Wade Miley’s 2021 magic took a night off at Coors Field. Miley was coming off his first career no-hitter a week ago in Cleveland, but tonight in Denver he had a rough night. Miley allowed 8 earned runs tonight, matching his entire season total in his previous 6 starts entering the evening.
The Reds for a second straight night tried to put together a big comeback. Jonathan India and Eugenio Suarez each homered, and the Reds got a 6-run deficit down to 3. That would be the closest they would get.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Rockies (15-24) | 9 | 15 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (17-19) | 6 | 10 | 2 |
| W: Marquez (2-4) L: Miley (4-3) S: Bard (4) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Biggest Play of the Game
According to Fangraphs WPA statistic (winning percentage added), the most important play of the game was Wade Miley allowing an RBI single to Yonthan Diaz (runner moved to 3B), giving the Rockies a 3-2 lead. That play decreased the Reds probability of winning by 11.2% (from 34.8% to 23.5%).
Positives
Jonathan India has hit home runs in back-to-back games after just hitting one long ball in his first 77 at-bats in the big leagues. Tonight’s home run was a massive 451 feet with an exit velocity of 108.7 MPH. India also doubled earlier in the game. Senzel and Moustakas currently being banged up makes you think that India is going to find his way into the lineup quite a bit in the near future. The Reds certainly could use him getting hot.
Eugenio Suarez is really starting to look like he is coming out of this. He destroyed a hanging breaking ball 415 feet. Take a look at Suarez’ week:
Monday: HR
Tuesday: 2 hits
Wednesday: 2 hits
Thursday: 0 for 4, but two of his outs – 100.1 EV, .610 xBA (405 feet), 98.8 EV, .430 xBA
Friday: HR
Tucker Barnhart reached base three times tonight. He is now hitting .299/.371/.494 on the season.
Shogo Akiyama had a 2-hit night filling in for a scheduled off day for Castellanos.
Ryan Hendrix and Cionel Perez each pitched scoreless innings. That was much needed for both guys.
Heath Hembree allowed the two runners Miley left on 2nd & 3rd to score on a single, but then proceed to strike out the next three batters. What a pickup he has been. He still has not allowed an earned run in 8.0 IP.
Art Warren made his Reds debut. He walked two batters, but he did pitch a scoreless inning.
Pretty cool of Art Warren to get promoted while in Denver…and to pitch tonight. He said in today's media Zoom session that his brother lives nearby and was able to attend tonight's game.
Also, Art Warren is one of the nicest human beings you'll ever meet.
— Jamie Ramsey (@Jamieblog) May 15, 2021
Negatives
Wade Miley‘s no-hitter might have come at the worst time, coming right before a start at Coors Field. Miley threw 114 pitches in his last start in Cleveland, his most since 2017. We will never know if that for sure made a difference or not, but it certainly did not help his performance tonight. Miley’s ERA jumped from 2.00 to 3.69 in about 90 minutes.
The Reds defense and base-running left some to be desired. They had two errors on the night (Moustakas, Miley), and that doesn’t include a ball that Suarez should have turned into an out and Shogo’s arm possibly costing a run. India made a silly out on the base-paths.
Mike Moustakas had to leave the game early again.
Not so random thoughts……………..
Jeff Brantley revealed tonight that he once accidentally purchased a $500 belt at John Sadak about passed out on air. It is the little things that get us through nights like this.
Up Next:
Reds at Rockies
Saturday, 8:10 PM
TV: Bally Sports Ohio
Tyler Mahle (3.00 ERA) vs Jhoulys Chacin (5.84 ERA)
A little math …
Reds are now 7-12 on the road … projects to road record of 30-51.
85 wins is current average projection from FanGraphs, others to win NL Central.
If the Reds road record is 30-51, they would need to go 55-26 at home … to reach 85 wins.
(Cardinals have some projections that currently gets them to 90 wins)
The next two days feel a little bit more important than “just 2 games.”
Getting swept or losing 3 of 4 games at Coors feels like games dropped that other teams will likely pick up.
the math is not favorable
The season is a long haul but getting swept at Coors in the middle of this long run of games with just 1 off day would make it feel like the season is hanging by a thread with 4 games vs the Giants followed by 3 against the Brewers before an off day.
India hitting is definitely a positive the past couple of games. Someone who can play good D and hit too is a rarity on this team right now.
Doolittle?
Zero business pitching in high-leverage situations, especially if Reds are holding a lead.
