| Final | R | H | E |
| Miami Marlins (53-76) | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Reds (71-59) | 6 | 9 | 0 |
| W: Miley (11-4) L: Thompson (2-6) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Reds kicked off a stretch with a favorable schedule with a dominating win on Friday night in Miami. Tyler Naquin got the Reds on the board quickly with a solo home run.
Wade Miley and the Reds were on cruise control from that point on. The Reds put four more runs on the board in the 4th inning, and that was more than enough for Miley on this night. Mike Moustakas also had a big night for the Reds, capped off by a 427 foot home run in the 8th inning.
The Reds are now again a season high 12 games over .500. The Reds could increase their lead for the second wild card spot to 3.0 games with the Padres loss late tonight.
Biggest Play of the Game
Source: FanGraphs
According to Fangraphs WPA statistic (winning percentage added), the biggest play of the game was Tyler Naquin’s solo home run with 1 out in the 1st inning, giving the Reds a 1-0 lead. That play increased the Reds probability of winning by 10.8% (from 47.9% to 58.6%).
Positives
Tyler Naquin just continues to rake. Naquin increased his MLB current leading hit streak to 16 games and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Naquin’s OPS is now up to .835. That is only 8 points lower than the incredible Jonathan India.
Tyler Naquin is now 5 HR away from becoming just the fourth different Reds CF to hit 24+ HR in a season (Griffey Jr, Eric Davis and Gus Bell) https://t.co/hRutY98kmg
— Nick Kirby (@Nicholaspkirby) August 27, 2021
What more can you say about Wade Miley? Just a casual 7 shutout innings. He only walked one batter. Miley lowered his ERA down to 2.74 on the season. What a season. Miley also doubled in a run after the Marlins intentionally walked Schrock with 2 outs.
It appears the death of Mike Moustakas was greatly exaggerated. Moose had 2 extra base hits, including a 427 blast. The Reds offense is already good……you add Moustakas putting up his career numbers, and we are really in business.
Tonight was the first time that Marlins SP, Zach Thompson had ever allowed 5 runs (13th start of his career).
Jeff Hoffman pitched two scoreless innings in relief. He has looked really solid in the bullpen and provides the Reds a quality long man/SP depth.
Negatives
Lol, nothing here folks. Go Reds.
Not so random thoughts……….
This was just a nice, easy win. You won’t always be able to dominate the bad teams like this, but the Reds looked the part of the playoff team vs the team playing out the season. The Reds are really dominating the bad teams overall. The Reds are now 43-23 (.652) vs teams below .500 on the season.
Up Next:
Reds at Marlins
Saturday, 6:10 PM
TV: Bally Sports Ohio / MLB Network (out-of-market only)
Vladimir Gutierrez (3.68 ERA) vs Sandy Alcantara (3.35 ERA)
Dominating describes it very well
Cross 3B off the RLN complaint line for now. Check back later if Moosuarez goes 0 for 2 games.
Farmer is coming back to reality which is a pro’s pro, grit filled utility man. The man has more grits then a Mississippi Waffle House, but Barrero has the talent to “possibly” take this team to another level. Same thing with Stephenson>TB, but Tuck is everyone’s personal catcher evidently.
No real complaining though. This has been a fun team to watch between Joey’s explosion and Naquin’s amazing revival. Nick/Wink hitting like .350 and .330 for a while too! Amazing pitcher/Civil War reenactor Wade Miley. Its been a fun season!
I wish Miley would tell the other pitchers how he moves TB along at such a brisk pace. 😉
The Reds would be much more enjoyable if all the games were paced like this one was when they were in the field.
I love this comment so much. I just spent five minutes chuckling at it. Good stuff, go Reds!
Indy Red Man, your post was both poetic and entertaining. Maybe you should consider joining the staff.
Glad you guys enjoyed it!
I enjoyed it, too, Indy. But maybe we shouldn’t underestimate the value of Tucker’s defense or, for that matter, Farmer’s. He and India are turning some awfully smooth double plays, and seem to have gelled in the field. The Reds are really fun to watch: I’d have to go all the way back to 1990 to match this team, and I only saw a few games that year because they were rarely televised in the Northeast.
