An incredibly questionable decision by David Bell in the bottom of the 9th inning comes back to haunt the Cincinnati Reds as they blew a 9th inning lead and lost to the New York Mets in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 10th.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (55-49) | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| New York Mets (54-48) |
5 | 6 | 0 |
| W: Diaz (4-4) L: Cessa (3-2) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
After watching the Mets take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Reds got to work in the top of the 4th. Kyle Farmer continued to rake as he singled with one out. Aristides Aquino walked an out later to put two men on for Eugenio Suárez and he came through with a 440-foot 3-run home run to give Cincinnati the lead. In the 4th inning it was another home run, this time by Kyle Farmer, as he smacked a solo shot – his 10th of the season – to extend the lead to 4-1.
After the bats went silent for a few innings, Cincinnati got things rolling again in the to of the 8th with a single by Kyle Farmer to lead things off. Joey Votto came up and hit a laser off of the wall in right field – missing a home run by a matter of inches and according to Baseball Savant a ball that would have been a home run in 10 different parks – to put runners on the corner with no outs.
That close … pic.twitter.com/V4ZcrmVULh
— Jay Morrison (@JayMorrisonATH) August 1, 2021
Tyler Naquin and Eugenio Suárez both struck out before the Mets made a pitching change to bring in left-handed reliever Aaron Loup to face Tucker Barnhart. David Bell countered by calling on Tyler Stephenson to pinch hit and set up a better match up. It went for nothing as the Reds got picked off as Joey Votto was caught too far off of first base, and while in a bit of a rundown Kyle Farmer then took off for home and was eventually tagged out in a rundown of his own. Cincinnati stranded a runner in the 9th and turned to the bullpen to try and hold a 1-run lead.
That 1-run lead wasn’t enough and the game went into extra-innings. With Jonathan India starting on second base, he moved up on a wild pitch while Jesse Winker was at the plate before he would walk to put runners on the corners with no outs. Kyle Farmer struck out to bring Joey Votto to the plate. Like Farmer, he too struck out and left things up to Tyler Naquin. He hit the ball hard, but it was right to the centerfielder who caught the line drive without moving as the Reds wasted a huge chance to take a lead.
The Pitching
After two quick innings to begin the game for Wade Miley, Brandon Drury doubled to lead off the 3rd. He moved up to third base on a sacrifice bunt. Miley made a good pitch to Jonathan Villar, breaking his bat in the process, but the ball dropped into shallow left field for an RBI single to put the Mets up 1-0. Pete Alonso followed up with a double play to end the inning.
Miley was cruising for the next two innings, but in the 6th inning the Mets got the offense going when Jonathan Villar led off with a walk and Pete Alonso followed up with a single. But Miley picked off Villar at second base as Kyle Farmer crept in behind him to help the Reds out. Jeff McNeil followed up with a line drive into left center, but Jesse Winker ran it down and caught it for the second out of the inning. That pick off earlier in the inning turned out to be huge as Javier Báez slugged a 2-run homer that cut the Reds lead to 4-3. Miley returned for the 7th and went 1-2-3 through the bottom of the Mets lineup to hold the 1-run lead.
Michael Lorenzen came out for the bottom of the 8th inning. He got two quick ground outs before getting Pete Alonso to pop up to Joey Votto to send the game to the 9th inning. Heath Hembree came out for the 9th inning looking to hold onto a 1-run lead and seal the win for Cincinnati. A leadoff walk didn’t help with that plan. A wild pitch with Javier Báez at the plate to move the tying run to second base really didn’t help. But Hembree took care of Báez with a strikeout. He’d follow up with another strikeout – this time of James McCann. With Dominic Smith coming up, David Bell went to Sean Doolittle to set up a left-on-left match up…. which could be problematic given that Smith has an .841 OPS against lefties this year and a .664 OPS against righties. Doolittle came out pumping 97 and 98 MPH fastballs. But it was a 78 MPH breaking ball that Smith looped into center to tie the game up. Kevin Pillar struck out to end the inning and send it to extras.
