The Cincinnati Reds will look to continue their winning ways against the Pittsburgh Pirates in game three of their series tonight at Great American Ball Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Pittsburgh Pirates
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Hoy Park – SS | Jonathan India – 2B |
| Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B | Jesse Winker – LF |
| Bryan Reynolds – CF | Nick Castellanos – RF |
| Colin Moran – 1B | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Gregory Polanco – RF | Mike Moustakas – 3B |
| Rodolfo Castro – 2B | Kyle Farmer – SS |
| Anthony Alford – LF | Tucker Barnhart – C |
| Michael Perez – C | Shogo Akiyama – CF |
| Mitch Keller – SP | Vladimir Gutierrez – SP |
Starting Pitchers
Vladimir Gutierrez
After a poor start on July 19th against New York, Vladimir Gutierrez has rebounded to allow just three runs in his last two starts – including his 7-inning, 1-run performance against the Mets. That lowered his ERA on the year to 4.39 in 67.2 innings. He’s walked a fine line this season, though, as a high-home run pitcher who has a high walk rate and a low strikeout rate.
There are some splits in play for Gutierrez. Lefties are hitting .241/.338/.483 against him this season with more walks – 17- than strikeouts – 16. Righties are hitting .246/.321/.435. The big splits, though, are in his home and road splits. He’s only made four home starts, but his ERA in Great American Ball Park is 7.17 (3.11 on the road). Hitters have hit .310/.384/.632 against him at home, while their road OPS is just .665.
Pitch usage from 2021
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 93.1 | 82.8 | 80.7 | 77.2 |
| Usage | 48% | 23% | 9% | 20% |
Mitch Keller
It’s been a tough season for Mitch Keller. In his 13 starts he’s posted a 7.05 ERA in 52.1 innings. He’s been quite hittable, giving up 64 hits – and 7 homers – while walking 29 batters with 53 strikeouts.
Today will only be his second start in the big leagues since June 10th. He was optioned back to the minors and made eight starts in Triple-A before returning on Sunday to start against Philadelphia (5IP, 8H, 4ER, 2K). Both righties and lefties have hit him well, with lefties having a .907 OPS against him this season and righties having an .869 OPS against him. He has pitched better on the road, posting a 4.82 ERA (8.29 ERA at home).
Pitch usage from 2021
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 94.3 | 86.7 | 90.5 | 78.6 |
| Usage | 57% | 23% | 4% | 16% |
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: 83°, partly cloudy, 10% chance of rain
News and Notes
Tejay Antone heads out for a rehab assignment
The Cincinnati Reds announced this afternoon that reliever Tejay Antone would be joining Triple-A Louisville today to begin a rehab assignment. Antone last pitched on June 24th.
Reds 1st round pick has a big debut
Matt McLain made his pro debut last night in Goodyear for the Reds team at the complex level and tripled in his first at-bat and added a double later in the game.
NL Central Standings
Playoff odds via Fangraphs
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff % |
| Brewers | 66 | 44 | 0 | 96.3% |
| Reds | 59 | 51 | 7.0 | 33.6% |
| Cardinals | 54 | 55 | 11.5 | 2.0% |
| Cubs | 52 | 59 | 14.5 | 0.0% |
| Pirates | 41 | 69 | 25.0 | 0.0% |
At some point the Bucs have gotta come out PO’d. Might be tonight.
One would think so but then recall how the Reds were such limp noodles from 2015 thru 2017 (2018? )or so.
Love how benching Platooning Suarez.
Hate it for the the Person.
But shows the team.
Who plays well will Play.
Not who has Performed in the Past.
Good thing for this season and Moving Forward imo.
How you build a Winning Culture.
If Moose keep hitting like last night there won’t/shouldn’t be any platooning.
Reds now have an olympian medalist in their farm system. US takes silver in Baseball. Reds catching up slowly. Pirates called up one of their prospects this afternoon. Need a repeat performance of last night from the reds and Dbacks and a better performance from the Giants
Just a heads up as to what we’re seeing from Joey Votto right now in 2021. All of the following are career bests in his 15th year! (Also, non-juiced ball year)
Best ISO of his career 280
Highest Exit Velocity 92.5
Highest Hard Hit % 50.2
Highest HR % 6.6 (2010 was 5.7)
Nice!