Small sample size or not … entered tonight giving up 2 HRs per 9 and 4 BB per 9.
That is a formula for disaster at GABP, especially in heat of summer.
A guy whose profile looks OK because there is so much “meh” in the Reds bullpen.
Dude was signed having lost some velocity and has always been a fly ball pitcher.So far it hasn’t worked out.
Everything you said about Doolittle is right on. But coming in losing by 6 isn’t high leverage is it? Well—I suppose in Coors Field that you have a point
More than just the dact that India hit HRs in back to back games is the power that he demonstrated. That type of exit velocity is encouraging. Glad to see Suarez picking up a bit too. How do you sit Casti when you’re down Senzel and Votto? You have to win the “easy” games.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
This sux.
So does David Bell realize that including last Sunday’s rainout, the Reds had THREE off days last week?
Giving one of your best hitters a “scheduled day off” on May 14, with Votto and Senzel out with injuries, a night after that hitter had two hits and a walk, a week after the team had three off days, is about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
Yeah, almost have to believe something else was going on with Castellanos. Maybe one of those things those of us who work(ed) in more normal jobs would have taken a scheduled day off for some sort of “personal/ private” business. I thought I did see NC in the dugout a couple of times but guessing he was “unavailable”.
Bell gives up games left and right. Like leaving Castillo and Miley in for 8 runs each, of course the Reds score late in both games and make you wonder if they might have won if Bell was more aggressive in pulling ineffective starters. Yeah the bullpen might suck too but that is a possibility compared to the reality that the starters are sucking.
Basically the Reds are going nowhere with their current manager and at this point anyone defending him is just tired of hearing me bellyache and wants to play contrarian, or they are part of the Bell legacy lol
It’s becoming obvious that the Organization wasn’t really planning to contend (really we knew this when they dumped salary all winter). Then the really cool opening series, and we forgot that the offseason signaled a “phone it in” from the guys that sign the checks.
OK—i can accept that—IF they start playing the young guys now and leave the 30+ year old utility guys on the bench! The fact that they are not tells you how foolishly this club is being run—they have Bengalled it
Oh, and we knew it when they left a gaping, oozing, festering hole at shortstop and then used Suarez as a band-aid
@Rojo> I am just waiting to see what happens in 2 weeks when they start playing to normalized crowds at GABP. Will they spend forward or pocket the increased revenues to cover past “losses”?
Jim
If they spend and do it wisely? I’m in. But how much wise spending have they made in the last 12-15 months?
I keep going back to last “season” and the wasted moves to get Bradley Jr and Goodwin.
As they say, we shall see in time
RojoBenjy: you got the contrarian part right, but there’s a point to be made: somebody on the game thread said that the difference between the ’75 Reds and this year’s version is the manager. Had I been drinking coffee when I read that, I’d have choked on it. The ’75 Reds had great hitters, gold glovers, hall of famers and pitching that was plenty good enough. They were, in fact, one of the greatest teams ever assembled. Sparky acknowledged as much, and to think he’d make the current collection of fly ball hitters, uninspired fielders and retread pitchers into WS contenders is wishful thinking. Bell may make poor decisions, but if he did everything right, the Reds would still be hovering around .500.
So since the Reds are hovering around .500 you’re saying that David Bell is basically Sparky Anderson? 😉
No, because I can’t know that. I believe that the players have much, much more to do with wins and losses than the manager does, regardless of who the manager is. Sparky was known as “Captain Hook,” because he gave pitchers a relatively short leash (Bell is often criticized here for much the same thing), but otherwise didn’t seem to manage very aggressively. And he didn’t need to: he had great players.
The 75 Reds had great pitching. We just were always comparing our staff to the Dodgers who had exceptional pitching. Our team era was 3.37. The pen at 2.5
I’m starting to think that maybe the Reds aren’t a very good team.
Thursday-Lets sweep the Rockies.
Friday- Let’s win the series.
Saturday- Let’s split the series.
Sunday- ?
Will anyone be around to watch on Sunday?
You know I will be. If I can watch that dumpster fire a few years ago when they set the futility mark for giving up homers then I’ll be here. I’ve sat through worse. Kevin Gregg, Marquis, Badenhop, Sampson , Wojo, Feldman, Lisalverto Bonilla!!!!
Now there is an infamous group of hurlers!
