The Cincinnati Reds will play host to the Texas Rangers tonight, with a scheduled first pitch for 9:05pm ET. Radio broadcast only.
Reds (6-15-1) and Rangers (11-8-3) Lineups
| Reds | Rangers |
|||
| 1 | Dee Strange-Gordon | 2B | Leody Taveras | CF |
| 2 | Nick Castellanos | RF | Nate Lowe | 1B |
| 3 | Mike Moustakas | 3B | Joey Gallo | RF |
| 4 | Eugenio Suárez | SS | Rougned Odor | 3B |
| 5 | Tucker Barnhart | C | Andy Ibanez | 2B |
| 6 | Tyler Stephenson | DH | Jose Trevino | C |
| 7 | Tyler Naquin | CF | Charlie Culberson | SS |
| 8 | Aristides Aquino | LF | Delino DeShields | LF |
| 9 | Alex Blandino | 1B | Anderson Tejeda | DH |
| 10 | Tony Santillan | SP | Hyeon-Jong Yang | SP |
Reserve players on today’s Reds roster:
| Pitchers | Infielders |
| Cam Bedrosian | Nicky Delmonico |
| Jesse Biddle | Mike Freeman |
| Sean Doolittle | Jose Garcia |
| Edgar Garcia | Kyle Holder |
| Vladimir Gutierrez | Alejo Lopez |
| Sal Romano | Max Schrock |
| R.J. Alaniz | Outfielders |
| Dauri Moreta | Narciso Crook |
| Matt Pidich | |
| Catchers | |
| Rocky Gale | |
| Mark Kolozsvary |
Where to watch/listen/follow the game
The game will be live on the Reds on Radio Network. The broadcast will be on 700 WLW AM.
Reds links and news
Reds get options for De León and Pérez, not Aquino
After a long wait of uncertainty, Major League Baseball teams found out for certain today which players would qualify for 4th options and which ones wouldn’t. For the Cincinnati Reds pitchers José De León and Cionel Pérez qualified for a 4th option (if used in 2021), while outfielder Aristides Aquino did not.
Joey Votto taking some swings
C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic is back in Goodyear and he got some video of Joey Votto taking some batting practice this evening.
Good to see Joey Votto taking swings in BP today in Goodyear #Reds pic.twitter.com/2A34DwdU8X
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) March 24, 2021
Final: Rangers 6 – Reds 5
Cincinnati had a lead heading into the top of the 9th inning but saw it evaporate with two outs and two strikes as they lost their 16th of the spring. Good thing that there’s no correlation between spring training records and regular season records.
The Highlights
Tony Santillan struggled with his control on the day, walking two batters and allowing three earned runs in 1.2 innings as the starting pitcher on the night. Dauri Moreta came on for the final out of the 2nd inning. Prospect Vladimir Gutierrez came out for the next two innings and a lone walk was the only baserunner he allowed to go along with three strikeouts. Sean Doolittle kept his turn around going with a perfect inning of his own that included a strikeout. Sal Romano tossed a shutout inning in the 6th inning, working around a single and picking up a strikeout. In the 7th inning it was Cam Bedrosian keeping things going for the bullpen as he struck out all three hitters he faced in the inning. For the 8th inning it was Edgar Garcia with a hitless inning.
R.J. Alaniz took over for the 9th and struck out the first hitter he faced before allowing a bloop single and a walk to put the tying and go-ahead runs on the bases. A shallow fly out to center recorded the second out, but a 2-out double off of the center field wall put the Rangers ahead 5-4. Another hit followed, bringing in another run before a pop up ended the inning.
Eugenio Suárez hit his first homer of the spring, going 1-4 with 2 RBI. Dee Strange-Gordon went 2-3 with a double, a run scored, and he had an RBI. Nick Castellanos went 1-4. Tyler Stephenson went 2-2 with a run scored. Tyler Naquin went 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Aristides Aquino went 2-3 with a home run, walk, steal, and an RBI. Max Schrock went 1-2.
You can see the entire box score for the game right here.
Tomorrow’s Game
Afternoon game for Cincinnati as they hit the road to take on the Chicago White Sox at 4:05pm ET. Radio broadcast only.
Man… I am rooting for Bedrosian. I’d love to see how he does against some of the leagues best hitters. I’m not seeing anything from Aquino that would make me regret the Reds taking him North… which is good I think. Could it be he and Strange-Gordon are playing for the same roster spot? I’m just kind of wondering who I would rather keep…Aquino or Blandino.
Farmdino Blarmer, they are the same player. I’d only start the year with 1 of them.
i admit i don’t understand the new age baseball with the sabermetrics and advanced stats AT ALL! But if it came down to it, how on earth could you take Blandino over Aquino? i mean over an a 162 game season I think Aquino would put up some pretty amazing “traditional stats” ie… Homeruns, rbi’s, sb’s, runs. yes his batting average may not be that great but would it surprise you if no red hits above .250 this year?
i am sure there is some Advanced stat that Blandino leads Aquino but in general i think Aquino has such a greater upside. Plus he is an entertaining player that fans would pay to see. sometimes i think the reds management overthink these scenarios. just go with the player that has the highest upside.
I think Aquino is on the team and his no option sealed it. Farmer makes it as the 10th position player. That leaves Naquin, Payton, Schrock,Gordon and Blandino as the final 2 or 3. If I’m correct 4 of those are left handed hitters. Farmer and Aquino are right handed. Tucker, Winker,Votto and Moose are lefthanded hitters. I wonder how Bell plays this out. I would take Naquin , Schrock and Blandino but I’m good with Payton as well. Sometimes WHEN THE GAMES ARE ON Gordon can look overmatched at the plate. Now if Bell only takes 2 , well that is a tough call.
Thumbs Up 🙂
In reply to Rednat
Tucker 0 for 4 and now batting a sizzling .121! Yeah, let’s bat him 5th.
I see Moustakas went hitless again also. He’s in the .160’s and leaving runners on base too.
BIg year for him you bet.Will he bounce back,will he slowly decline or fall off the cliff.Just can’t out run father time.I think he settles in and is at least average this year.
Tucker never has hit and after what 7 seasons,now 30 years old I believe and catching a lot its hard to imagine he ever will.He plays 130 games or more this year barring injury and the young guy goes for coffee and doughnuts.No need to worry about where he hits the opposing pitchers will find him.I like him but he is part of the past and not the future.He plays because of his Gold Glove
2 automatic outs with him in line up. Stephenson and Okey. Trade Tucker
Hold on a second, you want to trade Tucker Barnhart because “he’s an automatic out”, but want to give a job to Chris Okey, who has an OPS under .600 in the minors?
Seems like I’ve seen a trend of playing well enough to win these ST games at the beginning only to let the leads slip away late. Makes me think we have the talent to compete when the season begins, but the organizational depth is lacking.
Doug – the Athletic has an opening day roster projection up. What’s your take on it? I’d hate to see us keep Naquin over Aquino to start the season – why don’t they just 60 day DL Shogo so we can keep him until at least then. Its clear he is nowhere close to ready.
Also, what happens to the guys that are non-roster invites to ST that don’t make the club? Are they free to sign with any club or will they go to minor leagues/alternate site to start the season? I’d like to see us keep a couple of those pitchers – especially the lefty Biddle.
I haven’t looked at the article yet, it’s been a pretty busy day. But Shogo isn’t going to miss two months, so they aren’t going to put him on the 60-day IL.
The non-roster guys, unless they have an out clause, will do one of two things: remain in Goodyear for minor league camp or head to Louisville to participate at the Alternate Site. We’ll know about the out clauses before the season starts.