Anything definitive or official on TySteve?
Not that I have seen or heard. Even with the Pirates going with a RH pitcher Sunday, TS would figure to start on the quick night/ matinee turnaround. So, maybe then?
Strong work on the home splits with Vlad Doug. I looked at Reds SP splits today home and away. Vlad had 2 bad starts at home against the Padres and Mets. But the Pirates arent the Padres or Mets.
Vlad is 7.17 at home and 3.11 on the road.
Mahle is a much bigger sample size and pitches tomorrow.
He is 6.18 ERA at home with 14 HR and 2.06 on the road with 3 HR
How Vlad and Mahle pitch at home against the Pirates will determine if the Reds are 10 over tomorrow night or 8 over. If they are 6 over then we are done.
With respect to Gutierrez’s splits, does anyone have an idea how much of that is based on the park and how much was due to the opponent? For example, SD hammered him at Cin on 6/30, 4HR’s, and 6 ER in 4.1 IP. Without that game, the numbers look a bit better. And I’ve seen rumors elsewhere suggesting he is sent down tomorrow for Sims. If true, I assume that promotes Hoffman back to the rotation. Feels like a delaying decision.
At some point, they may decide Hunter Greene is ready and has the innings left in his tank for 2021 to make it to the end of the season. Just saying. Monday is his 5th day.
If it happens, I’m thinking it may look more like TB calling up a young David Price from Durham. 1-inning guy closing games in September.
Our worst enemy as far as pitching goes this year has been the BB. Have to improve that.
Yep. Especially (so it seems) from our BP guys.
I feel like Vlad pounds the zone though. He’ll walk a guy like Dan Straily used to which is a guy he doesn’t want to deal with. To me thats different then Mahle going 3-2 with 3 foul balls to almost every hitter. Vlad is really polished for a rookie….just doesn’t have the big fastball
Definitely is not afraid of contact like Mahle.
A little tense, but worked out of it.
Time for another Crooked Numbers show!!
Patience like that will pay off. The high and tight balls looked a little like strikes to me, but nobody’s paying me to call them. I just kibitz for fun and to hang out with y’all.
What is this? a first inning against the pirates that did not have 7 runs scored in it
That was one of the worst run downs I’ve ever seen in the ML. hahaha Pickle!!
The Jet decided he would pickle the Beast …
Yep. I remember. lol
And that play looks like a phone number there
+100
Too bad you couldn’t get an over/under on the number of throws in a rundown.
true.. 1 5 6 1 3 6 3 it is a phone number
TOOTBLAN and a Little League rundown.
Balks are a judgement call and none of the judges on the field called it 🙂
A good Little League team would not make that many throws. hahaha!
Point taken
Just funny. Probably won’t see that again for at least a couple of years.
Votto just plain hammering the ball these days. Awesome.
Ain’t he though?
Good AB by Moose. He doesn’t want to platoon.
A good manager would never
Your point, Rojo? 🙂
Are you talking mahle at GABP or Mahle on the road?
Mahle at SF is Cy Young.
Only if he doesn’t nibble and walk ’em
The double plays seem like they’ve been way down this year for such a slow team. I think its because most of the Reds will go the other way and don’t roll over that often.
I guess we were due. Keller is pretty bad so we should get it going shortly!
Farmer probably should have made that play but we’ll give him a break as he’s been pretty reliable.
He knows it. Vlad bailed him out. Definitely give him a break on that one.
Wow … nice move, Vlad!
Probably saved a run in the process.
NUTS!!!
Well … now we can do our “come from behind” thing. That usually works.
Okay. Time to get our butts in gear team. Can’t let these guys even think they can win. Too much on the line. Let’s go!
Vlad not fooling anybody early! Time for the offense to help him out with a crooked number!
He fooled Park on that pick-off, but I hear you.