After Cincinnati came up scoreless in the top of the 10th they sent Luis Cessa to the mound in the bottom of the frame to try and keep the Mets off of the board. He couldn’t. Brandon Drury singled into right field to lead off the inning and drive in the winning run.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs New York Mets
Sunday August 1st, 1:10pm ET
Vladimir Gutierrez (5-3, 4.75 ERA) vs Marcus Stroman (7-9, 2.63 ERA)
Would have kept Hembree in! Doolittle? You know he hasn’t been reliable all year…you are skating on thin ice when you bring him in! Bell cost us this game!
I have to agree. The Reds continue to make key base running mistakes. You don’t bring in lefties like Doolittle against someone who hits lefties that well. We have a man on 3B with no one out and fail to get him in.
HH settles down, gets 2 outs, 1 to go, and….
Did you happen to look at the box score or read the game account? Plenty of runners stranded in scoring position. Plenty of TOOTBLANS. There’s no way of knowing whether a pitcher who didn’t pitch would have been effective. Hembree seemed to be having some command issues.
Lack of clutch hitting and base running cost us the game. Didn’t have a warm fuzzy feeling with Doolittle coming in. However, he was aggressive. Attacking the hitter. Touched 98 on gun. Had Smith struck out on a pitch he should have been called out on strikes. Very tough loss. Bell made correct call having Stephenson bat for Barnhart, however, hurt on defense when Hembree threw the wild pitch. Stephenson tried back handing instead if sliding over and getting glove in front of him. Barnhart would have blocked that pitch. Gave up defense for offense. Sometimes as a manager you have to roll the dice. He has been pushing all the right buttons of late. Although, wish Bell would roll dice on running bases and be more aggressive stealing, hit and run. Maybe even try a safety and/or suicide squeeze
So the Reds aren’t making enough outs on the basepaths? They need to push the envelope even more? Maybe it is a matter of being more aggressive with select players.
100% agreement. Let Hembree finish plus Doolittle’s stats at Citi are awful. The aforementioned versus Smith numbers too. Head scratcher.
How Do You Let Doolittle Do It Again,Trade Him To The Florence Y’alls For A Bag Of Balls And A Case Of Hudepohl! Oh Yeah Trade Deadline Is Over Ugh.
CTrent just tweeted that D Smith has .830 OPS against LHP this season
How you gonna miss that piece of analytics and being in Doolittle after HH just k’d two?
Trent was wrong. It was .841 for Smith against lefties.
Oh well that makes all the difference lol
Well played Doug
SMH
I wasn’t all in on Doolittle. Definitely see other side of this. Analytics. Questioned move as it was happening. Surprised he hasn’t been DFA’d before now. Just was impressed how he attacks hitters, but didn’t think he had the stuff. Threw 98-97. Didn’t know that existed. Sometimes, you have to tip cap to hitter.
What a waste of another Miley start, I’m sorry for saying this but as much fun as this team is , I don’t see how with Bell as manager, they catch Brewers or Padres, what shame Brewers getting pounded tonight , not the first or last game he will cost this team
A nice guy, apparently, but David Bell belongs in the front office with the analytics. This team needs a Lou Pinella type manager.
Yup. Being nice and well liked is good but it only goes so far. Players need a kick in the butt at times to fully reach their potential as well as the team’s. Dusty had the same problem and he was rightfully fired.
Bell’s one inning and done has to end. Lorenzen could have opened the next inning at least. And in a one run game, bringing in a guy that routinely surrenders HRs is just stupid. As I’ve said before, Bell could lose managing the BRM.
Practically every analyst & fan at RLN knew about Smith’s reverse splits – except Bell. He’s either statistically illiterate, lazy, or incompetent or some combination of the three.
Gut punch. Especially with Stroman staring at us tmrw.
Miley had Baez 0-2 then let’s him crush a 1-2 into the seats. That’s inexcusable really. Doolittle had Smith 0-2 before he let Smith persuade him into a breaking pitch. Doolittle is washed up.