+500
Moose has had 2 good games(both against the Marlins). That is a good sign(maybe). Let’s see how he does against the better teams/pitchers. We should watch for a larger sample size with Moose. Agree with most of what you said. In spite of everything we are winning and on the road for the playoffs.
Will have to wait until 20222 to see Barrero and Ty Steve but your right about another level possibility which is where the big boys play now.
Like Hoffman in the bullpen. He’s been solid there and gives them someone that can throw multiple innings or spot start if needed. Think they have the makings of a solid bullpen next year, they just need someone to take the ball in the 9th.
Padres up 3-0 early and former Red Packy Naughton now in for the Angels.
I think Givens could be a good closer. Not elite, but not going Hembree on us either. A guy I like though with crazy stuff is Kendall Graveman! 44 ip, 22 hits, 1.02 era, 0.68 whip. A 98-99 mph heavy sinker that nobody can lift. He’s a FA and just making chump change. He did miss some time though….hence only 44 innings
Have you seen Moreta? I have seen him several times via the MiLB_TV package. He doesn’t throw as hard as Hunter Greene but the ball looks just as lopsided as Greene’s high heat from the CF camera as it is whirling up to the plate.
I haven’t seen him, but I’ll check him out
SD may be winning but that is immaterial with the win tonight. MIL and LA are both losing. Just cause we got a seat at the table doesn’t mean it has to be the seat we are sitting in.
Those are terrific numbers for Graveman. Why do you suppose he is still floating around?
He’s kind of like Hoffman w/better stuff. Failed starter for all of his 20s. I think he’s 31. Yeah 31 in December and he’s really never been that good? He found something.
Huge for Moose to get his timing.
Now just needs to stay healthy.
Adds another LHH been missing wout Winker.
Plus adds another LHH threat with Votto Niquin.
Another fantastic start for Miley, so happy for all around win, but can someone go to bullpen and take down the sign that reads THO SHALL WALK THE FIRST BATTER YOU FACE !!
If only Barrero could get as long as Moose did to re-discover his hitting stroke….
That’s literally my only complaint about this team at this point. Barrero can (and should be able to) put up better numbers than Farmer while playing much better defense. After his insane July, Farmer has reverted to his career norm of a below average hitter who plays solid but unspectacular defense.
Why not let Barrero play? At the very least, his defense will save some runs. And he showed a great batting eye in AAA, surely he could do better than Farmer’s 280-something OBP? Just imagine if the Reds could add another potent bat to their lineup just in time for the playoffs, while also improving their defense up the middle at the same time. That’s the potential Barrero offers.
Farmer has been super solid at SS, and clutch at the plate. He has earned the position, Barrero has not.
Barrera doesn’t have the Major league track record that Moose has. He will get his shot it just won’t be this year.
So his past(at least 2-3 years ago) and how much he makes ranks over huge potential for playing time? Babe Ruth had a great track record but he is dead.
Another thing. When you mess with young players like has been done with Lopez and Barreo, you are potentially messing with their confidence level. When you do well and promptly get removed from the lineup and sent down, it doesn’t help a young guy’s confidence. An old over the hill guy needs to keep playing to get everything together but a young guy doesn’t. Kind of a double standard.
Alan, Moose is 32 years old and has had success at this level. As he is demonstrating, speculation about him being over the hill may be a bit premature. Have you ever managed? It is a very delicate situation when you are replacing veterans with potential. Bell has made the decision to go with experience over potential at this point. He has us in a pennant race with 32 games to go. Not trying to say that Jose B wouldn’t do well but it isn’t a slam dunk. In sports just about every manager out there gives his veterans a much longer rope. As fans it’s easy to say bench him but we have very little understanding of how it may effect the morale of the team. Bell the man making the decisions has to weigh all those things when making changes. He is not clueless as some on here want to make him out to be. Managing health and morale of team is huge in a 162 game season and is a big factor in getting through the year. Judging by our record and where many predicted we would be Bell has done a very good job of managing our team. He has been around this game his entire life. He has seen it from many angles a manager, a player even a son of a player. How about we give him the benefit of the doubt and see how the season plays out.
