| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Rockies (25-39) |
5 | 7 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (30-31) |
11 | 10 | 0 |
| W: T. Mahle (6-2) L: K. Freeland (0-2) |
|||
| Statcast | Gamecast Play-by-Play | Game Thread | |||
Prologue
This series is about getting well at the expense of Bud Black’s boys. Translated, that means SWEEP.
Game 61
While Tyler Mahle was living up to expectations early, the bats were going to work. With Winker on in the first inning, Nick Castellanos clubbed his 13th HR. Reds 2-0.
Castellanos just keeps crushing. ? pic.twitter.com/ZYJVLS0yLI
— MLB (@MLB) June 11, 2021
An inning later, Suarez ripped a single and Scott Heineman slipped the surly bonds of earth, a 413 ft. HR that reached the second deck. Reds 4-0.
Castellanos walked in the 3rd and after Stephenson hit a ground ball through the wickets of 3rd baseman Ryan McMahon, Joey Votto got his 1,934th hit of his career—HR—tying him with Tony Perez for 5th most hits in Reds history. Reds 7-0.
Mahle continued to sail through the Colorado lineup, 49 pitches after 4 innings.
Kyle Farmer bullied his way into the fun, tomahawking a ball into the leftfield seats for his 5th HR. Reds 8-0.
In the Reds half of the 5th, Stephenson—you guessed it—found the artificial turf beyond the centerfield wall for his 4th of the year. 9-0.
The top of the 6th saw Mahle either begin to tire or the Rockies hitters simply began to figure him out. Three singles, a wild pitch, and a HR run by McMahon cut significantly into the lead, with everyone in the ballpark looking into the bullpen and gulping. Mahle struggled, throwing nearly 30 pitches in this inning alone, for a total of 95. Reds 9-4.
In the bottom of the 6th, the Reds, determined not let this get interesting, loaded the bases, bringing Votto to the plate. Four pitches later, the score was 10-4. Freeman, too, walked, as Lucas Gilbreath, throwing 8 straight balls, couldn’t find home plate with two hands and a map. The Bally Sports camera cut to manager Black, who gave a look that said “shoot me now.” Reds 11-4.
The Arms
Tyler Mahle’s final line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 6 K
Tyler was so close to pitching a remarkable game, but those pitches over the plate late …
Ryan Hendrix would pitch a 1-2-3 scoreless 7th, then return in the 8th and give up a solo HR. 11-5.
Art Warren would come on in the 9th and close out the game.
What Barry Said
“One thing that never goes into a slump—speed.”
[ Sigh ]
On a wild pitch Stephenson probably should have gotten to in the 6th that allowed a run to score:
“These are things that Tyler Stephenson will have to pay attention to to get more efficient behind the plate.”
What Did We Learn Today?
Tonight saw something the Big Red Machine never accomplished: a HR in each of the first 5 innings. First time in Reds history. Eighth time in MLB history.
Tonight gave all the Scott Heineman disbelievers out there pause. He made David Bell look very smart tonight with the bat and the glove.
Final Thoughts
Presented without comment:
Your public is not in a luxury suite, Bob. It does not reside in the press box.
It resides here. In right field. These fans thirst for a parade.
Give it to us. pic.twitter.com/uZvNzHBXJH
— Mo Egger (@MoEgger) June 12, 2021
On Deck for the Redlegs
Colorado Rockies vs. Cincinnati Reds
Saturday, June 12 at 4:10pm ET
Germán Márquez (4-5, 3.91 ERA) vs. Wade Miley (5-4, 2.96 ERA)
No one would ever do the cup stack at a football game. That’s what makes baseball awesome!
Good win. Gonna need a lot more scoring.
And that was not quality pitching the Reds faced in that game
Well, Richard, you’re right—I now believe that all two hits that Scott Heineman has in 2021 are both home runs.
I also believe that to play him over Shogo in any scenario other than that Shogo is incapacitated is inexcusable. But hey—Shogo didn’t have 2 RBI in this game.
But your right—I’m believing those things concerning Scott Heineman
😉
But seriously, cannot complain when the team gets the wins against teams they are supposed to beat and it feels good
Speaking of feeling good, did anyone else think Votto got so animated after his HR on his 2nd AB because he came out swinging for the fence his first AB? He struck out on 3 straight great big cuts the first time up and that’s a rarity for him. Like he just saw what that guy was throwing up there and vowed to take him deep?
Glad to see Heineman have good game. There have to be a bunch of nervous guys with Aquino’s reactivation seemingly set for Sunday.
That’s going to require both a move to get him back on the 40 man and one to get him on the 26 man active. So, somebody is going to be DFA unless the org decides someone on the 10 day IL who needs to be moved to the 60 day IL (Senzel? Hoffman? To date the org has pegged them more at 6 weeks max which is 3 weeks short of 60 days).
Heineman, Payton and Freeman all appear to have an option and no doubt are on 2 way contracts which pay substantially less in the minors which makes them attractive 4A guys should they hit waivers (via DFA). Maybe the Reds DFA a pitcher not on the active roster for the 40 man move then option one of these other guys for the active roster spot versus DFAing a position guy? Like I said, an interesting situation.
My gut feeling says Senzel to 60 day IL but who knows? One way or another I’d like to see Aquino back ASAP.
As I recall Votto’s injury, back on 2012 I believe, was similar. He was never the same the rest of the year. He was extremely hot before that too hitting doubles everywhere and was on pace to set a records.
