Kyle Farmer tied the game up with a solo home run in the 9th inning and Tyler Stephenson won it for the Cincinnati Reds after the San Diego Padres intentionally walked Nick Castellanos to face him.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Padres (49-34) | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (40-40) | 5 | 15 | 1 |
| W: Warren (1-0) L: Melancon (1-1) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Cincinnati threatened in the 1st inning but stranded two men on. They didn’t make the same mistake in the 2nd. Singles by Alejo Lopez and Kyle Farmer sandwiched a walk by Aristides Aquino to load the bases. Luis Castillo hit a chopper to shortstop that left Fernando Tatis Jr. with a force out at third base as his only option, but it put the Reds up 1-0. Jonathan India followed with an RBI double to make it 2-0.
After the rain delay the Padres got one of those runs back in the top of the 5th. The Reds got that run back after Alejo Lopez singled and then scored on an Aristides Aquino double to make it 3-1.
Cincinnati was looking to play add on in the 6th after Jonathan India walked and Jesse Winker singled to lead things off, but the Reds couldn’t cash in. That turned out to be pivotal as the Padres tied the game up in the next half inning. In the 7th inning the Reds would load the bases with two outs, but Jesse Winker grounded out to end the inning and strand everyone. The Reds failing to score there once again proved to be a bad omen as San Diego took the lead with a run in the next half inning.
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th the Padres made an interesting move to bring in left-handed reliever Drew Pomeranz with Nick Castellanos and Tyler Stephenson due up as the first two hitters of the inning. They would both single to once again set up a Cincinnati Reds scoring threat. Joey Votto would fly out to left field, bringing up Alejo Lopez who had struck out just one time in 58 plate appearances on the year against a left-handed pitcher. That came into play here as Lopez made contact, but the result was a ground ball double play that ended the inning and sent the game to the 9th.
Home runs might be incorrectly called rally killers all of the time, but sometimes you don’t need a rally. Kyle Farmer tied the game up with a 1-out solo home run off of Mark Melancon. Tucker Barnhart came off the bench to pinch hit for Art Warren and drew a walk. Mike Freeman pinch ran for Barnhart as Jonathan India came up to the plate. India lined a ball (at 109 MPH!) into left field and Jurickson Profar just flat out dropped it – it was ruled as a double, but Freeman only reached third base because the ball should have been caught and he could only go half-way to second base before realizing the ball was dropped. That brought All-Star starter Jesse Winker to the plate with one out and runners at second and third in a tie game. Winker broke his bat on a ground ball to second base and Mike Freeman was thrown out on the fielders choice by a good 8-10 feet. San Diego then intentionally walked Nick Castellanos to face Tyler Stephenson with the bases juiced.
As the famous line goes: That’s a bold move, Cotton, let’s see how it works out for him.
It didn’t. Tyler Stephenson lined a single into right field to walk this game off and seal a Cincinnati Reds victory.
The Pitching
Luis Castillo was absolutely rolling through four innings. In fact, the San Diego Padres didn’t have a hit off of him. But then the skies opened up in Cincinnati and the rain was coming down hard enough to lead to the tarp being pulled and the game being put on hold.
The rain didn’t last too long, but the delay lasted for 52 minutes. When Castillo came back out he was not quite the same as he had been before the delay. He walked Manny Machado to start the inning, then allowed a single and an RBI double as the Padres cut the Reds lead in half, making it 2-1. After a scoreless 6th, Castillo ran into problems in the 7th against the same group that got him int he 5th. Machado and Hosmer led off with singles, but Wil Myers struck out for the first out to follow. Jurickson Profar walked, which led to David Bell making a trip to the mound. Castillo shook his head no about 20 times before Bell reached the mound and after a short conversation he headed back to the dugout and left the game in Castillo’s hand to face Tommy Pham. After working a full count, Pham lined a game-tying 2-run single into center and that was all for Castillo.
Amir Garrett came on with with two men on and just one out. He got Victor Caratini to fly out to a running Jesse Winker on the warning track in left-center and then struck out Trent Grisham to keep the game tied up at 3-3.
Brad Brach looked like he was going to work his way around a leadoff single in the 8th inning, but with two outs an Eric Hosmer ground ball to Alejo Lopez resulted in Lopez throwing the ball by Joey Votto on a short hop and the Padres scoring the go-ahead run on the play. It was all they would get in the inning, but it gave them a lead with just six outs to go.
Art Warren took the mound in the top of the 9th inning for the Reds. After giving up a leadoff double, Warren sent the next three batters back to the dugout with strikeouts and gave the Reds one last chance to tie or win the game. Not only did they tie it, they won it.
Notes Worth Noting
Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos were named as National League All-Star starters during the game.