BTW, Dennis, how does one journey from Hilltopper to Golden Domer? 🙂
Had a choice of Grad schools for engineering between the Univ. of Texas, Notre Dame and Univ. of Cincinnati. Yes, U of C was closest but did not offer my preferred course of study which was Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on water & wastewater. U of C focused on air pollution in their Masters program.
My wife is a South Bend native. She bleeds Leprechauns during football season. She corrupted my oldest daughter. I still love them both.
Playing Aki to pull there was stupid. Thank you PIrates.
Stupid to play him to pull any at bat
Shogo hits a foul ball that might’ve gone 300 feet last night and Sadak still can’t shut up about it?
In general, I find Sadak can’t shut up about anything. He’s just trying too hard.
He just needs to cut down on the dramatics. It wears you down. Baseball is a long season. Tom would drive me crazy too for the same reason but he was mostly negative. At least Sadak is positive for the most part.
I’ll give you that vs. Thom, Melvin. Sadak isn’t nearly as obnoxious or arrogant. Not by a long shot.
Reds broadcast bringing Sam Lecure in regularly to add to the content. He said he wants to talk with Larkin to add perspective on pitching and hitting
I like Sam.
Has anyone noticed that our pitching staff is not made up of any consistently good bunters?
Wow that was a gift single. Just a groundball to 3B but Hayes was way over towards SS for some reason? Lets get him home!
You mean like that?
I love this Kid … I really do … I’ll cry if he gets snubbed for RoY.
Wink is on pace for 45 doubles and 32 hrs or so. Not so bad
That would be SWEEEEEET!!
First hit since coming back – love the result.
Now for some Joey ball!!
This is starting to look more familiar
2nd time through. Keller isn’t fooling anyone right now.
Sac fly. Good job Votto.
Productive even with an out. And now on to Moose!!
3 is most definitely a crooked number, gents.
Keller is the classic example of a kid with arm talent, but everything is so vanilla. No deception…no nothing. He should work in a Cueto spin or something. Should’ve had somebody work with him when he was 17, but probably too busy mowing down other high school kids. Mahle for example has a little crossfire to his delivery. You need something to hide the ball or something to throw them off.
There’s that crooked number we were looking for!
+100
Winker and Castellanos better pick it up. India is at 3 WAR and counting and might be Reds MVP.
Go Kid!!
That hung up long enough Winker could have caught it.
Vlad really mixing up the offerings.
The G man doesn’t have his good stuff tonight, but he’ a bull dog. Tyhose ytwo pick offs were critical.
those two
Vlad at 65 pitches thru 4! Looks like another 6 inning outing at best! All the Reds starting pitchers, except maybe Miley, need to take lessons from Greg Maddux & Tom Glavine who both rarely broke 90 mph but pitched a ton of complete games!
That’s what I was thinking. 6 seems to be the “hopeful norm” for our guys. 5 happens too often (or so it seems). Improved bullpen or not, that’s a LOT of innings to cover.
Thats just baseball today though. Very few guys go more then 6 consistently now
Farmer squeaks another one through … as they said earlier, he’s a ballplayer.
Nick Senzel isnt playing in AAA.
Wow.
Farmer just keeps on hitting. I’m sure AA is saying to himself, ” I’d like to have the PT and ABs that he’s had too. I’d like to show you what I can do in a full season too”.
Just looked up the pitching stats for the Brewers Woodruff & Burnes. Woodruff at 131 innings pitched prior to tonight’s start. Burnes at 113 innings. My point is that they may hit the wall in September!
Possibly. Wonder how close we’ll need to get to take advantage of that if it happens.
That’s the bunt we’ve wanted to see.
Now let’s see if our RoY India can do some damage.
Why are we even surprised anymore when that happens? 2nd coming of Pete Rose right there.
My wife was yelling about it
India not afraid to get hit. Contributing to his already high OBP. A big reason for it. Good leadoff guy.
Big boys don’t cry …
Our young AA level catcher brings home a Sliver Medal.
Both Korea and Japan stop their league play and send their all-stars to the Olympics. We send has-beens and possible future stars. Still came in second.
