The Cincinnati Reds (19-20) will host the San Fransisco Giants (25-16) for game two of a four game series at GABP tonight at 6:40 PM. The Reds had their two game win streak snapped last night behind a shaky defensive effort. The Reds are 1-3 agains the Giants so far in 2021.
Starting Pitchers
Tonight’s pitching matchup is very interesting. You have the pitcher that many Reds fans gave up on in 2020 vs the pitcher some are starting to give up on in 2021. Anthony DeSclafani looked completely lost last season in 9 games (7 starts) when he posted a 7.22 ERA/6.10 FIP. Disco has shown this season why it can be silly to put too much stock in small samples. This season, DeSclafani has the 10th best ERA in baseball.
The Reds desperately need Luis Castillo to get right. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where the Reds win the NL Central without a good Castillo. The strikeout rate being below 7 sticks out the most. He has never had a season where this was an issue, so you have to assume he will find a way at some point to figure it out. Mike Petriello of MLB.com pointed out that Castillo has been the victim of the worst defense behind him of any pitcher.
This is 2020-21 for best/worst OAA of a pitcher's defense behind him (not the pitcher's own fielding) and I don't know why this is larger a spread than I expected it to be. Weirdly half of Castillo's -8 is from 1B, which, what pic.twitter.com/jBgROOe2mf
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) May 18, 2021
Castillo has a career 3.28 ERA in 4 starts against the Giants. Earlier this year, he allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in 5.0 innings against the Giants. He gave up two home runs, but one of the home runs came after a really brutal missed strike call.
DeSclafani will make his first career start against the Reds. He did make one appearance in relief in 2014 during his brief MLB stint with the Marlins. He gave up a single to Chris Heisey, but struck out Ryan Ludwick and Ramon Santiago before getting Zack Cozart to groundout to end the inning.
Starting Lineups
| Giants | Reds |
| 1. Mike Tauchman (CF) 2. Darin Ruf (1B) 3. Mike Yastrzemski (RF) 4. Evan Longoria (3B) 5. Brandon Crawford (SS) 6. Wilmer Flores (2B) 7. Alex Dickerson (LF) 8. Curt Casali (C) 9. Anthony DeSclafani (P) |
1. Jesse Winker (LF) 2. Nick Castellanos (RF) 3. Eugenio Suarez (3B) 4. Tyler Naquin (CF) 5. Kyle Farmer (SS) 6. Jonathan India (2B) 7. Tucker Barnhart (C) 8. Alex Blandino (1B) 9. Luis Castillo (P) |
The Reds called up outfielder Mark Payton and optioned reliever Cionel Pérez to Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday afternoon.
Nick Senzel is out of the Reds lineup on Tuesday with knee soreness. David Bell said he could return to the lineup in the next day or two. He'll be available tonight, Bell said. Bell added that Mike Moustakas is closer to a return to the lineup. He'll also be available.
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) May 18, 2021
David Bell on Mike Moustakas, who is out of the lineup again today: “He’s getting there, it’s just slower and there’s nothing he can do to speed it up.”
Bell says he’ll be available to pinch-hit again tonight.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) May 18, 2021
Conclusion
Luis Castillo is going to figure it out at some point. He has just been too good for too long not to. Tonight seems like a good night for that turnaround to begin. Go Reds!
Unbelievable, Senzel injured yet again. SMH.
Should be about 80 degrees at first pitch. Maybe that will help Castillo get back on track. And maybe Disco will be the gopher ball king again in GASP.
Let’s hope so! On both counts!
Remember the Disco Duck jokes when Disco had a bad game as a Red? Best wishes to him all other time but tonight let’s hope Disco Duck is the theme music which fits his performance.
Wish they’d give TySteve a shot at first base instead of Blandino, who is no taller than Farmer (and that cost Kyle on a stretch last night).
He also hits better than either
That goes without saying! 🙂
Nick, what is your record when you do the gameday piece? You guys need to keep those stats.
Not a lineup or a pitcher I have a ton of confidence in.
Hoping for a win as always
When I said I didn’t want Farmer starting at 1B, Blandino was not what I had in mind.
Be careful what you wish for 😉
With Disco coming back- its really been a long line of Reds players where the Reds refused to trade them at peak value but then let them walk with little to no compensation.
Jay Bruce for Dillon Herrera.