I know they made a lot of us hurl too
Bell’s misuse or rather lack of Tejay Antone is criminal. He has now pitched 1 inning in the last 10 days. He would have been ideal in either of the last 2 games to come in early for clearly struggling relievers and go at least 4 innings. Bell is reactionary instead of proactive, he waits until it is too late to save the games. Early action in either game with the Reds scoring late might have saved the games. I am now on the fire the manager band wagon since I can’t fire the owner.
Welcome aboard
Your comment on the Reds going no where is right on.It is what it is but your last paragraph is really what it is all about for me.I can put up with losing because thats what we do but losing watching the same guys do the same things again is just awful.I can put up with Joey and his decline along with Moose’s and even Eugenio’s performance but can he we just play these young guys every day.Shogo was a mistake at 32 years old and Farmer isn’t the answer at short.Casty is gone after this year and who knows and I am willing to find out what Naquin can do with 500 at bats.India and Senzel continue to be jerked around and now it appears they are in competition with each other for playing time.
I should have said clearly struggling starters not relievers
I say lay it where it belongs, on the higher levels of the organization which Bell is stuck being the public face and mouthpiece for.
All these guys hobbled by what (we hope) are just minor injuries with the bench already short because the organization chose to go with 14 pitchers (yes, now 13 with the dead spot created by Garrett’s suspension) and with zero, count them, zero, position players prestaged on the Taxi squad for quick access.
If they had a position guy on the Taxi, they could have optioned a pitcher (there are several) to get a position body on the active list last night.
Here is an example, Scott Heineman a corner OF and 1B guy and RH bat, is currently OPSing just under .900 at Louisville. He on option at Louisville which means he could be brought up then subsequently sent back down without being exposed to waivers. He was listed as a Taxi squad person but then that designation was dropped.
Up for another one? Jose Garcia, remember him from 2020 at SS? He is currently playing like a man among kids at AA Chattanooga. He is on option and can be moved all around the organization without exposure to waivers. Maybe having his glove at SS in Coors would have been a nice thing given the unsettled situation: and that would have freed Farmer’s bat to come off the bench as and when needed.
“Where it belongs “
The personnel manager, i.e. Nick Krall who worked his way up from bat boy, as it were?
Yes—chess doesn’t seem to be his strong suit, does it?
Good thing they aren’t playing chess, huh?
Krall graduated from LSU with a degree in kineseology. Yeah, he worked as a clubbie for two years after graduating before he was hired to be a scout. 18 years has passed since he took his first job as a professional baseball scout.
Your whining here is the equivalent of calling a Congresswoman a bartender. Yeah man, we all had lower level jobs at one point in our lives. It doesn’t mean we aren’t qualified for the one we’ve got today.
Touché Doug.
The bat boy thing was harsh I admit. And I really don’t want to belittle a man’s past. Just frustrated when obvious things get pointed out. But we don’t know all details.
I’m not sure I get the criticism for Bell the last two days, but what is new with that. His SP gave up 16 runs the last two nights. I’m not sure what he is supposed to do about that. The Reds win probability never got above 10.7% after the 4th inning on Friday night and never got above 8.9% after the 4th inning on Thursday. I don’t know why would want to waste Antone or Sims in those low leverage spots. You have to remember that Antone pitched just 35.1 innings last year and Sims pitched 25.2. The last thing you want to do is lose either of them to an injury because you pushed them too hard when you didn’t need to. The Castellanos off day is pretty normal. Again, players are coming off a 60 game season. This is a tough week traveling across the country and playing in high altitude. His replacement last night also had two hits, so I’m not sure how that really made much of a difference either.
Thank you, Doug and Nick.
Pull them before they give up 16 runs? Just a thought
So your strategy, on days 4 & 5 of a stretch of playing 17 consecutive days would be too pull your SP in the third inning at Coors Field to bring in the bullpen that currently has a 5.31 ERA? That’s something………
Absolutely, they were pulled hardly an inning later anyway so apparently it is possible. This is why we have that train to the alternate site, no?
Bell isnt going anywhere this season.
The Reds dont have Trevor Bauer or an expanded 8 team playoff field like 2020. The NL Central will be a 1 bid division.
The Reds SP isnt built to win 88 games with Castillo in free fall and Hoffman. It will require aggressive moves very soon to address the pitching staff.
If the Reds cant get to 2or 3 over .500 by mid June- its time to trade assets. The only window to trade Moose and his $34 million the next 2 years is this summer. The planets have aligned with super teams with big budgets in the playoff picture. Giants and Mets could certainly use a lefty hitter with a winning pedigree who can play 3 positions.