The Cincinnati Reds (26-27) couldn’t get any offense on a night that saw the Chicago White Sox (34-18) hit five solo home runs in a 5-0 shutout. The win puts the series at 1-1 with a finale on Sunday set up to decide who takes the 3-game set.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox (34-18) |
5 | 8 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (26-27) |
0 | 6 | 0 |
| W: Foster (5-0) L: Bauer (4-4) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
There wasn’t a whole lot for the Reds. Joey Votto went 2-3 with a walk. Nick Senzel and Mike Moustakas each went 1-4 with a double. Freddy Galvis came on as a pinch hitter and substitute and walked in each of his two play appearances. No runs. No win.
The Pitching
Trevor Bauer put together a quality start, allowing two solo home runs in 7.0 innings with a walk and five strikeouts. His ERA jumped to 1.80 on the season after the outing.
Robert Stephenson allowed three solo home runs in the 8th inning that put the game out reach for the Reds offense on the day. Nate Jones tossed a hitless 9th inning with a walk.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds fell to 26-27 on the season. The Giants also lost, falling to 25-26. Milwaukee won, giving them a 25-26 record. The three teams are currently tied for the final wild card spot. The St. Louis Cardinals won, putting them in second place in the National League Central Division and one game ahead of both the Reds and Brewers.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago White Sox vs. Cincinnati Reds
Sunday September 20th, 1:10pm ET
Dylan Cease (5-2, 3.20 ERA) vs Michael Lorenzen (2-1, 4.56 ERA)
Thanks Doug. I bet these aren’t all fun but we appreciate that you write them.
Gratitude.
It’s what’s for dinner.
Doug, as always thank you for what you do, Hopefully we are kicking your site.
A few questions…Maybe you can answer.
1. Are the Reds still leading the NL (maybe all of baseball) in walks this year? Offense.
2. Is this team still clicking towards an “historic” BABIP? Where do they stand?
3. Did anyone expect Antone/Mahle to surpass Bob Steve?? Is Lorenzen a starter in 2021? This team is deep in the pen for 2021./
4. Miley is the “wildcard” in the rotation for 2021. Can you see a rotation of Gray//Castillo/Mayle/Antone/Miley in 2021? With Lorenzen/Lodolo looking on?
As always your content is outstanding. I can’t thank you enough
Here is some of the numbers
1) Reds lead the NL in walks with 209 (4th overall) Rays are #1 with 223, both teams have played 3 games.
2) Reds are last in BABIP (.245), Rangers are next lowest @ .264, Mets are best @ .327
Unfortunately, the offense proved to be off the table. They put runners in scoring position in the first three innings, but failed to produce. No HR’s, no runs. Had scored at least a couple of runs would have boosted Bauer’s performance. Then came Stephenson’s debacle. Must win today and expect other favorable results.
I don’t know about must win. That comes Monday and Tuesday.
I have changed my tune a little on this team. I have shifted the blame to underperforming players and Williams, rather than Bell. We are now 1/3 of the way through the season and we have all out key players hitting 220 ish. I have never fully bought into Bell’s take that this would all normalize to 275ish in time. No, it wont! The last 3 games have been the capper. 1 run or less in 2 of the 3 games against a horde of average pitchers in a playoff chase! Ain’t going to work. Any other playoff contender would wish for a 2 run 7 inning start. Not the Reds. That could be the best start we get out of the last 7 and a game we should have taken advantage of.
I am not here to bash the Reds. But we have got to hit and score runs to get to the playoffs and be successful once there. Without some of “gifts” we have had over the past week, the data would suggest we probably are not going to be up to the task. Now if Suarez or Moustakes or X go off and hit 5-6 HRs, that is another another story. But I just don’t believe 3-4 runs a game is going to do it.
It mattered at the time, because the score was 2-0, but Bell brought in his worst reliever in a 2-run game. Can somebody remind Bell that these games are VERY important?
This. I was dumbfounded that he chose BobSteve in a 2-run “playoff” game. It was like raising the white flag.
Yeah, I get your point. And you are correct. But at the same time, he started Stephenson, Garcia, and Aquino in a crunch time game. Farmer, Galvis, and Akiyama probably would have been better choices. And there was a bunch of failure here with runners in scoring position that would have given Bauer the lead. But we gave these guys the playing time everybody has been begging for. (Being cynical.) Now we have our best 3-4 relievers out of action for 3+ days now. If we get behind early today, it will be interesting to see who Bell uses. Disco? Or one of the better guys for 2-3 innings?
Aquino was an OK choice but maybe shouldn’t have led off. He was one of the few that had a hit yesterday, remember?
Think we need 5 – 2 to ensure it.
4 -3, will make it close.
If we go 4 – 3, we need at least 2 from the Crew.
The thing that is really killing me inside right now is watching Winker hit. At one point this year, he was hitting .350 and a potential MVP candidate.
Then it seems like he changed his approach. Now he just swings like some pre-historic barbarian and as hard as he possible can. He swings so hard he falls over about 3-4 times each game. Now, he’s hitting .259.
His 450 foot homerun was great on Friday, but that’s even more proof that he doesn’t need to over-swing. 450, 500, 600, 700 foot homeruns all count the same. He has enough power to hit 380-400 foot homeruns without overswinging.
Am I crazy here? Or is anyone else noticing that Winker started slumping after he started over-swinging?
We’ve had extreme streaky players before. If said player can’t overcome both the mental and physical blocks that surround a slump time and if the hitting coaches can’t provide something that will help said player alter an approach, then this is what we get. All potential and a lot of disappointment with some peaks of incredible optimism.