I was looking at Reds history last night (beat following the game). I was surprised to see that in the entire 140 year history, they are only 207 games over .500. Take away Sparky & the Big Red Machine (9 years, Sparky net 277 games over .500), and the Reds are under .500. The 21st century has not been kind to the Reds.
Who is this #58 throwing 98 -99 mph?
Castillo struck out the side in the 1st?
Laissez les bon temps rouler.
Indications from first inning are that Luis is back.
Winker rudely welcomes Disco home
Disco and HRs allowed at Coors Field East … some things never change.
Both pitchers look just like their old selves.
Who in the world is calling these running plays? Castellanos doesn’t steal bases. It just killed the inning. This team’s baserunning strategy/skills are baffling.
That was most likely not called. Nick C. tried the sneak attack steal that Frazier used to do. He obviously didn’t time it very well.
I’d always thought him smarter than that. Oh well, I’m clueless.
It was good running game control by Disco. He waited and extra beat which was unexpected.
The leading batter in the Giants lineup tonight bats .242
Dude!
99-98-98-99
Wow looking good
Single, Single, K, K, K
Yikes.
Very obvious watching this game castillo and casali are close.
Id like to see Casali as the Reds manager opening day 2022
Haha! That would be too good lol
Casali will eventually manage the Reds. He said some things on his return to Cincy. Bell’s contract is up this year. I’m sure it will be extended.
…nice things…
The video of Votto coaching Blandino and Tyler Stevenson at 1B skills was pretty cool
They showed a clip of Votto schooling TySteve on some drills at 1st base.
Was very happy to see this. Now play him!
8 K’s thru 3 for LC!
Maybe we could score him some runs just for fun.Dude hasn’t got much support this year at all.
Suarez?
Its GABP offense exhibition 101.
How bad would this offense be without winker and Castellanos and 16 games against the Pirates,rockies,and dbacks pitching staffs?
Then GAPB opponent 3 run bomb
Uggh
Disco has Suárez all tied up in knots. Backwards K twice in a row
Suarez never even swung at a pitch.Tired of defending him.He needs to get in the game.Come on guys Castillo needs some run support.
Ouch!
3-1
Ball game.Guy has to be perfect.Joke of an offense backing him.
We’ll see. Have to chase Disco though. He’s pretty good at the moment.
It seems like the next time through the Reds hitters may have a chance at Disco. Good to excellent contact that time even though they’re outs.
And you see how Disco could thrive in SF park. Would Wink’s HR have been a fly out there?
Nick Krall needs to trade / free payroll to sign nick Castellanos
Get rid of suarez and moose contracts.
Reds aren’t winning a World Series this year . Shoot for 2022/23/24
Right you are Old-school.
I agree. Get Greene up this summer sometime and get him ready for the rotation next year. Play the other young guys as much as possible. Suarez will be fine at 3B, but they have to do something with Moose. Probably have to give him away contract wise. He’ll be 33 and under .800 ops for the Reds so they might not even be able to give him away? They have to do something for Castellanos though because if he’s goes then all hope for a solid offense goes with him.
And just how do they get rid of those contracts?
And Votto contract. Definitely time to trade Suarez. Time to look to the future. Play the young guys, bring up some of the minor leaguers and realize this season is likely a lost cause. No excuse for this level of ineptness. Start with a new manager.
Both pitchers looking like their new selves now.
7 straight balls and then the Reds swing at 3 out of the next 5 pitches. Why?
Plate discipline is a foreign concept to Reds batters after a batter ahead of them walks and it’s obvious that the opposing pitcher may be struggling with his control.
Cause they are clueless to what is going on.All 3 pitches they swung at resulted in outs.No discipline at all.Wink would still be at the plate.Game is over anyway.
Disco went 3-0 on Farmer after the leadoff walk, but then he threw nothing but strikes. India & Barnhart got strikes and swung the bat. Odds don’t get better when you’re down 0-1. Bottom line Disco peppered the strike zone. If our guys did that more often then we’d see some quick innings too.
Do you think a slick SS could have fielded that ground ball single that Ruf just hit?
I don’t think so, it was a bullet through the hole.
Not even Ozzie Smith.
Ok. Just wondering what others thought
Great cut off by Nick
Wow. Castillo throwing 99 and still they have 3er already and it should’ve been 4 except the first guy was jogging around the bases. This would make the Reds 1-8 on Castillo’s starts.
