The Cincinnati Reds (15-21) will look to rebound after last night’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals (14-13) in the second game of their three game series. The Cardinals are sending a rookie to the mound to make his third career start with Johan Oviedo. Cincinnati will send out Tyler Mahle, hoping to get back on the correct side of the ledger.
Starting Lineups
St. Louis Cardinals
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Cincinnati Reds
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| Kolton Wong – 2B | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Tommy Edman – RF | Nick Castellanos – RF |
| Paul Goldschmidt – 1B | Jesse Winker – DH |
| Brad Miller – DH | Eugenio Suárez – 3B |
| Paul DeJong – SS | Mike Moustakas – 2B |
| Yadier Molina – C | Brian Goodwin – CF |
| Matt Carpenter – 3B | Jose Garcia – SS |
| Tyler O’Neill – LF | Shogo Akiyama – LF |
| Lane Thomas – CF | Tucker Barnhart – C |
| Johan Oviedo – SP | Tyler Mahle – SP |
Brian Goodwin gets his first start with the Reds tonight and he’ll be in center field and hitting 6th. Jesse Winker is back after serving his 1-game suspension last night.
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB% | K% |
| Tyler Mahle | 23.0 | 3.91 | 1.13 | 10.3% | 33.0% |
| Johan Oviedo | 10.0 | 3.60 | 1.00 | 10.3% | 12.8% |
| Links: Tyler Mahle’s Stats | Johan Oviedo’s Stats |
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Tyler Mahle
The 25-year-old will be making his 5th start of the season, and his 6th overall appearance. His control has taken a bit of a step backwards from where it was in 2019, but his strikeout rate is up significantly as he’s striking out 12.5 batters per 9-innings pitched in 2020.
2020 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 41 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9.8% | 41.5% | .250 | .317 | .444 |
| LHH | 56 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10.7% | 26.8% | .149 | .268 | .319 |
In another way that things just don’t make sense in 2020 for the Cincinnati Reds or their players, Tyler Mahle’s walked fewer righties and struck out significantly more of them than lefties, but righties have had far better results against him this season.
Pitch Usage in 2020
| 4-Seam | Cutter | Slider | Splitter | |
| Velo | 94.3 | 87.2 | 85.7 | 88.5 |
| Usage | 51% | 27% | 7% | 14% |
Johan Oviedo
The 22-year-old rookie has only pitched in two games in his Major League career. He has thrown 5.0 innings in both starts, and both came in the second game of double headers. In 2019 he spent most of his season in Double-A Springfield where he posted a 5.65 ERA in 23 starts that spanned 113.0 innings with 64 walks and 128 strikeouts.
2019 MINOR LEAGUE Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 308 | 66 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 11.4% | 24.0% | .249 | .350 | .377 |
| LHH | 347 | 83 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 11.8% | 25.6% | .277 | .370 | .383 |
We’re looking at last years minor league splits because 10.0 innings in the big leagues this year just doesn’t give us any useful information. His splits weren’t that large. His groundball/flyball ratios were league average, just in case you were curious about that, too.
Pitch Usage in 2020
| 4-Seam | Curve | Change | Slider | |
| Velo | 96.0 | 77.4 | 89.1 | 85.1 |
| Usage | 56% | 11% | 2% | 31% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati.
- Watch: Fox Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 79°, cloudy, 15% chance of rain
NL Central Standings
| Team | Wins | Losses | GB |
| Cubs | 21 | 14 | – |
| Cardinals | 14 | 13 | 3.0 |
| Brewers | 16 | 19 | 5.0 |
| Reds | 15 | 21 | 6.5 |
| Pirates | 10 | 23 | 10.0 |
News and Notes
Updating the rotation for the weekend
#Reds rotation in Pittsburgh this weekend: Luis Castillo in Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader; Trevor Bauer in Game 2. Anthony DeSclafani on Saturday, Sonny Gray on Sunday.
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) September 2, 2020
Updated Playoff Odds
After the loss last night to the Cardinals, the Cincinnati Reds playoff odds are now at 34.1% according to Fangraphs, who projects them to finish 28-32 on the season at this point. Baseball Reference projects the playoff odds for the Reds at 14.5.%.