Art Warren now has 20 strikeouts in 12.1 innings and a 2.19 ERA.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Friday July 2nd, 7:10pm ET
Alec Mills (3-1, 5.11 ERA) vs Sonny Gray (1-4, 3.42 ERA)
Might be 8 out but boy this is a fun team to watch.
Some nice clutch hitting, and the Padres are finally defeated and leaving town. Amen.
So, this team has been playing very well. Outside of the two Padres series, they’ve been rolling. Four out of the six losses to SD were with Santillan and Gutierrez starting. I would absolutely take a playoff series against these guys.
I. like. this. team.
Bullpen,bullpen and then….Just a decent pen and the Reds can play with anyone
You got it. A dominant reliever needed.
They do seem to have a certain charm about themselves:
Its a fun team! Castillo seems snakebit this year. Isn’t this the 2nd time he was rolling and got a rain delay? His stuff is dominant though!
India .384 obp
Wink .400 obp
Castellanos .401
Stephenson .376
Aquino .342
Thats how you put together a relentless lineup. Put guys together that don’t make a ton of outs! Lopez? Who knows? Could be the next Adam Frazier or Nick Madrigal. He’s not an easy out!
Hopefully they can keep fighting and give Nick the feeling that he wants to be a part of the Reds future!
Warren is interesting too! Could definitely be a part of the solution!
Vs a righty again tomorrow. Maybe Lopez will get another start. Hope so.
How has Alejo Lopez looked? I work 2nd shift and never get to watch the games.
Four hits and an error at 3B. Got picked off. Overall looks good to me. I like him.
Yea little bit of learning curve bet the bat plays
Alejo is a member of the young core. A real contact hitter like Stevenson.
I missed the game also. I had to be out of town.
Lopez: lots of contact, very little power, extremely low strikeout rate, ok walk rate; decent second baseman, playable at third and left field; a little faster than average, perhaps, but not much stealing in his game. All managers seem to rave about his energy and attitude, son and grandson of Mexican pros who didn’t make MLB (dad a manager). Amazing bat to ball skills, fun to watch and root for.
Hope this helps.
I like Suarez cause he’s a good guy but have to say it sure was a lot more fun seeing Lopez tonight.
With Suárez in this game Reds lose it
This is why we are not giving up 9 games back. Let them walk the good hitter to face the good hitter in the ninth
Punisher walked twice tonight and got a double in his only official AB. I’d like to see him get more PAs. Maybe they could give all 3 regular OF a blow one at a time on back to back to back days to get him 3 consecutive starts. It is amazing to me that both Philles and the Padres seemed inclined to pitch around him with runners on base.
And another big late hit for Farmer. It is no secret I’d rather see him working off the bench; but, that said, the guy has a way of hanging tough and putting up good PAs late in games.
Yeah. Farmer is a good guy and is a tough gamer. It’s not like I’m rooting against him for sure. I hope eventually he settles in as the regular backup catcher if we lose Barnhart somehow. As for Aquino, he doesn’t play much but it’s hilarious to me how opposing pitchers are very careful with him and borderline intimidated. It seems like our opponents understand his talent more than we do. haha
I think under the circumstances, Farmer is doing an excellent job and should be complemented. While not what people wanted at SS, he makes the plays (ran down Tatis by the book), and while not hitting for average, he can’t be taken lightly at the plate. And his attitude, willing and able to play anywhere, is a great asset.
I’d love to see Aquino turn into a Castellanos, the Phil and Padres are probably not so much pitching around him as they are trying to take advantage of his tendency to swing at balls, at least in the past…he needs to keep working the count, read the pitches, lay off the balls and go opposite field with the pitch, all of which he did last night.
Brantley on radio agrees with you Still a Red.
I see it as six of one and half a dozen of another in how the Phils and Padres pitched Aquino. I think we probably agree they chose to risk walking him versus risking a fastball or hung slider left in an area where he could leave the park with it. Against both teams, he laid off and took the walks.
It would be interesting to see how he would be pitched with somebody like Lopez batting behind him versus in front of him.
This seems to be an entertaining 82-80 3rd place team. Incremental improvements could be made to shore up the bullpen and help against lefties. CJ Cron from the Rockies could be obtained as a good RH bat off the bench and spot starter at 1b against lefties. Bell is making the right call getting Lopez some regular AB and giving Suarez a break. Farmer can play SS another 2+ weeks and then get Barrero up. Krall needs to find an external lefty for the pen.
If Suarez can hit the reset button, Barrero is the starting SS after the break, Lopez and Farmer and CJ Cron slide into bench roles and Krall upgrades the pen- this team could move up to an 85+ win team.