True. Those leagues really are AAA+ at best with a few shining exceptions (who often end up over here).
Most AAA teams would kick the heck out of Korean teams. I bet the KBO all year last year since we had nothing else in the spring and it was on espn. In fact they get 3 foreigners apiece and usually the hitters are guys from AAA and most go crazy over there.
Addison Russell didn’t do much though.
I was in Korea for a few years. Right near the Seibu Lions in Deagu. I think when Eric Thames was still playing over there
Don’t know about the rest of you, but LeCure in the booth is an easy thing to listen to. Him playing off Larkin is good chemistry. May even seem Sadak quiets down a bit when Sam visits.
Either they are looking to replace Sadak or Welch is thinking of retiring
Three in the booth is more interesting on TV.
Agreed, Melvin.
And very few can pull off the solo act ala Vin Scully.
Sadak quieted? Let’s get LeCure in the booth every night
+500
Man, I like Vlad more and more every time I see him! He knows how to pitch
He’s never going to be a star, but he attacks the zone. I wish Mahle pitched like him.
+100
I don’t disagree, but he’s got #2 or #3 potential. He’s aggressive, and goes deep into games. That’s half the battle. Mahle likes to nibble too much
As a comparison, Charlie Morton for the Braves is at 53 pitches thru 5 innings! Must be a Braves thing!
Morton is an anomaly wrapped in an enigma. He doesn’t waste pitches. And isn’t he like 70 now?
True, but Morton can still dial it up to 96 mph when he needs/wants to!
He’s BAAAACCKKK!!
Casty says bye bye baseball. 🙂
Just froze Joey on that pitch!
Nick Castillanos homers. Did he change his walk-up music
It would be great if we could pick up 1 more game on SD this weekend?
Last night was fun to watch. Down 5-0 and Dbacks reliever hit w/bases loaded and drove in 2 then stole 2nd and scored. They won 8-5
Both other games to watch are underway. Giants are failing us again. Arizona just started.
boy that was quick… both currently failing us
Another good AB by Moose. Poor Geno might want to invest in a seat cushion.
I guess he’s the backup SS?
Regardless of the platoon situation he is the backup SS. Nobody else on the roster with anything close to the skills to do it (aside from an extreme emergency).
Oooooh Myyyy. Let’s hope Farmer doesn’t go down. At least not when the game is on the line and we have enough time to get Barrero up here the next game.
India has more skills as far as that goes but wouldn’t want to move him if I didn’t have to.
Farmer failed us! It was due to happen! Seriously, he has exceeded ALL expectations both at SS and as a hitter!
Far exceeded them. True grit (not the Skip kind) and I’m awarding him +50,000.
mark sheldon reports Nick Senzel is not responding as hoped and no longer a SS option and just focused on CF Who is back up SS? Barrero needs to come up very soon
like he is still hurt?
Knee injuries and later movements are not always friends.
Frankly, not sure who that bodes worse for, Naquin or AA. It will be one of them for certain if Nick comes back to CF. I’m at least glad they tried him at SS again. I’d have to think too much time has past and, from what I understand, he wasn’t stellar there to begin with.
Had to be better than Suarez as a backup at least. lol
Not surprised. I was thinking when he was injured this last time that I wouldn’t expect him back this year. If he does come back he won’t be 100%. Similar injury to what Votto had years ago from what I understand. Joey had no legs the rest of that year. Too bad too. He was on pace for doubles record before that.
Really good ump tonite. Its rare
Snakes up 2-1 on SD
Padre’s Yu Darvish getting hit hard early by the Snakes! I like our SP compared to the Padres down the stretch!
Padres bullpen league leaders in appearances. That pitching staff is imploding.
Vlad humping it up to 95-96. He’s really impressive!! You wonder how guys like this don’t just roll thru AAA with a 2.50 era or something
Vlad at 99 pitches thru 6 innings! Do you dare send him back out for the 7th?
Nah.
nope
Vladimir Gutierrez is really, really impressive.
His stuff plays, he competes, he executes his pitches, and he has a very good head on his shoulders.