And different catchers in each situation. Also both pitchers old enough to have known better.
For those who didn’t hear it on the BallySports telecast, just ahead of the Smith game tying single in the 9th, Chris Welch was explained that with Smith down n 1-2 in the count and having fouled off several fastballs with “defensive” swings, Doolittle should to continue to creep up the ladder with his fastball until Smith either took one for a ball or missed one for the game ending K.
Sometimes, gut punches lead to great change. .
Like after that first road game loss in SanDiego? The Mets did everything but hand this one to the Reds. Can this team get one runner in from third with nobody out, it’s ridiculous to watch this team at times.
You act like this is the first game the bullpen has blown this year. The gut punches aren’t working.
Bell is in his contract year. It is games like today that will have another manager leading next year. Shame about Votto, but knowing him he will start a new streak tomorrow
Nah, he’ll be back. Love to be wrong but I’m not betting on it. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bell extended before any effort to keep Castellanos, assuming they even try.
I agree with this, even though I hate the thought
Unfortunately I agree, the family of Gus Bell is too well thought of in tradition-bound Cincinnati to fire his grandson after the Reds were still in the running after the end of May and they’re not out of it yet on August 1st.
This team has been fun to watch especially as of late and has the talent to make the playoffs but every game will matter. Can’t lose this game! Smith hits lefties much better so Bell brings Doolittle in of all people. Ridiculous!! Bell has to finally show some urgency! Hopefully will win the series tomorrow.
Lack of urgency is what got Dusty Baker fired. Bell has a BIG problem with that. So……
The Reds failed to score when they should have scored and never deserved to win but they did score 4 and Miley and Mikey held them to 3.We were 1 out away with the guy Bell chose to close and we pull him in favor of left on left matchup.Ignoring the splits and ignoring the fact the guy he brought in has let what 60% of his inherited runners to score.Even if it works its the wrong move.Reds can’t be sharp every night and they weren’t tonight for sure but you can’t beat the other team and your own manager.Nobody does what he did tonight.
In my book, Hembree has been similar to Farmer, he has stepped up when needed with Antone, Sims and Lorenzen on the IL. He had a rough start, but that happens. HH got 2 outs. He deserved the chance to get the third out to win the game.
“ An incredibly questionable decision by David Bell in the bottom of the 9th inning comes back to haunt the Cincinnati Reds”
“Incredibly questionable” could probably be replaced by “indefensible”
I had a lot of words I could have chosen. I went with those.
We feel you
#familyboard
Well at least we will have an insight what Bell will do if the Reds end up in the ultimate game of a playoff or world series under his command.
I’m assuming you do not have access to players or Bell post-game, right? Hence, no quotes in the article.
I read elsewhere Bell said he was aware of the reverse splits, but liked Doolittle in that match-up regardless. Seems like he’s full if it, especially after Hembree looked very good the previous 2 batters.
I also thought it was wasted opportunity to use his double switch after Suárez was ejected to put Freeman in the spot sure to get an PA in the top of the 9th instead of Lorenzen, the guy of the two who has hit more MLB homers and has the higher MLB OPS.
Coming off an injury running the bases, I was hoping that Lorenzen wouldn’t bat.
FWIW
Out of the entire bullpen, I think Doolittle would have been my last choice.
I just don’t get bringing in Do Little , yes I spaced it intentionally The guy has not been good all season and we are trying to win the game.
Missed chance Brewers and looks like Padres are going to lose too. Too bad. Storman dominated us last time out so I don’t have much hope for tomorrow.
Earth to Tinker Bell, you are clueless. This one inning per relief pitcher and everybody takes a turn works only in Little League games, maybe.
Bell would have been run out of NYC a long time ago. He gets away with his crap in a small market because nobody will ask him tough questions or call him out on his ridiculous and clueless moves.
Votto should be benched tomorrow for getting picked off in the ninth inning… I bet Bell didn’t tell him one word.
What has happened to this team lately with multiple guys on base and nobody out?
