The longest off day of the year, also known as the day between Opening Day and Game 2, is finally over and the Cincinnati Reds are ready to get back on the field. They’ll look to rebound from the Opening Day loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday. Here’s hoping the first inning goes a little better today.
First pitch happens at 4:10 EDT from Great American Ball Park. You can watch on Bally Sports Ohio (formerly Fox Sports Ohio) or listen on 700 WLW. The weather looks to be an absolutely delightful 61 degrees and sunny at game time.
Starting Pitchers
REDS
Tyler Mahle gets the ball for the Reds in his first start of the season. Last year, he recorded a 3.59 ERA in 47.2 innings. He was inserted into the rotation after Wade Miley got hurt early in the shortened season, and pitched well for a fifth starter. It was good enough to earn a spot in the 2021 rotation.
Mahle uses four pitches: four-seam fastball, slider, split finger, and curveball. His four-seamer is the pitch he relies on most, but something happened last year with his breaking pitches. In 2019, he didn’t throw the slider at all and the curveball was his secondary pitch after the fastball. However, in 2020, he threw his curveball just 0.9% of the time, while throwing his slider 32.4% of the time and getting a 41.5% whiff rate on it. It’s by far the highest whiff rate on one of his pitches in his career.
CARDINALS
Yes, Adam Wainwright is still pitching in the big leagues. At 39 years old, he signed a one-year, $8 million deal with the Cardinals for the 2021 season. And for the most part, Wainwright is still pitching decently too. In 65.2 innings last season, he had a 3.15 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. The ERA, however, is a little deceiving given that his FIP was over 4.00. One thing Wainwright has continued to do well throughout his career is limit walks. He walked only 15 batters in 2020, leading to a 7.6 BB% and the 1.05 WHIP. In 2019, he was one of the top pitchers in the league at limiting walks, only giving up 64 in 171.2 innings.
Wainwright has five pitches (curve ball, sinker, cutter, four-seamer, and change-up), but primarily throws his curve ball, sinker and cutter. He usually saves the four-seam fastball and the change-up for left handed hitters. The curve ball is his best pitch. He had a 33.0% whiff rate with it in 2020, but that’s probably because it’s so slow that hitters are always ahead of it. It clocked in at 73 mph last year. When he locates it, it’s usually down and out to right-handed batters.
Stats from 2020
| Name | IP | ERA | FIP | xFIP | WHIP | K% | BB% |
| Tyler Mahle | 47.2 | 3.59 | 3.88 | 4.59 | 1.15 | 29.9% | 10.4% |
| Adam Wainwright | 65.2 | 3.15 | 4.11 | 4.23 | 1.05 | 20.6% | 5.7% |
Stat of the Day
Stat of the day: Adam Wainwright is starting for the Cardinals today against the Reds. He’s a very good pitcher with a 3.38 career ERA over 15 years.
But in 34 career games against the Reds, Wainwright has a 5.12 ERA, the highest for any team he has faced more than twice.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) April 3, 2021
Starting Lineups
| CARDINALS | REDS |
| 1. Tommy Edman (2B) 2. Paul Goldschmidt (1B) 3. Nolan Arenado (3B) 4. Paul DeJong (SS) 5. Tyler O’Neill (LF) 6. Yadier Molina (C) 7. Dylan Carlson (CF) 8. Justin Williams (RF) 9. Adam Wainwright (P) |
1. Jesse Winker (LF) 2. Nick Castellanos (RF) 3. Joey Votto (1B) 4. Eugenio Suarez (SS) 5. Mike Moustakas (3B) 6. Jonathan India (2B) 7. Tyler Naquin (CF) 8. Tucker Barnhart (C) 9. Tyler Mahle (P) |
News and Notes
Nick Senzel is not in the lineup tonight, but he’s apparently available to pinch hit. This seems like a good sign after his diving catch on Thursday. Redleg Nation has you covered on all the updates, including quotes from David Bell.
The Reds picked up catcher Beau Taylor on waivers today and to make room for him on the 40-man roster they designated catcher Deivy Grullón for assignment. We wrote about it here shortly after the game preview went live.
Shogo Akiyama started the season on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain. While it still looks like it will be a couple of weeks at least, he is reporting to the alternate site in Louisville. That’s a good sign.
#Reds Shogo Akiyama will report to the team's Alternate Training Site in Louisville. He has been playing catch. He's been walking, running using machines. He said the process is going well.
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) April 3, 2021
Jonathan India was on MLB Network Radio after his Opening Day performance, talking about his goals for the year.