As much as fans want to see the reds make upgrades, at 8 games back in both races the reality is the are likely sellers at this point. I certainly don’t want to see them trade the future of the team for upgrades at the deadline. You’re not getting quality relievers without giving up something you don’t want to part with.
Alejo Lopez is definitely a good hitter although last night he almost lost the game because of his error in the 8th and the only turn he missed was the chance to redeem himself and he hit for a double play. It was almost an unfortunate night, thank goodness things got straightened out on the 9th. In my opinion Padres are a very good team but they were very lucky too in the two series played against the Reds, all baseball details were almost always favorable to San Diego,however we know the problematic and great disadvantage of the Reds bull pen and facing four games with the rookie starters. Now, there are 82 games left yet so Reds should take advantage from the ones will play against Brewers, Cubs and even Cardinals as well as do not have mercy on the Pirates.
The Reds pen blew a winning lead in one game and weather went a long way in deciding another. If the Reds get those two games and finish 3-4 versus the Padres, most of us would probably be mildly put off but ultimately satisfied given the Padres had the 4-3 home field advantage and all but one of the seven games were very competitive.
I’d say India’s “double” in the 9th was a bit lucky as well, but we’ll take it. Glad I stayed up until the end!
Any time Melancon gets embarrassed is a win
Did they hang the big “SD” medal on Profar after that one?
Baseball is a game of inches, if not tenths of inches. A double is a double, an out is an out. Sorry for the SD guy, he almost had a great play… almost…
I just watched the highlights on YT and JV hit the ball hard a couple of times against the lefty Weathers and got nothing to show for it. Good sign.
Great win by the good guys.
I noticed that too and looked at Votto’s stats this year, he is right behind, I mean almost identical statcast stats to Kyle Schwarber. Votto is hitting the ball harder than any year save 2015, most barrel contact, etc. He’s barely missing the timing or the angle on the ball or else he’d probably be closer to 18-20HR and a respectable .280 – .290 BA.
I think Votto is really close to locking it in and having a solid 2nd half which would be another boost to this team.
An alternate interpretation would be that since Votto used to get the angle and timing better than anyone one else in MLB, he isn’t getting them now because due to aging, his physical ceiling is the issue.
The fact he is still doing very well versus RH pitching but is just a shadow of his former self vs LH pitching suggests to me he is as tuned in and giving everything he has left to give physically. For whatever reason, versus LH pitching it just isn’t enough to get the job done.
Los rojos necesitan un verdadero campocorto!
Ah si verdad, creo que sera Barrero
No creo que Barerro sea el más malo en el campocorto.
Barrero es un campocorto muy bueno.
How about that bullpen! And farmer and India and Lopez! Me loves to see some contact hitting players. And how about bell pushing the right buttons! Let’s get some more bullpen arms back (lorenzen, Hoffman, antone, sims) and then go on a tear after the all star game. I like this team! And go support them. I’m heading up this weekend.
This Reds team keeps fighting. Castillo had really turned his season around. He’s been on a really good run the last month or so. Glad to see Lopez have a big game at the plate. Ty Steve and India have really boosted this offense this year. Glad to see the Reds playing the young guys (for once).
Bell has already pledged that Suarez will be in the lineup tonight.
Lopez, Farmer, and India all had big nights at the plate last night.
I’m guessing Lopez rides pine after getting four hits. His baserunning and throwing error will cost him.
We can all rest easy, El Tornillo de Corcho will be back in the lineup!
It would not be shocking to see Lopez start for India tonight. JI has been an iron man and despite continuing to the end of the game and playing a major role, he seemed a bit shaken after the play in field where he landed awkwardly fielding a grounder.
That’s a good call. I was surprised he stayed in the game. Might be due for a night off.
Reds have a really solid young core:
India and Stephenson have proven themselves as rookies. It’s wild to know that they’re best prospects haven’t even contributed yet: Senzel, Lodolo Greene, Barrero. I believe all of those guys rated higher than India and Stephenson.
The window is opening.
Senzel has become a huge question mark for me. He has been on IL literally as much as he has been available and has not performed to expectations when on the field (-0.6 bWAR career; OPS/OPS+ .704/78). No one doubts his attitude and desire; however, at some point, if health continues to keep him off the field, it is time to move on from him.
the best ability is…. availability
Lopez may be showing the Reds how they could afford Castellanos beyond this season. The $33.9M guaranteed to Suarez through 2024 would go most the way toward locking NC up through the same time frame; and, Votto would be off the books after 2023 also.
At this point, Moose is easier to move than Suarez. When healthy, he at least produces. He also has a higher per year contract.
Have to disagree. Moose $18 mil/year and Suarez is at $11 mil.