I wish Bell would run a squeeze play once in awhile in these situations to shake things up. This team freezes up lately when trying to get these runners in with nobody out.
What happened tonight is that neither Farmer or Votto treated their10th inning plate appearance like the most important thing was to get the run in from 3rd. They both got got their pitch to drive for at least a sac fly on the the first pitch to them, took it for a strike and were on the defensive the rest of the PA.
Maybe after seeing the lead evaporate in the 9th, their mindset was the Reds had to play for more than 1 run. It actually looked like the Mets were willing to give up the run for 2 outs (GIDP) when Farmer was batting. All they had to do was put the ball in play up the middle and get it by the pitcher for the run.
It is incredible that the 2 guys who have carried the team for much of July could back to back have such terrible PAs. Baseball is life I guess.
Good point on the Farmer and Votto AB’s. The only counterpoint would be that Diaz was throwing 100+, which kind of makes it hard to hit.
Agree hitting the 1st pitch for either wasn’t a lock but to both of them, it was a pitch that “all” they had to do was drop the bat on it. Looked straight, thigh high, and to both middle to slightly in. They were the very type of pitch Chapman would get ambushed on when he had problems. And watching Hunter Greene pitch at AA and AAA, the same pitch that he gets hit on throwing at 102.
Getting the runner in from third base with less than 2 outs seems to me a often forgotten strategy. 5-3 at that time would have looked a lot better than 4-3.
If I had a dime for every time this bullpen gave up a key hit or homer late in the game on a hanging breaking ball, I would be a millionaire now.
I’ll say it for the one millionth time, the best pitch is and always will be a well placed fastball. If you’re going to miss off speed, throw it in the dirt.
The movie Moneyball just provides so many different aspects of mlb to consider.
I think of Bell and I think of the late great Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe
“I’m playing my team in a way that I can explain in job interviews next winter”
Thats all Bell has to do. If he matches things up and it backfires then so be it, but he doesn’t do that. Leaving Brach in for 7 straight ropes last week vs the Mets. I think we won that one anyway?
Tonite…just leave Lorenzen in til a Met actually gets one out of the infield on him. OR….if you don’t like HH vs Smith then walk him. Then instead of Smith’s excellent reverse splits then you have HH and his .560 ops vs righties against RH .216 Kevin Pillar! That you can defend if it goes wrong.
Good reference, Love that movie so much. I really am beginning to think Bell isn’t going to get resigned. I feel like he would have been offered a deal by now if they wanted him back. I don’t think Larkin the answer either as much as I loved him as a player. I would love to see Benevedies (sp) manage he always seems to make the right moves when Bell has been ejected. I don’t like Bell very much but I think he will be our manager for the Reds Until the end of the season.
Twice in a row we had late leads in the last 2 weeks and he used HH ONLY AFTER SOMEONE INFERIOR BLEW THE LEAD????? He holds onto Nick as a pinch-hitter when he could’ve got a walkoff and instead bats him in the 11th or whatever when we were down 4 runs. IDK what he’s thinking sometimes?
One thing I will say….he blows games and does something stupid and the team never wallows in pity. Like that middle game we blew in KC. They came right back and won the series. We blew that first game in Chicago and they came back and got all 3. They blew the first game in Milw last time and got the next 3. We’ll see how they respond?
Benevides has been around a long time. He knows the team and organization and he’s a bit on the old school side. Give him a chance.
>>>Twice in a row we had late leads in the last 2 weeks and he used HH ONLY AFTER SOMEONE INFERIOR BLEW THE LEAD????? He holds onto Nick as a pinch-hitter when he could’ve got a walkoff and instead bats him in the 11th or whatever when we were down 4 runs. IDK what he’s thinking sometimes?
All of that is right on the money Indy Red! His bone head moves are embarrassing. It’s like he’s trying to save his best pitchers. But then the Reds blow the lead and get behind by 2 or 4 runs, and then he brings those very pitchers in anyway,…after it no longer matters. He’s done that time and time again this year. He’s cost us 20 games minimum with those kinds of harebrained moves.