Get fired up, @Reds fans. Your new second baseman has big plans.@JonathanIndia: "I want to be a big part of this team and push these guys and I want them to push me to be the best I can."#Reds | #ATOBTTR pic.twitter.com/FSCv8uTCvl
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) April 3, 2021
Finally, here’s a clip from the Rays-Marlins game last night because I can’t stop watching this pitch and the batter’s swing. Baseball is back and so are these highlights.
Chaz Roe: big frisbee guy. ? pic.twitter.com/zSUa0hijcJ
— MLB (@MLB) April 3, 2021
The pride of Fort Lauderdale is gonna be a star
Where or how can I listen to the games online? Through iheart radio and 700 WLW?
Yes. Online allows streaming through iheartradio if you are within a certain distance – but I do not know how far out that goes.
The Reds I think should win this one. If Nick Castellanos plays well as long with the hitting, not to mention the pitching, we should play well. Our stats are very well against Adam Wainwright, I believe we have a decent shot.
Very nice first inning for Mahle.
Dejong pops one against the Reds again
Now 15 HRs vs. the Reds….next closest, 9 vs. the Cubs
ESPN showed Mahle throwing Dejong 5 sliders and 3 in a row with #3 being hit out.Hindsight but do you think he was looking for it?
I say this every year….but why, on a 2-2 count, is Tucker standing up asking for a high fastball. Wasting pitches. Huge pet peeve.
I was going to say the same thing. Hitters are to good to chase and why do it with Mahles pitch count high.
Stephenson benched for his TOOTBLAN yesterday? Tucker taking advantage. I love it.
I think it’s more of a right handed pitcher and gets tucker’s left handed bat in the lineup.
Love the oppo, on the ground hit by Jesse
Run support from the bottom is a bonus, hopefully the to will get it’s share too.
Castellenos just missed a double in the 1st…now a line shot single up the middle
It’s amazing what can happen when a team puts the ball into play consistently instead of striking out while aiming for the fences.
I’m liking this whole “Making contact” strategy.
This is much more fun to watch than strikeout, strikeout, home run, strikeout like the last couple of seasons.
Yeah, no kidding!
I think they said that there have not been 5 singles in a row since May of 2019.
Love seeing it.
Correct Tom.
Of course, it’s just one inning. But other than Barnhart’s homer, there were only two other balls hit in the inning with an exit velocity over 90 mph.
Aim for Kentucky. Adam Dunn made it happen once.
I was there that day in the upper deck and saw that ball go out of the stadium!
Reds Cardinalsing the Cardinals.
The booth as talking about how much good contact Naquin makes. Health has been an issue for him too. Maybe between he and Senzel, they keep CF covered between injuries.
Good point. 🙂 I really had no idea that Naquin was so highly regarded in terms of his hitting ability.
Can’t wait for Godzilla versus DeJong.
I hear Godzilla has a wicked heater.
It was a good movie
Mahle comes inside like hoarders throw stuff away
That was a tough pitch Votto hit for a 2-strike single.
Here we go!
Casto-pumped!!
It’s going to be an interesting year between these two teams. Shades of recent years with Pittsburgh.
Trouble in the river cities.
Neck Tat bumped the ump. Ejection should happen
Did he really? I’m not watching. But MLB will be blind to it
On his way to the to Nick, he bumped the ump
Well Senzel is alright. He was in the middle of that scrum pushing people back.
India doing a little Diettrich imitation there and leaning into it. Love this kid.
Good comparison.
He gets on by HBP frequently. He was plunked a lot in the Florida State League.
Why was Castellanos ejected but Molina was not? One of them went after the other one and that guy is still in the game.
Unquestionably.
Castellanos had the pitcher on his back, reacted emotionally and walked away. Yadi chased him down and got in hai face
One of these things is not like the other.
Injustice, says I! Lol
It would be nice to have an explanation on the ejection. Ump to the Reds dugout- There’s no yelling in baseball!
I don’t expect such courtesy for the “lowly” Reds
The explanations afterwards should be an entertaining lot of words that say nothing
Boy Aquino needed that. Hopefully that builds his confidence up and he can get comfortable at the plate.
Yes, he looked lost yesterday. Great to see Senzel back on the field. Hopefully Winker was pulled as a Defensive Replacement with our comfortable lead.
It’s hard to understand how this team could ever have trouble scoring.
“Moustakas chugging for second.”
The romance between Jonathon India and the fans has officially begun.
The Punisher !!!! Boom.
Figured they would win since foxsportsgo is suddenly not working today for me.
And then THAT happened ?
Okay. I’ll take that result.
Loving India so far.
Good job men! The importance of tacking on runs.
Take the series tomorrow.