That’s what I see in Winker. And with the permanent DH coming (I do believe that’s going to be a done deal), it’s either him or JV holding down that position. We need the better options in LF and RF than his defense can provide.
You aren’t crazy at all. The overswing has turned him into Joey Gallo….all or nothing approach. It’s maddening.
What’s with a natural hitter like Winker collapsing at almost every plate appearance by swinging so hard? Now that the DH seems to be his role, I guess he’s aiming for a homerun every time up.
here are some stats for Winker in 2020
Games are games Winker had an AB not team games
Games 1 to 10 – 2 for 23, 0 extra base hits, 0 RBIs
Games 11 to 35 – 31 for 78, 6-2B, 10 HRs, 16 RBIs
Games 36 to 47 – 2 for 34, 1 HR, 5 RBI
He is either Hot or Frozen. No middle ground.
If the win today then all is fine, did we really expect to sweep the White Sox?
No, we didn’t. What we really didn’t expect was for the WLB’s to take 3 so far in Pittsburgh including both ends of a DH. That adds to the pressure to perform.
Still in it at the moment. Still Schrödinger’s Reds. I’m really hoping to avoid a trip to LA for the first series, but if that’s what it takes to be playing after #embracetheweird regular season ends, so be it.
Got to dance with who brung ya at this point.
With eight games left in the season? Yes.
St. Lou, without their usual strong team, showed how it’s done. Down 4-zip, they win 5-4.
To a certain extent, Pierzynski is correct in making that statement The Reds live by the home run and they die by the home run. Just my opinion of course, but could it be that playing in that bandbox known as Great American Small Park has hurt the Reds overall? The way the ball carries out of that place, have they, even subliminally, allowed themselves to adopt the all or nothing mentality? Is it just me, or does anyone else think that’s within the realm of possibility? There’s an old saying in baseball that says “good pitching will always stop good hitting”. With the way this Reds’ offense has sputtered along this year there are just too many opposing pitchers who have made themselves better than they actually are.
The race is still on, the Reds beat up on the Bradenton Buccos to get into contention so I’ll still watch. But, there’s just so many maddening things going on. Yes, Winker is getting downright embarrassing now after being on a 4-5 week streak that’s seldom been seen before. Everybody wanted Aquino to get some action since he also had an amazing streak last year but he too looks defeated. Now, with Shogo getting hot, he gets sat down with Aquino hitting leadoff. Now, somebody please tell Bell that we have two guys named Stephenson on the team. One has produced very well and has the biggest hit of the season (against those Buccos) that sparked the winning streak. He seldom gets used because we have two other catchers straddling the .200 mark. The other Stephenson is a five year pitching project only distinguished by his home run ball proclivities (5 in 8 innings, now 8 in 9). We do have other pitchers, ya know. Was Bradley, Thornburg and others just too tired for an inning? Bauer was amazing again but I wonder if he can win Cy Young since this team has only sported him a 4-4 record (with his 1.80 ERA). The Reds BA is holding around .213, will be exciting to see if the 110 year old record for all time low will be broken! Again, just want to see the Reds get what they deserve, the series against Milwaukee could decide it. But, whatever the result, I doubt if I’ll follow this team next year if David Bell remains manager. Under normalized rules and season length, this team wouldn’t stand a chance to be competitive or even be entertaining to watch.
Thornburg just had TJ surgery.
Still, point well taken.
The Reds offense brought to you by Krylon paints. No runs, no drips and no errors. My ode to Johnny Bench.
Good line.
The Reds Defense is 25th in MLB in unearned runs allowed (25 in 53 games) and 24th in unearned runs allows per game @ .472 so their errors have really hurt
Good stat find. The reality is probably even worse if you consider how many outfield “misplayed but untouched” balls there were, poor throws, and the general slow footed nature of the team. I certainly didn’t foresee this as a problem this year but unfortunately neither did the management apparently. Or, perhaps just like the homerun-centric nature of the team, just another manageable analytical issue.
Every game for the Reds is a must win if they want to have a shot at 2nd place in the division.
Reds have 3 more losses ( plus lose tiebreaker) to Cards. Cards Magic Number is 9 for 2nd place only playing 58 games. Cards have 9 games left and Reds 7.
For the Reds have 2nd place in the division at the end of next Sunday (not need Tigers to win one or two vs Cards a week from Monday).
Cards go 3-6 to finish 28-30, Reds need to have 31wins (5-2 finish)
Cards go 4-5 to finish 29-29, Reds need to have 32 wins which is (6-1)
Cards go 5-4 to finish 30-28, Reds need to have 33 wins (7-0)
Cards finish 6-3 to finish 31-27, Reds must be 6-1 or 7-0 to force Cards to play Detroit a week from Monday and hope the Cards do not sweep the DH.
Anything but a 7 game winning streak to finish the year makes getting to 2nd in the division a very unlikely without a total Cards collapse.
If Reds go 5-2 (31-29 record) this last week.
WC #1 need either the Phillies (finish 3-5) or Marlins (finish 3-6) to have a really bad last week to end up with 30 wins as they both have the tie breaker over the Reds right now.
WC #2 (facing Dodgers in Wildcard) is the most likely playoff position for the Reds
For this the Reds need get ahead of the Brewers and have the Giants to loose 2 more games than the Reds do in the last 8 days of the season.
This is the Reds reality for the last 7 games of the season. Win them all and hope for help.
Good 1st batter for Lorenzen then the 2 lucky weak hits which driver a much higher team BABIP.
Reds got out of 1st without any runs thanks to poor base running at 3rd on the pop up with 1 out, if he was tagging, it would have been close at the plate with Goodwin doing what he did to loose his balance