Honestly if Heineman, Payton or Freeman get DFA’d it would have very little impact on the Reds. I’d DFA Payton, as his skill set is the most redundant of the 3 players.
now this is an interesting post! Yes, someone will have to be exposed to waivers. I would assume we’d want to expose someone that a) we had no use for , or b) we think we can pass them thru and still retain them. Aquino, Heinemann and Freeman would never pass thru waivers unclaimed. Payton might. And we haven’t played him much lately which makes you think he is active just to be a late innings defensive replacement. Heinemann and Aquino can do that and produce much more pop so it would seem logical that Payton will the the odd man out. Thing is, the CF outfield depth is so thin in whole organization that you might miss him in August if you have some injuries to Shogo and Naquin.
For me, I’d be inclined to move Senzel to the 60 day DL. He needs all the time we can give him to come back healthy and you’re only talking about a couple weeks longer than he was expected to be out – 10 games.
Stephenson is 8-23 in June with 2 doubles & 2 hrs. My calculator died, but 5 walks too so thats almost .500 obp as well. Tucker has had a great year, but offense matters too and Steph is much more dangerous. I’d like to see Steph get atleast half the at-bats but I know he won’t.
He doesn’t get the same results vs RHP as he does against LHP, which (so far) he flat wears them out while Barnhart rests vs lefties. Trouble with that is, there just aren’t all that many left handed starters to face
But he’s not performing the same vs RHP (again, so far) as he just doesn’t generate the same power.
It’s also true he’s gotten *very* hot again here in June after cooling off all of May from a .359 April, so there may be something to riding the hot hand right now too … the league is still writing the book on him and he’s especially good at judging balls and strikes especially when he’s facing righties. Check out his season split totals stats for vs RHP and LHP sorts, month to month splits and splits by position to get more of a feel for his handedness strengths and weaknesses. He draws tons more BB vs RHP but with far less power but he seemingly takes it to another level hitting vs LHP. He’s also got roughly half the plate appearances vs LHP than against RHP. Upshot is, based on his actual outcomes so far- plus he’s been streaky- he justifies hitting 4th vs LHP but that’s not exactly the case when it’s been RHPs on the mound
I find his espn stats page (selecting for splits) extremely useful as you can slide the numbers field back and forth on the right to better track the averages against each particular split situation on the left. For instance he’s only hit .171 at first base over 47 plate appearances with 6 singles only 1 double but 11 walks. Of course almost none of those come against LHP, as that’s when he’s behind the plate. About half of total catcher ABs are vs RHP so you can see how it might be confusing … these last 2 games at catcher have fallen right in line with his splits. He even drew 2 BB vs RH relief last night after going 1 for 3 with a HR against the LH starter. Before that it was 2/4 with the 2 doubles again vs LHP. He doesn’t play first vs LHP
Actually it’s not half but about 1/3 of plate appearances vs LHP as vs RHP 4o/12o ish … and the small sample which can easily change also likely to regress plus defense and handling of pitchers also factors into relative play time considerations at C
i think our best bull pen piece is our offense right now. today was our blue print for winning right now. score early, long outings by the starters, the adding on runs late in game.
Lou Piniella had a great podcast/interview during a rain delay the other day where he talked about using small ball to generate runs late in games to add on to leads. hopefully Bell heard it
But they score score lots of runs in some games and very few in others. And just recently, they coughed up a seven run lead. So a crummy bullpen will still be a major liability.
Hopefully after Aquino, later this month, Gray, Antone, Lorenzen and Moustakas all should return from IL, which will be a major boost for the team. That’ll leave only Senzel as pending regular to return from IL.
People who I think the Reds should like at trading for:
Not gonna name to many bullpen guys because I think we’re better off just trying to score 10 every game instead of fixing this pen. But there’s a few guys I wouldn’t mind.
Trey Mancini
Whit Merrifield
Both would let Winker get back to the leadoff spot, but I’m starting to come around on India batting 1st. They’d both be a consistent hitter to hit behind Wink and Big Nick and to also give Votto some cushion.
Adam Frazier
Can you imagine this man hitting in front of Wink? Or if you’re able to keep India in this trade, Imagine Frazier at lead off and India hitting 9 with the pitcher at 8. India, Frazier into Wink, Nick, and Votto sounds good.
With Frazier, you can also look at getting Richard Rodriguez as well. I think this trade would make the most sense. Although just trying to get Rodriguez by himself would also be sick.
Last is a longgggshot. But it’s the only trade I would be ok giving up Greene in.
A Katel Marte and Cody Smith trade. Make that outfield unstoppable. Give us some help in the pen, too.
Come on Reds. Do something sooner rather than later.
Caleb Smith, not Cody, mb.
Giving up Greene is out of the question.
Amen on not trading Greene. In my mind what he has done in the last 6 weeks at AA far surpasses what Castillo or Mahle did at the same level and marks him as top of the rotation material in waiting versus a top prospect.
I know, why would you even type those words.
Most outrageous words in print ever. Who do you think we are, the Mets trading Nolan Ryan….
Got another shot to get to 500 today. Team continues to hang around even with all the injuries. Hopefully we can get healthy and the bullpen gets turned around. If AG can get back to what he used to be it would be a big help.
Anyone notice what Disco is doing this year and especially last night. 1 – 0 complete game shutout.
I’m happy for him. He’s a good dude who has clawed back from injuries.
I expect much if his success in SF is due to the cavernous ballpark—then again, he didn’t need it to beat the Reds in GABP!
Ok everybody, to the tune “Time Warp”, all together now, “Let’s do the cup stack again …!!”
Sorry but Heineman’s Home run gave me no pause at all. Glad he hit it but he still only has two total hits on the year is hitting 111 has a OBP of 238 and OPS of 682. all in line with his career stats of 179/256/601.
I’m with you as I posted above but I think Richard also may have had tongue in cheek there.
He can correct me if needed
You could be right.