The Cincinnati Reds begin a home stand this evening fresh off of a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Milwaukee Brewers come to town for a 3-game series with first pitch set for 7:10pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Milwaukee Brewers
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Luis Urías – 2B | Jonathan India – 2B |
| Daniel Vogelbach – 1B | Jesse Winker – LF |
| Christian Yelich – LF | Nick Castellanos – RF |
| Avisaíl García – RF | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Omar Nárvaez – C | Eugenio Suárez – 3B |
| Travis Shaw – 3B | Tucker Barnhart – C |
| Willy Adames – SS | Kyle Farmer – SS |
| Jackie Bradley Jr. – CF | Shogo Akiyama – CF |
| Adrian Houser – SP | Sonny Gray – SP |
Starting Pitchers
Sonny Gray
With a 1-4 record, Sonny Gray is the poster child for why won-loss record for a pitcher doesn’t tell the story on how a pitcher has performed. He’s made nine starts and has an ERA of 3.64 on the season. Gray has struck out 60 batters with 20 walks in 47.0 innings along the way and has, somehow, been credit with just one win.
There are some pretty big splits this season for Sonny Gray. Right-handed hitters are finding plenty of success against him as they are hitting .275/.347/.484 against him in 101 plate appearances with nine walks and 28 strikeouts. Left-handed hitters are struggling as they are hitting just .196/.282/.337 against him in 103 plate appearances with 11 walks and 32 strikeouts. Lefties simply aren’t hitting for the same kind of power, nor are they finding grass with the balls they do make contact with like righties are.
Pitch usage from 2021
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Slider |
Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 92.8 | 93.0 | 82.8 | 87.6 | 80.0 |
| Usage | 24.4% | 27.9% | 16.3% | 4.3% | 16.3% |
Adrian Houser
Much like Sonny Gray, Adrian Houser hasn’t exactly racked up the win-loss record you would expect given his ERA. In 11 games he’s posted a 3.86 ERA but is just 3-5 on the season. In his 53.2 innings he’s given up nine homers, walked 23, and he’s struck out 48. He’s also posted a 60% groundball rate this year – tops in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched.
His splits wind up with similar OPS numbers, but hitters are arriving at them quite differently. Right-handed hitters had a .218/.328/.386 line against Houser this year. Lefties are hitting .255/.305/.429 against him on the season. Lefties are making more contact and hitting for more power, but they get on base significantly less often. Righties make far less contact, but draw some walks and hit for similar power (the difference in slugging is due entirely to the rate of singles, not extra-base hits).
Pitch usage from 2021
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Curve |
Change | Slider | |
| Velo | 94.0 | 93.4 | 80.6 | 87.5 | 84.1 |
| Usage | 13.1% | 53.0% | 14.5% | 11.5% | 7.8% |
When and Where
- Game time: 7:10pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 78°, partly cloudy, 24% chance of rain
News and Notes
Joey Votto’s back
Prior to the game the Reds announced that Joey Votto had been activated from the injured list. He’s taking the spot on the roster of reliever Michael Feliz who was placed on the injured list with an elbow injury.
Tyler Naquin just getting an extra day of rest
From Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Tyler Naquin is not in the lineup tonight, but David Bell said everything checked out OK after Naquin had his hamstring examined yesterday. Just an extra day as a precaution.
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) June 8, 2021
NL Central Standings
Playoff odds via Fangraphs
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff % |
| Brewers | 33 | 26 | 0 | 66.5% |
| Cubs | 33 | 27 | 0.5 | 30.4% |
| Cardinals | 31 | 29 | 2.5 | 14.7% |
| Reds | 28 | 29 | 4.0 | 15.4% |
| Pirates | 23 | 35 | 9.5 | 0.0% |
They got Suarez in a RBI position in the batting order. Those have been his worst spots, I would say swap him and Farmer in the lineup, but Farmer in the 5 hole is also bad. We need Moustakes and Naquin back to fill up the middle of the order.
Cant watch the game …..again….. while on vacation-St louis went well. Im tampa red2 for now
Undefeated in florida- im not leaving if this keeps up.
Need lots of details from RLN
Go Reds
enjoy that vacay
Can you listen to the game on WLW online?
Hmmm They should have worked out Votto at SS in AAA while they had the chance…..hahaha……or maybe Tyler S. can learn. 🙂
+500
Reds are living a charmed life! Missed having to face Flaherty in a 4 game series against the Cards! Now will miss having to face Burnes of the Brew Crew! Go Reds! Keep on winning!