I rarely post but follow daily, this one was a microcosm of the entire season and typical of Bell’s managerial decisions. A change must be made, preferably with a manager who has a proven record, tired of watching terrible in game decisions. This team is loaded with wasted talent.
Besides smith being great vs LHP, Doolittle is near the bottom in the league for inherited runners scoring at 61%. For a manager whom claims to be analytics driven sure seems to do things against the numbers a lot.
An overall team loss, runner 3rd no outs in 9th and 10, fail both times. Allowed for the bullpen to fail due to no margin for error against a 1st place team
Players are going to have up and down games and leaving runners in scoring position is very hard to take. However managers making stupid dumb boneheaded unnecessary decisions costing games is inexcusable.
Watching Bell in a postgame is like having someone scratch your eyes out….it’s excruciating…besides the stupid move to use Doolittle, it was just as bad a move to lift AA for Naquin….I have been a die-hard reds fan since the big red machine & I have seen many managers come & go, but I have never disliked a manager more then David Bell…..he just can’t do get out the way & let the game play. He continues to inject his misguided management skills into games & constantly giving winnable games away…it is maddening to no end!!!
I checkout the box score instead of ever watching Bell’s post game.
BP did not help things.
But 8th inning hurt.
Chance to add on.
Team game plenty blame go around.
Onto trying to win the series.
Hopefully payback on Stroman.
Stroman is tough. The Reds need to get to him early.
Reds have an opportunity to win the series. I think I have it now. Bell didnt want to use the Yankees relievers because as the AL NL rivalry partners of the Yankees the Mets would be familiar with them. Givens pitched two days in a row and was gassed. ML also pitched two days in a row, oh and what happened the last time we let Mikey be baseballs version of Rambo….. right the IL. Hembree was pulled at exactly 20 pitches so I think this was a monitor the pitch count situation. Now, I would have replaced Hembree with a righty. Would have not pitched to Smith at all, ( and I believe I said that in the main chat) giving him the ol’ unintentional intentional walk and pitched to their bottom third with a righty. Brach. That’s right a good old flyball pitcher in a stadium that denied our first baseman a shot at history. the mets field was good enough for Brach. Oh and I would have beamed Baez out of principle
Just very upset right now! You had a chance to play the odds, and leave Hembree in to get the last out, as he just struck out the last two hitters for outs 1 and 2 in the 9th inning. Your odds leaving Hembree in to get the last out, is alot better than bringing in Doo little. Look what Doo little has done this year with inherited runners, look at the odds. You lose the game, you had a chance to win tonight, a great chance to win tonight, and with the Brewers and Padres losing….you could have gained on them. You could have also taken the series from the Mets. Now you have split the first two games with the Mets, and have Stroman tomorrow, who dominated you last time….and is at home. I hope owner Bob C tells manager David B to get his butt in his office, and explain himself on why he put Doo little in??
The Reds go and add three upgrades to the bullpen…and the two guys you use before any of them in a one-run game are Doolittle and Hembree?!? At this point, the Reds need to call up Greene from Louisville and stick him in the bullpen. Explain to him that this is only a temporary role for the remainder of the season, and that he’ll resume his preparation to be a starter in 2022. Then once you get Antone and Sims back, it will be nearly a complete bullpen makeover from what it was a week ago. (Thinking that Garrett, Doolittle, and Hembree are the three that will be cut from the 25-man roster next as these moves are made.) If the Reds want to win the division, drastic action is necessary. Call up Lodolo for the same temporary bullpen role too if necessary. Don’t wait until September, make the moves now.
I support Bell. He has the respect of the players. They play hard for him. I think he sets reasonable line ups and does the best he can with the bullpen.
Having said that the poor baserunning has been a chronic issue for this team and has cost the team many games this year.
That is squarley on the head coach to improve his teams baserunning and so far no improvements have been made.
