Search
Home

A home run barrage by Eugenio Suárez on Saturday night led to the Cincinnati Reds (18-22) beating the Pittsburgh Pirates (12-26). The two teams will play the final game of a 4-game set this afternoon at 1:35pm ET, with the Reds hoping to win the series behind Tejay Antone. The Pirates will be looking to split the series with Chad Kuhl on the mound.

Starting Lineups

Cincinnati Reds

Pittsburgh Pirates
Joey Votto – DH Erik Gonzalez – SS
Nick Castellanos – RF Adam Frazier – 2B
Jesse Winker – LF Bryan Reynolds – LF
Eugenio Suárez – 3B Colin Moran – 1B
Mike Moustakas – 1B Gregory Polanco – RF
Brian Goodwin – CF Josh Bell – DH
Freddy Galvis – 2B Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B
Kyle Farmer – SS Cole Tucker – CF
Curt Casali – C John Ryan Murphy – C
Tejay Antone – SP Chad Kuhl – SP

The Reds lineup is balanced today when it comes to righties and lefties. There are four lefties, four righties, and a switch hitter (who will be hitting left handed at least to begin the game). Joey Votto is 7-13 with a home run against Chad Kuhl

Starting Pitchers

Pitcher IP ERA WHIP BB% K%
Tejay Antone 20.1 2.66 0.84 11.5% 34.6%
Chad Kuhl 29.0 3.10 1.21 11.1% 19.7%
Links: Tejay Antone’s Stats | Chad Kuhl’s Stats

Tejay Antone

Making the spot start today, Tejay Antone will look to continue what he’s been doing all year for the Reds – picking up tons of strikeouts and ground balls.

2020 Splits

Split PA H 2B 3B HR BB% K% AVG OBP SLG
RHH 42 3 1 0 1 9.5% 40.1% .081 .190 .189
LHH 36 5 1 0 2 13.9% 27.8% .161 .278 .387

It’s the lefties that have gotten to Tejay Antone a little bit this season. They walk more, make more contact, and have hit for a bit more power. Of course, the sample size is fairly small for everything here, too.

Pitch Usage in 2020

4-Seam 2-Seam Curve Slider Change
Velo 95.7 95.9 80.2 83.8 87.8
Usage 3% 39% 12% 42% 3%

Chad Kuhl

During the 2020 season Chad Kuhl has walked a fine line where he’s walked more batters than the league average, struck out less batters than the league average, and has a high rate of home runs per fly ball while being a fly ball pitcher – but has kept runs off of the board. He’s stranded 90.2% of base runners this year – the league average is 72%.

2020 Splits

Split PA H 2B 3B HR BB% K% AVG OBP SLG
RHH 53 10 1 0 2 9.4% 18.9% .208 .283 .354
LHH 64 12 2 0 4 12.5% 20.3% .214 .313 .464

Neither righties or lefties have picked up many hits against Kuhl this year, but lefties have hit for significantly more power and drawn a few more walks. Historically lefties have had a big advantage against him.

Pitch Usage in 2020

4-Seam 2-Seam Curve Slider Change
Velo 94.5 94.6 81.6 88.0 88.0
Usage 6% 37% 19% 34% 4%

When and Where

  • Game time: 1:35pm ET
  • Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
  • Watch: Fox Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
  • Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
  • Forecast: 76°, sunny, 0% chance of rain

NL Central Standings

Team Wins Losses GB
Cubs 23 17 –
Cardinals 16 15 2.5
Brewers 18 20 4.0
Reds 18 22 5.0
Pirates 12 26 10.0

News and Notes

Updating the rotation

We learned the other day that the Reds would be giving Sonny Gray additional time before his next start. He would normally have pitched today on regular rest, but David Bell said he was going to pitch in the Cubs series instead. That holds true, but they are giving him the start on Thursday. That will give him nine full days between his start on September 1st where he didn’t make it out of the 1st inning and his start on the 10th against the Cubs.

It’s all about the hair

Updated Playoff Odds

After the win last night the Cincinnati Reds playoff odds improved. Fangraphs projects the Reds to finish 29-31 and gives them a 39.2% chance of making the playoffs. That’s only up 1% from yesterday. Baseball Reference gives the Reds a 21.6% chance of making the playoffs.

Copyright RedlegNation.com. All Rights Reserved. RedlegNation.com is an independent news source and is not affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball, any of the Cincinnati Reds minor league affiliates or Minor League Baseball.