Suarez is younger with a much higher career OPS. Suarez 49 hrs and .930 ops in 2019. Moose’s career high ops is .845
Moose’s career ops is only .753
Suarez .799
Tyler Naquin .769
Moose is one of the dumber signings the Reds have made in the last 20 years.
Not to mention Suarez is better defensively then Moose at 3b. He’s made some fantastic plays recently
Moving Saurez would be a “Cardinals way” move. Giving probable current value to hopefully get future value, not just dumping to create salary room.
I think Moose was an intentional overpay – probably added for his Rolen-like leadership, then Castellanos was added later, which mitigated some of the leadership need.
How exactly do you plan on unloading Suarez’s contract? No team will trade for him.
Old School provided a realistic scenario a few weeks ago. Suarez to the Rockies. They pack them in and have plenty of revenue. They’ll be losing Story and need some pop. Suarez could get new life there and Denver has a huge Hispanic population. Could be a great fit!
Personally I hate to give up on him. We’re going to have Winker, Moose, Votto, and Naquin. They need right-handed power and he’s played really well defensively at 3B. I’d give up on him in a heartbeat though if thats $ the Reds need to resign Castellanos!
Agree the key is whether they could hold onto Castellanos who effectively (more than) replaces what Suárez brings offensively. I also agree that with neither Suárez nor Castellanos the Reds are very short on RH power. Essentially they would have only Aquino and Stephenson (and whatever they might get from Senzel??).
2019 = 49 hrs .930 ops for $11 mil?
I’d roll the dice on that if I was them. Why not? They need a miracle to win in the NL West
I’m with you, no one is trading for Suarez right now. The only way to move him would be if you packaged him with a stud like Castellanos, or Castillo. A team with money in a playoff run might pull the trigger. Not suggesting the Reds should do that, just saying it seems to be the only way to trade Suarez.
Everyone loves this Lopez kid and he is fun to watch, but long term he reminds me of the situation with Jose Iglesias.
Half of RLN would point out “Hey Iggy the SS is hitting .280!” He finished at .288 with 11 hrs and a .724 ops in 2019. The problem is he’s mostly a singles hitter and grounded into 17 doubleplays because he hit alot of hard groundballs. Lopez runs a little better, but I can see some of the same issues.
Compare Iggy to Lopez. For one Lopez isn’t a SS and he’s also not going to hit 11 HRs! Now he is faster then Iggy and I’m sure he would walk more often, but you have the same overall issues offensively. Lopez would have to hit .330 with 60+ walks to get to an OPS that is acceptable. Thats not easy. The kid has a pretty tough hill to climb to be a starter.
I think it is possible Lopez is supersub material and also (not mutually exclusively) trade bait. Switch hitter with solid splits both ways. Plays 2B/3B/LF. Yes, he is a bit short in stature for a typical 1B but could no doubt play it too. All that’s missing is whether he has the legs and arm for RF. If so, a team is set everywhere for their first man off the bench except the typical specialized spots, C, SS and CF.
And mostly jokingly, maybe turn the clock back 38 years or so and a lot of folks were making similar criticisms of a young guy wearing #14 who was breaking into the Reds line up. He was said to be nothing but a singles hitter and a barely competent 2B. He was also a switch hitter; and, before his career ended, he had made a significant number of starts everywhere but, yes, C, SS and CF.
And of course I outsmarted myself above. Pete Rose broke in more like 58-59 years ago, not 38 years ago. Time flies when for most part a person has enjoyed life I guess.
Apples and oranges. Iggy was a top-drawer defensive SS, while we don’t even know where (or how) Lopez will play defensively (I know you acknowledged this, but it makes the comp difficult).
In six seasons in the minors, Lopez’s slash line was .306/.377/.395/.792. Iggy didn’t sniff those numbers except the SLG part.
I think Lopez will be a worse defender at a less-vital position, but a much better hitter (and walker) than Iggy.
(BTW, I loved Iggy and think we should have kept him.)
Keeping Iglesias over Galvis would have helped a lot in 2021
But then maybe India doesn’t make the team out of ST because they have to play Moustakas there
Lopez has elite bat to ball skills and on-base skills. If he hits .290 and gets on base at .365 who cares if he doesn’t hit 20 home runs or have an OPS of .825. He brings value as a utility player, late inning guy or semi-regular in the lineup with the ability to fill-in regularly for an IL stent from someone. That’s the purpose of a team and lineup construction. Lopez’ job is do what he does well and get on base a lot. Its the job of the mashers behind him to drive him which creates runs.
i am high on Aquino. i think he can be a real special player. i hope Castellanos stays but if not i say Aquino would be able to fill in nicely as an everyday right fielder.