The Cincinnati Reds are 27-27 after taking two of three games against the American League’s best team, the Chicago White Sox. It’s crunch time for the Reds with just six games remaining and the Reds are not holding anything back at this point. Following the game on Sunday, it was announced that the upcoming Brewers series would see Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, and Trevor Bauer take the mound for Cincinnati. Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer had the fastest hands in the midwest, tweeting out the information a matter of seconds faster than the other beat writers.That’s important to note on several front.
Sonny Gray has missed some time after spending the last week-and-a-half on the injured list with a back strain. He had dominated for his first seven starts of the season, posting a 1.94 ERA in 41.2 innings. But in his last two starts before hitting the injured list he allowed 11 earned runs in just 4.0 innings pitched with more walks than strikeouts. He’ll be back, and hopefully healthy, to pitch on Tuesday against the Brewers in a pivotal game for both teams.
Luis Castillo will be pitching on normal rest, having last pitched on September 16th in a dominant showing against the Pirates. He struck out 10 batters over 7.0 shutout innings in a 1-0 win for the Reds. Cincinnati will hope to get a similar performance from him on Monday against the Brewers.
For Trevor Bauer, he’s getting his wish. It seemed likely to happen based on what both manager David Bell, and Bauer himself said earlier this week, but the Reds right-handed starter will be going on short rest this time around the rotation. On Saturday he allowed two runs over 7.0 innings against the White Sox. He’ll take the mound on just three days rest and pitch on Wednesday. There’s not much of a track record of pitching on 3-days rest for Bauer – or any other starting pitcher these days. In the regular season he’s only done it twice. He’s allowed six earned runs on 11 hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts in 9.0 innings in those two starts.
In the postseason Trevor Bauer has started twice on three days rest, and the results weren’t great. In 2016 against the Cubs in the World Series he allowed three runs in 4.0 innings on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. The following year he pitched against the Yankees in the divisional series, and while he didn’t get charged with an earned run, he didn’t get out of the second inning and was charged with four unearned runs in the game.