“(Reds pitcher) cheating with substance on mound vs Phillies”
“It was so blatant … guy had some of his pitching hand fingers stuck together”
Phillies broadcaster Kevin Franson said that this afternoon on MLB Network Radio.
I have MLB.TV but don’t care enough to go back and look … who might it be?
The kicker of all this … Franson said Phillies cheat “much less” … so much so, Realmuto feels justified to complain about other teams.
Now, degrees of how much a team cheats matter … instead of all cheating just being wrong.
MLB is such a mess … and feels like it is still trending in wrong direction.
+500
Gray went the game the phillies won 17-3 and Miley pitched the other game. Doubt they are talking about Miley. So they are whining about winning 17-3? If Gray was using sticky substance his record and ERA would be better. I mean he stunk early. Apparently now when teams lose or whatever they will speculate on who is and who isnt.
Naquin 4
Stephenson 5
Votto 6
Suarez 7
Moose 8
… and your talking juggernaut. I can dream, can’t I? Let’s see. Lots of baseball left.
I’d have put Shogo at 9th, but that’s just me.
Early and often please.
Time to close the gap.Reds took a big step against the Cards but we are chasing 3 teams so can’t let up.Get out early and score and lets see what happens go Reds
Winker, Castellanos, Joey, Suarez, and Tucker are 24-54 (.444) with 9 hrs off Houser.
Wink is 8-13 with 5 hrs! Thats insane! I’m betting the Reds and I never bet the Reds. Might be the kiss of death?
Naquin is even 1-2 with a hr off Houser. I’m glad Naquin is ok! Love to see him have a 30/100 season! He’s pretty solid!
they were taking pitches in STL I hope that keeps up
AA batting 2nd tonight for the Bats. They are up I75 on Toledo.
Toledo….yuk
Hope Votto does well but he & Suarez as 4th & 5th slots don’t engender a lot of optimism on my part. The question raised on several of the threads earlier today – who to trade? Who has value? My guess is that Suarez still has a lot of trade value despite having a lower BA than two of the Reds pitchers. But he’s hit enough home runs to garner attention. And as some have noted, Bell’s deference to veterans is jeopardizing the team’s future.
Geno has 4 rbis in the last 2 games. I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s turning it around! Atleast somewhat? He turned around a 98 mph heater for a 2 run hr on Saturday to put them up 4-2, but that next at-bat was also very encouraging imo. Cabrera is a very good lefty and he came inside on Geno, but Geno kept his hands in and dumped it into RF. The kid made a fantastic diving catch just inside the RF line, but that was a nice at-bat. Sunday he pulls a ball for 2 more rbis. If he hitting line to line and keeping his hands inside the ball then he can do damage!
Plus we’re so LH oriented anyway. They need Geno!
And the terrible flex-o-zone strikes again
I liked the gear drop
Surprised he didnt get tossed for showing up the ump.
Jon india has the 3rd highest OPS of any Red and is unquestionably the best defender in the noncatcher category
Geno Suarez is only the 3rd worst OPS position player in the lineup
YIKES!! Didn’t realize Sonny threw 20 in the 1st. Not a good thing from where I sit.
Gray needs a quick inning
Lots of folks down on Suarez here tonight already … he hasn’t even come to bat.
I think it’s a joke that the Reds gave him 2 months to sort himself out ….
but him, Votto and Moustakas feel like fixtures in Cincinnati until their contracts end, IMO.
I feel like Suarez is protected … like Billy Hamilton was for so long. Can’t do wrong.
I guess we should hope for the Universal DH so India can be everyday 2B.
Yep. Protected.
You know Saurez’s 12 home runs probably mean nothing to you though.
Dumb to pitch to Shogo there! We’ll take it though!
Nice RBI hit at crucial point for Shogo, after being down 0-2. More!
I take it back … I’m glad Shogo is batting 8th …
TOOTBLAN by Farmer
What happened
Game Cast says picked off 3rd by catcher? Theres 1 out with pitcher up?
He leaned too far too fast on the bunt attempt. And he was too far into foul territory to get back when the bunt was missed. Just not really dialed in from what I saw. Marginal TOOTBLAN, but it did cost a run.
