Dodgers have any assistant GMs the Reds could hire away at a higher salary?
I’ve seen about 25 innings on tv so far. 3 outcome at-bats are boooooring and the Reds are probably the worst currently, but its all over baseball.
In the long term, what about building bigger parks and ban the shifts? The game is dying imo. Maybe 30% of it has been removed and takes away most of the action.
yes, yes,yes. also i would like to see artificial turf brought back to speed up the game. of all three reds parks i have been too, riverfront was by far the most exciting field to watch a game
honestly, i don’t mind Joey batting leadoff at this point. i personally don’t think Joey is a hall of famer as we speak. he has to get over that 2000 hit/ 300 HR mark to be considered and at the rate he is going he is going to need all the at bats he can get.
Winning is important i know, but I really want Joey to get in to the HOF. He is such a great guy and great ambassador for the city and the game of baseball. Also with the way contracts are and with Cincinnati being such a small market Joey is probably the last Red ever that will be considered for the hall of fame ( unless Davey gets selected through the veterans committee). so i say give him the at bats
Great guy? Great ambassador for the city? I admit he has done a couple of things, but overall way short on both in my opinion.
He will also end up short in HOF balloting imo. Way short unless he has another 2-3 season run with production and the Reds win during that time.
Boy, this offense is just crazy. I would like to think that it’s something internal with the coaching, because Senzel and Winker came up as our best hitters in the minors.
In the end, though, I believe it will be with the coaching first, then management, for not getting the players and/or coaching up the players.
Votto is about to go sub .200. I never thought I would see so many guys hitting below .200. Mario Mendoza would be batting cleanup on this team. How is Phillip Ervin making a living as a baseball player? .094 BA, 0 RBI, 0 Home runs only hitting against left handed pitchers.
I have always believed that the Reds made a mistake in designing GABP as such a hitter’s park, or more specifically, a homer haven. This year, it has really come home to roost, because every player on this team is swinging for the fences on every at-bat, regardless of the situation.
Every night, my decision is to do something useful, or else tune in to see if the Reds will hit enough homers to make the game bullpen-safe. The Reds play joyless, ugly, boring baseball.
I am to the point of wanting them to start bunting and doing hit-and-runs, etc., because it will change the mindset to playing team baseball. I’ve seen at least 3 times this year with a runner on third and one out, where the situation calls for a ball to be hit 300 feet, and the hitter failed because he didn’t understand the game situation and instead tried to hit the ball 420 feet.
Bauer is gone after this year. Castellano will almost certainly opt out, so he can play somewhere more fun. Votto will remain replacement level, and they will still play him. Senzel will be injured.
Play the kids. Bring in Eduardo Perez to manage. Make the game fun. They won’t draw 1 million fans next year, if they don’t change soon. When even fans like me are losing interest, the franchise is in deep trouble.
I’ve been a Reds fan since 1978. Seen the good and bad, but I’ve about had all I can take. I was so fired up this year then the China virus hit. I got re-fired up after the lockdowns and shutdowns. The Reds were being so talked up and then they come out with this big crapburger. It’s something cultural within the whole organization. They need to blow up the front office and start over.
The Reds will have to overtake the Cardinals for 2nd place to get into the playoffs. I don’t see that happening. It’s a shame. I don’t think the Cardinals have a better team, but they play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. They’re in contention every year because of the way the organization is run. Not because their players are so much better than everyone in the division.
I give the front office credit for the moves they made in the off-season, but they like to sit on their hands DURING the season. In a 60 game season you have to be willing to make changes and try something different.
I know the Reds aren’t going to bench guys like Votto and Suarez, but there are other things they could have tried.
Give Stephenson a chance behind the plate. Give Garcia a shot at shortstop. Let Aquino have at-bats as DH or outfielder. Bring up Greene or Lodolo. Maybe those guys don’t improve the team, but maybe they do.
All I know is that if I were an owner, general manager or manager, I would do everything possible (within reason) to change the direction of the team.
The hole is getting deeper with each passing day. Do something.
Just wait. In two years Greene will be ready. Then just three years after him there will be another newcomer who will carry the team (of course, they will service time him a year). If Votto can just hold on another five years, this reboot will be ready.
It didn’t sound good the first time, either.
I’ve been watching replays of the 1975 series instead of the games today (which are blocked out where I live).
Agree. The game is changing and, I suppose, passing me by. The fact that the Reds continue to under-perform isn’t helping, but I’m losing interest in the game overall.