Great job tonight.
My wife just said Moran looks like a pirate with that beard. I’d have to agree.
Baseball player Nick Senzel has retired and will become an actor. He’s starring in the remake of “Boy In The Bubble”
That’s cruel … but sadly funny.
Senzel will be back
Anyone missing geno Suarez? Moose making his career irrelevant. Moose is burying Geno Suarez.
Winker cant hit lefties either
That bat got destroyed and it still went to the wall
AA hits a ball 300 feet with a shattered bat.
That’s some power.
Considering the crazy playing time AA gets and the way he is used he doesn’t do too bad. He’s a contributor in a lot of ways.
AA is our highest rated defensive OFer. Higher then Shogo. I’d love to see him get some run, but he does K nonstop.
Kyle Farmer has had an amazing season. Farmer will continue to have value to the Reds in the event Jose Barrero gets hurt or if Barrero gets off to a slow start next season.
I do wonder though if it might be wise to consider trading Kyle Farmer in the off season. Kyle is likely to be at his peak value after the season he has had here in 2021.
There are going to be some pretty good free agent SS on the market this winter, but obvious there will be some teams who lose out on the FAs.
I am not necessarily advocating trading Kyle Farmer, I just think if you are ever going to trade him, this off season will be the time to do it.
Not a bad pitch, but Jesse hit it like he knew where it would be.
Cleared the Reds over 5.5 Now either the score can stay here or they need to clear the over.
AA good vs LHP.
Should be used that way.
Some add on Runs.
Always best with this BP
I think he would’ve taken Keller deep. Guys like AA or Adam Duvall can hit righties too as long as they don’t have a good slider
I took a bathroom break at the beginning of the inning.
When I came back I was looking at a commercial.
I don’t know what happened, but it was fast.
Cessa is slipping! He didn’t strike out the side!
So if we play LA in the wildcard game do we get Scherzer, Buehler, or Kershaw?
I think I’d definitely rather try to beat them once then in a series.
We have beaten Scherzer already this year. Kershaw has a choking problem in playoffs. They will obviously reactivate Bauer for poetic irony
I forgot about that. Geno? He can homer off Scherzer and Hader, but he can’t hit .180
i’d take my chances in a NLCS. I’m sure you would too.
yea i was being sarcastic….lol
LOL 🙂
Kershaw is out till september
Urias and Buehler ridiculous
Brach with a 2 out bases empty walk! Situation normal!
That will probably be the last time we see him with Sims coming back tomorrow.
Brach is pitching his last game
Reds way
Dfa the guy who pitched
Sims activated tomorrow
Crap!!! Well Brach is showing us who to cut when Sims and TJA come back.
And, that is followed by a 2-run HR! Pathetic!
If you ever wondered what a DFA would look like if it was a pitch. You just saw it. I would bet he is DFAed for Sims
Brach just probably punched his ticket out of Cincinnati – he’s been brutal lately .
Easy choice now. See ya Mr Brach. Career probably over
Get him out NOW!
Hopefully that was the last we’ve seen of Brach. My goodness. Walking guys with a 6-1 lead.
When Sims and Antone come back, and two relievers are dropped from the roster, it wouldn’t make me sad if the team releases Brach, Hembree, or Garrett. None of them belong on the roster of a team that plays baseball in October.
Garrett has some upside so I would like to keep him for the offseason. Hembree is our (Out of hand game) pitcher
They will get picked up by other teams. If Sal Romano and Bedrosian can get picked up , then those 3 will.
Brach is 35 though
Got a point there. lol
AG isn’t going anywhere because Doolittle is 35 I think. HH or Hoffman might be the next decision. Could be Doolittle, but I doubt it
Well Givens is my new fav Reds pitcher so he might get another quick save!
Why am I not feeling comfortable about AG here. Four outs to go with a three run lead. Got to win this game.
Okay cool. Now three outs. 🙂
he is only there for the lefty, it will be Givens or Mike for the ninth
That is why Bell has been playing questionable pitchers in games where we have giant leads late. Its a 4 way game of chicken and Brach blinked first
Bell….can you hear me? STOP PUTTING IN BRACH!