Wasn’t exactly a squeeze, but Farmer came down the line expecting Sonny to make contact on a bunt. He whiffed instead and left Farmer hung out to dry. More on Sonny imo or on Bell because nobody on the Reds can bunt for excrement
Uggh. There goes the other potential run for the inning.
More than “potential” he would have scored.
Bunting and the Reds … feels like an adventure more often than not.
Base running fundamentals.
Sonny 92 mph and curve isn’t great. He’s only really had very good stuff now in 3 starts out of 10. Thats concerning to me. He may be 3rd-4th starter material from here on out.
new streak
Next hitting streak started … love the aggressive turn. He saw 2B all the way.
Nick C. and Wink are obviously team leaders now! Hitting like they are and running aggressively so everyone knows they are focused! Wink tagging from 1st to 2nd twice in the last week or so. Love it! I think its really bad for the team when Votto brain cramps out on the bases so often in past seasons.
Baserunning still not great, but much improved over the last few years.
SMH, while Einstein didn’t actually say it, the quote applies all the same: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Ouch, Please let Sonny Gray is only slightly injured. Pulled muscle or something like that that he might miss one start. Santallian get ready buddy
Lodolo Lodolo Lodolo! I don’t what to hear….too young….service time and all that other happy horse puckey. We have more then enough hitting to win this, but this current pen cannot do it.
Him before Green most definitely, but I don’t know how long it would take to get him all the way up to the big club given the protocols.
Related to Old School’s point about “Count On” AG …
Doolittle was signed for $1.5M.
Could DFA him tomorrow, maybe even eat less than $1 million, send message to fans and players that the Reds are expecting improvement, need it to win division.
The reality – “Nah, fam. Have to squeeze ‘value’ from that Doolittle signing … for the whole season.”
And also Doolittle has been one of our best options out of the pen.
I guess the pitch count doesn’t matter now anyway … UGH!!!
Hope Sonny’s injury isn’t serious. Here comes the mighty bullpen with a 1-0 lead in the 4th inning.
Oh, good. Now it’s 1-1. At least Doolittle’s not messing around.
4th inning Sean Dolittle … What!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah I feel like a minion now.
I guess he might be ok since its a clean inning.. Maybe he will be ok. sigh….
Could be a long night!
Nope! Ownership when you going to wake up and realize this bullpen is horrid.
Doolittle? I guess Feliz isn’t there
…time to walk my dog
Doolittle??? Really???
Hasn’t disappointed thus far — true to form.
On vacation and no TV
Gray injured?
Doug had a thread about Santillan bullpen ??? today and I said no- the Reds will need a starter at some point and Santillan is stretched out and ready to step in…. just didnt think
Today
Looked like he tweaked something. Maybe in his leg. He planted and winced after the throw.
And ouch.
Yeah … nobody saw THAT coming …
Doolittle? Will the Reds still be leading in the bottom of the inning? And if not, can Doolittle finally be DFA’ing?
Never mind, Doolittle answered the question before I was done typing.
I really don’t know how he made the team after his horrid spring. Nothing’s changed since then.
What a shocker
Well, that didn’t take long! Brewers batters can’t wait to tee it up!
If that location by do little wasn’t bad. He just doesn’t have good stuff. Much like the rest of this bull pen.
That didn’t take long………
Perfect game for Antone to pitch multiple innings. Bell brings in the guy that cant keep the ball in the ballpark.
Antone has pitched 3 games in 5 days. You can’t pitch him every game. Someone else has to step up.
He’s pitched in 5 of 7 games. Somebody else has to do something for a change.
“Doolittle against their 4-5-6 hitters, starting with a powerful right handed hitter — what could possibly go wrong?” -David Bell
These guys are making Big Sal look good. Doolittle has nothing zero. 3 or 4 to 1 minimum here. Sickening
it appears Doolittle owns stock in “Brewers INC”
If I’m the GM I have seen enough of some of these guys blowing it day in and day out. I’m speed dialing anyone team more than 8 games out in the standings. What would it take to get a reliever with around a 3.00 to 4.50 era would be way better than what we have right now.
And now we see if Bell has learned anything. My guess is no.
Gonna need a lot of runs to counter the firemen Bell will be parading to the mound! Had such high hopes for this game with Sonny on the mound.
Reds need a trade now for a lefty bullpen legit pitcher. Garrett/Doolittle/Perez have failed repeatedly for 2and 1/2 months.