Secondly i wish he would consider running some offensive plays every once in a while. A bunt. A hit and run . A squeeze. A double steal. Something
In-game management is deplorable. Use of bullpen idiotic. Hembree looked great vs. last 2 he faced. He was our best chance at closing that game out.
These Reds are professionals and would play hard for any manager. I don’t buy it.
And Bell couldn’t do WORSE with the bullpen he has. They might be bad, but he’s made them ten times worse.
Defend the move to Doolittle please. I’ll wait. If that’s the best he can, I’ll take someone else’s best. Anyone’s.
I wasn’t all in on Doolittle. Definitely see other side of this. Analytics. Questioned move as it was happening. Surprised he hasn’t been DFA’d before now. Just was impressed how he attacks hitters, but didn’t think he had the stuff. Threw 98-97. Didn’t know that existed. Sometimes, you have to tip cap to hitter.
I usually try really hard not to overreact to one game, and I am always one of the first people to defend David Bell. But bringing in Doolittle in that situation was indefensible. I don’t see how the Reds can make up the ground they need to if they keep losing games like this. The number of games they have blown in the later innings, just since the all star break, is inexcusable. Yes, they are an exciting team and they never quit. They’ve entertained me more this summer than any season since 2013. But that only takes you so far.
Agree, three problems here: first, not letting Hembree finish out the game, or at least try to. How’s he feeling about the manager’s lack of confidence in him? Second, bringing in Doolittle with no statistical evidence that this was the right matchup. Third is Doolittle’s throwing an off-speed pitch when the hitter wasn’t catching up to his fastball. On radio, Brantley was very direct in his displeasure at the decision to go off-speed there.
I just don’t get it. I thought Bell was doing a really great job all season of managing the bullpen with the horrendous options he had to choose from. Now that it’s better and he has more talent to work with, he goes with Doolittle? Really? I would have literally taken anyone else in that situation (other than Hoffman). And I agree that it seemed Hembree had found his groove, so not sure why he was taken out at all. Like I said, i just don’t get it. And this is not hindsight. I was screaming at the TV as it was happening.
A lot of local media has been talking about the great job David Bell has done this season. Well you know why they thought that? He didn’t have enough players to “tinker” with, thus, he just had to play what was in front of him.
Now that he is getting a full roster back together, you are going to watch TinkerBell find ways to lose games. Any manager worth his salt would have known that Smith hits lefties FAR better. But Bell didn’t know that (or ignored it), and that was the difference between a win and a loss. I truly hope this is his last year.
The Reds have an off day Tuesday. Needed to go all in every out to win that game.
Righty/lefty is less important than who is actually pitching or hitting.
Sean Doolittle has had a poor season, doesn’t have swing and miss stuff and allows a lot of inherited runners to score
I said it Friday night up 6-1 going to the 9th.Pitch Doolittle now.
Gray/Lorenzen/Givens got you to the 9th with a 5 run lead. Doolittle should never pitch in a game losing potential situation. Garrett pitched instead and got Smith out incidentally on Friday. Garrett has been wobbly but I’d rather have him out there than Doolittle. He’s at least a core bullpen guy even if he hasn’t pitched that way.
You win or lose with Hembree there and if you make a change, it’s Garrett or anyone other than Doolittle.
If Sims comes back Tuesday who get’s DFA’D? Gotta be Doolittle. That’s been the Reds pattern. They run their worst pitchers out there, pitch them in high leverage situations, lose games then DFA them a few days later.
Off day monday, roster changes presumably Tuesday.
Management handed Bell three new (and fresh) relievers because the bullpen was a dumpster fire. Bell decided to go with the overused and clearly gassed Hembree and the Doolittle who lets in inherited runners by the droves (facing a batter who hits lefties much better than righties).
Definition of insanity.
Pretty much sums up the current state of affairs in Redleg Land!
Interesting that you ignore the fact that one of the new and fresh relievers gave the the losing run
He didn’t walk that runner on base.
Cessa didn’t put the runner on second and the game-winning hit was a good pitch. It was 3 inches outside and low. Drury just was smart enough to go with it.