Missed strike three on Belt
Big put out at home there
And the pop out escape
C’mon men get some runs for La Piedra!
I so adjective tired of these adjective umps? They call out Blandino on a ball 4 inches outside then Luis puts one on the corner and they call it a ball.
er–Crawford
still Brandon
Second and third and no outs and Castillo gets out of it against at least two professional hitters in Longoria and Crawford.Wish we had a couple more like them.
Despite the score, am encouraged with LC’s pitching tonight! 91 pitches thru 5 innings means LC may get in 6 innings tonight. Better but not great! Score some runs please!
Would you pitch to Casty with Eugenio on deck?
No
Exhibit A
I like some of the pieces on this team, but overall I can’t see it? Almost every starter goes 5-6 with 2-3 earned. We get a blowout every once in a while and everyone runs to the bat rack to make our overall stats look better, but even the Rockies scrub starters shut us down in Coors for the most part.
Votto has his left-field stroke back at home and can help, but then you have to deal with the bullpen, fielding, and lack of scoring on the road.
I’d try to deal Moose to get more cash to resign Castellanos. If he bails then forget it.
Reds have 4 runs at GABP in 14 innings on 3 solo home runs last 2 games.
Winker and Castellanos giving a lot of cover to this offense again
Suarez is awful
Suarez has let enough runners on base this season to fill GABP!
Well- I’ve been told he’s climbing out of a slump
Steep and long climb!
obvious pitch around Nick C to get to Geno
Of course it was.Can’t hide him.
Why is it that when Geno comes to bat, I hear the Little League chant, “Easy out! -Easy out!”???
Asking for a friend …
Pat Sajack now defending Suarez by saying hes a wonderful human being
Yes he is
Gee, who wasn’t expecting Doolittle? If those of us on here, most of whom are relatively casual observers, can predict Bell’s moves, imagine what the opposing team is doing.
Smiling
Lol….I was looking for the remote to bail. Doolittle doing little again.
Can we all at RLN agree Eugenio Suarez is a wonderful human being a great person and a great teammate?
All in favor say Ayyy
Now what .
Aye
He is a super cool dude
But the Reds should be about winning on the field. Philanthropy is for off days
Aye … he’s the bestest guy around. He’s just stuck inside his head and can’t hit consistently.
I wonder if Bell is really serious about trying to win a winnable game? Doolittle? I hope I’m wrong!
Well he’s replacing him. That’s a good sign
IMO, it isn’t that he isn’t serious about winning, it’s that he doesn’t know how. It’s all “analytics”, L/R matchups, and a dose of “feelings”.
Hopefully that was a sign of better things to come from Castillo tonight! I’ve been very down on him, but always with the caveat of I think he’ll turn it around. Improve on this game in your next start Castillo, and we’ll have a chance to win 20% more of our games. No more auto L’s from the “ace”.
He looked really good for most of the outing.
Right, huge step! Hopefully he can tighten it up a bit, so we can see him get 6+ innings.
Bringing back Zinter was one of the low key most awful moves of the off-season. Time for a sell off and bring up some young guys. Not sure why they haven’t brought up AlfRod yet to play SS. He isn’t going to overwhelm with power, but seems to have at least a passable bat now. Defense hurts the Reds almost as much as lack of offense.
I’m with you on Rodriguez, lets see how his bat plays up here. We already know he will upgrade the position defensively. Also Garcia is coming on strong, so why no find out about Rodriguez before Garcia makes his run. If Rodriguez does well, and Garcia pushes him out, then maybe we have a trade piece.
Do Little brought in to get 2 lefties out…base hit….walk.
Casali took him to the base of the wall.
He was able to retire Disco on the sac bunt (waves tiny red pennant)
In the last 8 games including tonite we’ve scored 1,1,0,4,2,1,0, and 1 off their starter.
Thats 10 runs in 8 games.
Good Info Indy.
How bout some handicap info for tomorrow?
I don’t know about tomorrow, but just bet Over every game Jose Quintana pitches til they pull him out of the rotation)) Unfortunately you could bet the other team every time Castillo pitches too. He either stinks or we don’t hit or field?
Those starters were from the Bucs and the Rockies except last night.Tells you all you need to know doesn’t it.
I am still pulling for Eugenio but he can’t hit 3rd behind Casty.Wink and Casty have carried this team and tonight Casty will not get a chance to hit with men on.Just makes no sense.