Just have to walk at least one batter! Smoking in the dynamite storage room! Again!
Isn’t Doolittle over the 20 pitch limit or does Bell only apply that rule to good pitchers? Wonder if he bets on baseball games?
The Reds were rained out wednesday and then 4 games in STL and off day yesterday
Amir Garrett hasnt pitched in a week.
Your playing the division leaders.
If he cant help his team now when they need him….. well then move on.
Had a mild stroke 3 years ago! This team, especially the bullpen, is going give me another one! Might as well bring in AG and roll the dice! I have 911 on speed dial
hold fast…this too will pass
I remember when the Steelers beat my Colts in 2006 in the playoffs. Bettis fumbled late when they could’ve just kneeled down and the Colts were running it back. Some guy in Pittsburgh fell off his barstool with a heart attack, but he survived.
Double switch with Naquin?
Classic Bell. I can’t believe that some folks still defend him.
Oh we’re all fools for criticizing him, don’t you know?
Related to Old School’s point about “Count On” AG …
Doolittle was signed for $1.5M.
Could DFA him tomorrow, maybe even eat less than $1 million, send message to fans and players that the Reds are expecting improvement, need it to win division.
The reality – “Nah, fam. Have to squeeze ‘value’ from that Doolittle signing … for the whole season.”
it is a shame but he was their “biggest off season move”
Ok, I have a serious question for you all… who has the best looking MLB fanbase??? By the looks of our attendees, it ain’t ours!
What allegiance do the fans owe to these owners?
We aren’t going to be fooled by smoke and mirrors
Bell might set a double-switch record tonight.
Cy Houser.What a terrible offense against a batting practice pitcher.Yeah playoffs here we come.
Gray to IL, Perez recalled until Sunday and Santillan makes start for Gray on Sunday
Perez hasn’t been any good. He is got good movement but can’t control it at all.
Bullpen averaging giving up 1 run per inning …. so far.
What are the odds that they score on every reliever Bell puts out there? Hendrix has the arm, but just doesn’t throw enough strikes.
So far that’s 100%
Back to back wild pitches and back to back walk.
Aquino 1 for 2 with 2 BB’s so far.
Top of the order, and you’ve double-switched to allow your pitcher to remain in the game multiple innings. Seems like an obvious time for Antone, but of course not. He must be saved for the 7th inning, which is when runs actually matter.
1st/3rd nobody out and they haven’t hit the ball? Doolittle walked the 8 hitter or we could’ve lead off with the pitcher. Its just ridiculous. “Professional” pitchers walking the park night after night.
Johnson said the other day in an interview that he wasn’t overly concerned about the walks. Can you imagine Schildt answering DeWitt’s question “how did you lose 4 in a row to these guys”?
Garrett’s up. Pray for rain.
Too late.
Wow Garrett did a nice job for once! Best out of the season for him. Seriously!
Imagine that! The leadoff batter that Hendrix walked scored. Two relief pitchers so far with 3 walks in those 2 innings! Remedial insanity!
Nice thought by India. Wonder if he slides does he make it?
Was India’s SH the right strategic move? Seems early in the game to be playing for the tie.
What was that with India? Why not hit-n-run or something? India goes oppo pretty well. I don’t get this team? He must’ve been trying to bunt it past the pitcher towards 2nd for a hit.
To quote a famous line by Samuel L. Jackson from the movie Jurassic Park, “Hold on to your butts!”
+500 – great line. Said with a half-burned cigarette hanging from his lips.
Is good Amir out tonight??
Better Amir, yes. I won’t go as far as “good” just yet.
Nice inning by AG. Hopefully a good sign…
Quite surprising for sure… Though I will say I am happy about it. One outing at a time my friend and I guess that seems like his best of the year.
Lets Go!!! This is a 7 inning game with these guys!
Reds need to score some runs before Mr. Hader has a chance to make an appearance — like now!
Give me a ping, one ping only Mr. Vasili. Nice inning by AG! Another one like that might go a long way to restoring his confidence! And ours!
another +250 for that reference, sir!
No homer no score.Winnable game.Its on the offense.Anybody think we score again?
Reds must have at least a one (1) run going into the 9th as the Brewers have Hader, a shutdown closer!
They got to bring Garrett back out, right? He’s set up well with the matchups, and looked sharp in his inning.
Good grief, Travis Shaw.