Brach’s ERA now at 5.59.
Garrett checks in with a crisp 6.48.
Stellar!!
Disagree. I think a 6-1 lead against the lowly Pirates is the perfect time to pitch a guy like Brach. Lorenzen and Givens can’t cover every bullpen inning. With that said, it’s time for Brach to go now that Sims and Antone are getting closer to returning.
Antone picked the day to go down, there is a no hitter in progress
Anybody know when L Sims is back with the Reds? I know he is rehapping, but he should be close to being brought up any day now.
Agreeing with all that Brach just punched his ticket to DFA Land when Sims comes back (tomorrow?)
Booth says Mikey Biceps warming. Save oppo for him tonight unless we crack this egg wide open. And Shogo starts it.
Do you know how hard it is to keep a 3.32 career era over 380 innings when you pitched in Camden, the rest of the AL east, and Coors?
I think Givens is much better then most people realize. I just don’t know if he’s a 70 inning 35 save type
Pretty solid numbers for Camden. Beautiful park. I had the privilege of attending one game there (part of a big event). We skipped our nose bleed seats and hung out by the bullpen.
Shogo on base third time tonight
This is the Shogo we all hoped we’d see.
He’s been getting on. I missed all of Sept last year so I’ve never seen him do anything
Shogo, along with Votto, are more aggressive at the plate and that has added a lot to the Red’s offense.
Do I need to send Bell my latest electrocardiogram? No more Brach please unless it’s on a candy wrapper!
Dennis, I strongly believe after tomorrow Bell won’t have the opportunity
Even then, that’s pretty cheap candy (not cost, quality cheap).
And Shogo scores.,… I know he does not bang but he gets on base for others to do so. One more for the over
Have I mentioned I have a complete man-crush on The Kid?
9 wins out of 11. Should be 11 game winning streak except for two 9th inning chokes
I know many have said this before, but …. How is that young man not hands down winner of the ROY??
Another reason to cheer for the Reds to make the playoffs – it will increase his chances to win the award. I know the team’s performance isn’t supposed to matter, but ….. it matters.
WINKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did I just hear a door slam shut?
I have to think so
Doolitttle time? Again? Or HH again? 🙂
Either one with a clean inning and a 3-4 batter limit is fine. Or let Mikey do it since he’s warm now.
This Reds lineup with Moose and Casty back against the Pirates is really not fair. And I love it.
Not fair at all
Winker HR just made me 40 dollars.
Oh, and the Reds season run differential went positive over this series.
21 runs in 2 games will do that
BUT BUT BUT
+1,000 because I’ve missed that
well evidently Joey does not want me to do it every day. lol
It’s our own little HR Derby tonight.
Boom Baby! Votto!
Now Votto’s just showing off….
I have disconnected the electrodes and shut off the defibrillator!
+500 and I’m glad to hear that. I’ll hold off on the backup order of nitro pills.
Can Brach come back in? Asking for a friend who likes close games!
And another +100 for that one.
Good to see TySteve get into the game. Too bad he won’t hit (or better not else Dennis will be in the cardiac care unit).
This is my first time watching Wilson pitch, he seems to have a very straight fastball. Seems to be working for him here so far.
That was his first hit allowed as a Red
Yes, i seemed to have jinxed him 🙁
Make that 2 hits! Glad we scored those 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th!
still up in the air about him. His contract situation really seems to indicate he will be around for a bit. Not bad. Certainly not our worst lefty
So very close on that DP.
watching it live I thought India hesitated to throw, but after watching the replay, I don’t think he could have done it any quicker
SHogos D though
Nice catch to cap a nice game, Shogo. Stuck with it and ended the threat.
21-3 over 2 games feels good, even if it is against the Pie-Rats.
Night all. Catch you tomorrow afternoon.
Giants just tied the score in the top of the 9th! And, Hader is not available for the Bernies!
Giants tie it up in the ninth
You good now, Dennis? Just checking … 🙂
All is well Mark! We’ll do it all again tomorrow!