He was batting 6th last week. Whats wrong with that? Let him find his swing without stranding Wink/Castellanos/Naquin twice a game
Right, 6 or 7 until he earns a different role. I’m not sure what’s so hard about that concept for Bell.
Perfect strike three from Hembree
Yes!!!! Nice job young man!
Reds need to figure out how to win this game and at least one of the final two against the Giants as the Dirty Birds are playing the AAA Pirates!
A punch out looking and a first pitch fly out to start the 6th.We are just awful.
Well tonight was an improvement. Reds usually get shut down by mediocre starters. Tonight, however, Reds got shut down by a good (not great) starter.
Maybe…just maybe they will improve and get shut down by a great starter soon.
A boy can dream…
Bad pitch to Belt
Belt high change up
At least it was a solo. Minimal damage
Belt is on IL. Thats Brandon Crawford
Oops lol
I was all gung ho on the pun
And we’re pretty much at a Clete again tonight. At least mlb.tv doesn’t cost me anything these days.
Any chance at all we can come back from this?
Always a chance…
Clete Express … leaving on Track 7 …
You mean you don’t have to pull a starter after 80 pitches? Disco is just cruising. Its a shame we let him go. He’s a hard worker and I always thought he might get back some of the form he had early on with the Reds.
Nice outing by Disco. Really nice. Wish we had kept him around. We could use him.
But if we can’t offer him run support, are the results any different?
Good point.
Hendrix with an impressive 8th
Eugenio Suarez is hitting .194 with a an OPS of .590 something
Time to bench him and play Senzel when healthy now . Reds are not winning the World Series or making the playoffs
Playing players because of their salary has nt worked for 7 years
Its about accountability and David Bell and Nick Krall dont care about winning or accountability. They play Bob Castellini’s guaranteed contracts.
Castellini isnt about winning
Actually, he’s not hitting that well. He’s at .158 BA.
That’s true, but using either numbers for benching Suarez, is crazy.
I wouldn’t bench him. Maybe give him a day or two off. In any event, I would not bat him anywhere above sixth right now.
@RedsMonk I’m on the same wavelength
I think definitely this season the ownership isn’t actively pursuing a championship.
I just hope they can position the team for a run for the next few years.
With the exception of a few pitchers, Suarez is the worst hitter I’ve ever seen in the Major Leagues. He’s got a hole in his bat. They don’t even waste a pitch on him. Three strikes. He sits down,..AB after AB, game after game. Nice guy. Weak stick. Reds will NEVER compete as long as we have his automatic out in the line-up every single game. I’d much rather have any pitcher on the team at bat than Suarez. He is the ML strike out king,..year after year. It’s embarrassing that Bell keeps playing him.
Glimmer of hope … and then that happens.
Moose swinging at chin-high fastball. Sigh.
Did it rise a bit? It was a pretty good pitch
OK. Last chance. Need at least 2 runs.
I feel I was a little hasty with Hendrix. If he can go multiple innings, that would be a boon for the pen.
The last Reddit Ask Me Anything with Derek Johnson he called out Hendrix as one to watch.
C’mon Reds make this McGee look like Fibber
Castellanos and Wink and not much else I think
For the record … I didn’t Clete. I watched the pain unfold. It just makes me sad.
May our mourning turn into dancing.
Headed in wrong direction. Again. Sigh.
I resisted being all negative in the comments when I saw Suárez was in the three hole.
Would it have made a difference tonight? He had the one chance his third AB with Winker and Castellanos on base. Not sure who else we’d rather see there (again resisting the cynical urge)
Have to call them as one sees them.
Right now, the Reds are not even a .500 team. Cannot be denied.
On the plus side, Castillo looked much better tonight. The bullpen looks a little less shaky. Winker and Castellanos continue to do what they do. But the rest of the lineup and the defense have to do better more consistently. We have to give our starters better early run support. One thing that would help is getting everyone healthy again — Senzel, Moustakas, Votto, Lorenzen, etc.
Still hoping all that happens and they go on a tear…
Giants better than reds offense and defense. Giants have a proven professional baseball executive rebuilding a winner. He already has rebuilt his team to be better than the reds, and I competing straight up against the dodgers and now the Padres.
Meanwhile the reds are amateur hour with both on field and FO management, handpicked by know nothing owner.
I’m not wrong.