Outdid Suarez’s play … which was great.
And here comes Tinker Bell to do his magic …
Well, that’s not on Joey …
Nice heads-up play by Bach. Almost makes up for needing to make it …
I’m thinking a good through by TySteve nails him
AG finally has a good inning and Bell doesn’t send him back out? I simply don’t understand Bell’s logic!
One batter only …
Watching the beginning of the end! Hard to follow as Reds are rarely, if ever, on TV here in Central Florida! I have to rely on ESPN updates which lag!
That you don’t is probably a good thing. I wouldn’t PH for Barnhart. Too early to be burning through the bench. He’s down to Freeman, Heineman, and Payton, none of whom strike fear in opposing teams.
I’m thinking I’m about done, folks. It’s making me too darned sad …
The Reds were up 1-0 when Gray left, and Bell will get through this entire game without finding an appropriate time to use either of his best relief pitchers, while finding plenty of opportunities to use his worst ones. Insanity. How do you not at least try to get 3 or 4 innings from your best pitchers in a game you were leading?
I’ve seen it typed 5-6 times tonite. Antone has pitched in 5 of the last 7 games. If TA needs TJS then we might as well call it a season. Sims saved 3 of 4 in the Cards series too. You just can’t pitch those 2 every night
There was no game yesterday. Antone threw 6 pitches the day before. If he couldn’t pitch a couple innings tonight he should be on the IL.
Pete Rose used relievers 70-80x a year. It didn’t work.
So, if the Reds were ahead by a run right now, you wouldn’t want to see Antone and Sims because they’ve been pitching too much lately? Or are they healthy enough to pitch in save situations?
Nobody is putting Antone into the game in the 4th. Say you put TA in the game in the 4th which zero managers would do. Then they’re still tied or up 2-1 now? You’re going all-in to win a game when you could use them with some rest. Antone might’ve only thrown 6 or whatever, but he’s still warming up and taxing that arm.
I don’t know how old you are, but that was Rose’s biggest issue as a manager
Tied or down 2-1 rather
I ask again: if the Reds were ahead right now, are Antone and Sims healthy enough to pitch today? It’s a simple question. I’m old enough to remember Pete Rose, and he has nothing to do with this.
Antone 32 innings
Hader 23.2 innings
Brewers have lost 26 games. Why not just pitch Hader 5 innings every 4 days?
Adjective no. I don’t agree with you. Does that help?
We can agree to disagree
Pedro Borbon, 1972-179
62 games/122 innings
80 games/121 innings
73/139
67/125
69/121
73/127
62/99
60/90
I guess Sparky Anderson was out of his mind.
*1972-1979
They weren’t throwing 98 either. Nolan Ryan threw 380 ip at that velocity, but he was an all-time freak
The key is to build a deep staff like Tampa. If they have a guy coming into the 4th inning 1-0 then he’s still a good pitcher…..maybe 3.50 era at worst and they’re not tying the game on the 1st hitter like Doolittle. Even Sims hasn’t been that great and the Reds don’t use young guys like other teams so Lodolo is busy at AA. Bell basically has 1.5 guys
They weren’t as strong as today’s pitchers. Lots of guys today will throw 150+ innings with speeds in the mid to high 90s. I suspect there’s hardly any relationship whatsoever between how hard a guy throws and how often he’s on the injured list. Just look at who’s injured for the Reds right now, and who’s not, and you’ll notice that average pitch speed has nothing to do with it.
Thor/Mets TJ
Hunter Greene TJ
Hicks/Cards TJ
Kopech/WS TJ
I don’t know? More velocity = more strain? I’m no doctor, but that makes sense to me. Chapman has been fortunate, but it feels like guys that are consistently over 95+ have more issues.
So, nobody who throws hard should pitch more than 60-70 innings a year to be on the safe side? Green should be taken out after about three innings every start for the rest of his career because he throws too hard to pitch more than that? How seriously do you take your own arguments?
I’m with you J. It wasn’t just guys like Ryan. Seaver, Carlton, et. al. threw more pitches and innings annually than do today’s pitchers. Pedro Borbon had a “rubber arm” but Sparky knew how to manage. Bell doesn’t. For example, he knew Armbrister and Chaney were bench/utility players not everyday players.
Bell would have had Armbrister leading off for a couple weeks to try to get him going.