He’s fitting in nicely with the worst bp in mlb
Burt— I can’t fault a pitcher when the batter reaches for a ball and pokes a little hit.
And if he was available in the 10th, why not the 9th?
Once again, Bell’s decision to pull HH with 2 outs snatches Defeat from the Jaws of Victory! I respect his position but not his decision-making in another winnable game! Plus, a wasted (again) opportunity to gain ground in the Wild Card and NL Central races!
Extremely questionable move to put in Doolittle in that situation. He’s been awful this year with allowing inherited runners to score. Also, by the numbers listed above, not the favorable matchup you’d seek or expect with a LH bat vs LHP. Can’t use the “doesn’t have better options” argument here. Poor choice, cost the Reds the lead and game.
I didn’t see the game. Blacked out in Asheville, NC 5.5 hours from Cincy – thanks MLB. But this was (another) heart breaker. Four late chances to score with runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs with zero success. But despite the first such failure the Reds still led heading to the bottom of the 9th. Hembree seemed an odd choice given that Lorenzen had pitched well in the 8th and will likely be unavailable today whether he’d gone one or two innings. But Bell pulled him for Hembree, who may now be unavailable himself today. Then just when Hembree appeared to have found his groove, Bell pulls him for a marginal lefty to face a guy who hits lefties waaay better than righties. Brutal, and no one was surprised by the result. I’ve said this before but sometimes it feels like Bell keeps calling the bullpen until he finally finds the pitcher who can fail that night. Huge missed opportunity. Here’s hoping the players respond as they’ve done several times recently and take this unnecessary loss as motivation to beat up on Stroman and the Mets. Go Reds!
Lineup today leaves a little to be desired. That murderers row of Schrock, Suarez, Naquin at 5,6,7 probably have Stroman rethinking his approach today.
I get Votto needing days off but I feel like waiting a week for when Moose and Senzel returned would have made more sense during a playoff race.
Yeah Votto is 37 and probably does need a day off, but aggregates me is there is no sense of urgency from the manager.
Seems like Bell, with his “scheduled days off”, is managing a local Pizza Hut rather than a major league baseball team.
Per a tweet from one of the beat writers, Votto has played in 33 consecutive games. Yes, he had the All Star break to give him a break in the middle of this run but he is still at 15 straight prior to today. The thinking is probably that with the off day tomorrow and night gameTuesday, this will give him`almost 3 days of rest. That worked really well with the All Star break. Hopefully it does again.
You always want to sit the guy who is on fire and keep playing the guy who couldnt hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean. I swear Bell bets on games.
Him betting on games would be the best explanation for why he put in “Doo” last night
If that were true, then you instantly apprehend how that move was all kinds of genius—indirectly but directly affecting outcomes.
Loss is on Bell – he simply can’t manage a bullpen. Reds will never have a Dodgers type roster so their margin of error is too small for a flawed in game manager like Bell. Not up to the task.
I don’t think it’s been mentioned though that I don’t think Barnhart would have let that ball get by him that put the tying run in scoring position. I appreciate that guy more every day.
A runner was advanced late on Friday on a similar pitch with Barnhart behind the plate. In fact it was actually scored as a passed ball versus the pitch last night being scored as a wild pitch. The difference was no follow up damage was allowed by Reds pitching on Friday, so it goes by the board.
Fernando Tatis Jr. now on the IL. Brewers with a Covid outbreak. Good time for the Reds to make a move.
The only positive about last night was that the Brewers lost. Why is the base-running so bad? Almost every game there seems to be a mental lapse. I’m sorry but when Doolittle comes in I just feel like the Reds are going to lose the game. The ride this year has just been so up and down and overall it feels like David Bell has done a great job with the bullpen he’s had but last night…Amir and Doolittle just make my stomach twitch. Hoping for the series win today.
Technically, yes, but the real blame lies on Naquin and Suarez’ inability to get a run home from 3rd with less than two outs in the 8th. Of whom I’m getting sick of both being on the club