Regardless of Bell’s infuriating management approach when handling relief pitchers, gotta score more than one (1) run to win most games! The Reds picked a bad night for the offense to be offensive!
Reds Bullpen Scorecard So Far –
Doolittle – 1 IP, 1 run
Hendrix – 1 IP, 1 run
Garrett – 1 IP, 0 run
Brach – 1 IP, 1 run
“so far”
I’m happy with the pen so far, it’s tough to get so many pitchers into a game, and pitch well. If they hold the Brewers, the loss is on the offense.
If we’re happy about pitchers giving up 3 runs in 4 innings, we’ve clearly forgotten how this game is supposed to work.
Really not impressed with the Brewers at all outside of Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta, and Hader. Their other relievers are fairly good, but nothing special. Their offense is just ok at best. I don’t think Yelich is ever going to be elite again. They’ll probably ride that pitching to the division though. Reds just seem to have too many holes.
Behind the Brewers in late innings is not good. They have outstanding relief pitching.
You are spot on TR! The Brewers have all they need if they have the lead in the 9th! They have Hader!
Winker time?
Nope.
OK, now THIS is the relief pitcher we’ve been waiting for …
Im out
Mike freeman double switched for India.
This is Jose Peraza for Jesse Winker
Matt Davidson and brian goodwin 2020 handedness.
Old-school, everyone gets to play. Be fair. Just recognize that for all the Reds shortcomings, #1 is the manager.
I’m done. Perhaps I’ll say a little prayer for a miracle before I turn out my light.
Is their a single Reds relief pitcher who can pitch an inning without walking at least one batter?
Blandino and possibly Schrock.
Six (6) walks by Reds pitchers to the Team with the worst Team BA in the NL. The Brewers were hitting .211 as a Team going into tonight’s game! Hard to win with that many walks!
7BB’s
5 BB’s by Brewers pitching.
If only Reds could capitalize on that.
Make that 6 BB’s by Brewers Pitchers
“Walking” towards a 4-hour, 9 inning game.
Yikes.
Seems like all the games that these two teams play against each other are really long and close game back and forth normally.
Yeah … you are right.
2 managers not shy on making moves adds to it.
Its bad for the game in every way. This Godeau guy can’t go 2 scoreless. 3-1 its over anyway. Check in tomorrow
Make that seven (7) walks and no outs in the 9th!
That’s it for me. Try again tomorrow.
Well, the good news is we probably don’t see Hader in the 9th now.
The good news is that there’s absolutely no chance whatsoever that either of the two best relievers will throw a pitch today. So that means the Reds are virtually guaranteed to win tomorrow, I guess.
OK, 5-1 now! I’m out! Hope for better offense and pitching tomorrow! Bell leaving Goudeau in so long tells me he’s not interested in winning this game! Good job Bell! Now the Brewers won’t have to use Hader and he will be well rested for tomorrow’s game!
Again, bad relievers get more pitches. TA gets 6 and a couple of days off. Doolittle & Brach 20+. Goudreau 40. That’s trying to lose. That 7-0 start in StL should have taught him a lesson but obviously it didn’t.
The most important thing is making sure Antone is healthy when the Reds are 15 games out of first place. How else are they going to make their big comeback if his arm is tired? Certainly they can’t possibly make a trade for another good reliever or two, right? So they must treat Antone as if he’s a delicate flower who can’t throw more than 6 pitches in three days. It’s the only way they’ll win the World Series! I say we rest him for the remainder of the series so he’ll be good and ready for the next one.
David Bell should easily be able to manage this game. He has lots of experience in minor league managing where the teams routinely have “bullpen days.”
I mean, what’s the big deal?
The body language of the team changed tonight after the Sonny Gray injury.
Alright, game over. Every position player got at least 1 AB. Parents are thrilled their little leaguers got in the game. Hand out the participation trophies because that’s all this team is winning this year.
The Reds are 2nd in MLB for BB allowed and 1st in pitches per inning. The game time was 3:49 where both teams had a .206 AVG (but 15 walks). The attendance was 28% of capacity even though this was the well-advertised first day of no COVID limitations. David Bell continues to mystify us and when Akiyama finally gets a chance to play and drives in the only run of the game, he gets “double switched” out because ???
I love baseball as a game but now after it was taken away for a while, and that upon return I see more clearly what the MLB and the Reds have become, my interest and perhaps that of many of the fans seems to register no higher than the 30% level we were forced to endure last season.