Alan also young players also must understand that they have roles to fill. Some of those roles are utility roles being successful at that could lead to bigger opportunities.
I feel the only thing he is managing are the egos of someone up higher in relation to the contracts owed versus the on field production. I have never seen a manager who would play undeserving players and shoot himself in the foot. It has to be coming from higher up. How high is the question. You should never put top young players in a role playing position. That is hard enough for experienced vets much less someone who is seeing ML pitching for the first time. You talk about a good way to break a young player’s confidence, then that is the way. They would have been better off to not have brought up Lopez, Barreo and Schrock at all than to manage them the way they have. If you want players who can come off the bench and spot start you sign players like the one they just picked up from the Diamondbacks. If you bring up your young potential star they need to play to build up their confidence. They already blotched Barreo once by bringing him up too soon (no AA or AAA). What kind of management rushes one of your top young stars like that. Getting back to managing at the Major League, NFL or NBA level, it is more about baby sitting and managing egos than it is true managing. I equate it to teaching or Coaching at some private schools. What decisions you make is not about doing the right thing but about which students, parents, administrators you might cross if you do the right thing. i. e. it is about politics. Now lets relate that back to the Reds. We made some terrible mistakes with some large contracts so we are going to try to look good and play them anyway. At this point I would blame it all on Dick Williams(he is no longer there) and move on.
Mr. Castellini is in the fruit business. He should know full well when fruit becomes too ripe you have no choice but to discard it( no matter how much money you have sunk into it). Over ripened fruit like an over aged ball player will never be what it once was. Pretending it will is useless.
Couldn’t disagree more strongly Alan. Players at all levels need to seize the opportunity when it’s given. As I mentioned above veterans are under much pressure As well. Your worrying about destroying the confidence of a young player. In my day young players earned playing time by virtue of performing when given the chance.a while ago bringing players along slowly was the way to develop them.
I won’t entirely dismiss your point about management signing some bad contracts. But winning in the end is what is important and Bell has accomplished a good deal of that against a lot of people predicting he wouldn’t.
+1000 Please forward to Bob and Krall your words CI3J.
Barrero has a .190 career batting average in mlb.He should not be starting much when the Reds are involved in a playoff chase
He has 14 at-bats this season Burt.
Kyle Farmer has a track record as long as my hair would be if I never cut it in my life of not being a starting caliber player. I think Doug has shown it before that he has had one month in his entire MLB career with an OPS over .780 when he has had 30 trips to the plate. Farmer can’t hit and he has never hit outside of one month. And he is back to not hitting again with a .650 OPS and a .270 OBP in August.
It is very difficult to see how Barrero would hit worse than what Farmer has done but very easy to see where he could hit much better. Your mileage may vary on that but it seems like a rather easy decision for the old tomato
Brewers lose. A game closer
Watching Doolittle give up the lead and give up a HR and three other base runners in an inning for the Mariners. It feels better this way, Seattle that is.
You were watching it? Really ? How did he give up a hr when he didn’t allow any runs at all? Make things up much ??
He did give up 3 hits, guess all the runs got charged to the starter, so must not have been a HR
Glad we have you to police arguably the best poster on this board. Anyone can make a mistake. Especially when they are older. There is a way to correct someone and a way to not correct someone.
We have at least one more in the pen I would like to see playing for the other side. Or course, we have Givens, Lorenzen, Hoffman(I think) and Wilson who will be FAs. I think Wilson has a team option. Antone won’t be available next season either. We will need to resign some of our FAs as well as one or two more. We could get some relievers via trades. All in all, the pen seems to be coming around. We could use another solid lefty.
He actually gave up three 2-out singles in his inning but no one scored. Got Merrifield to line out with the bases loaded.
Rockies won…we are a game closer in both races
Nice bounce back outta Naquin. I thought he was washed up for the season.
Miley has been fantastic this season. Glad Moose was able to get a couple big hits. Adding him to the offense would make it even more formidable, especially after the first 4-5 hitters. Keep on beating the teams you should.
So, if the Reds are 20 games over .500 vs teams under .500, that makes them 8 games under vs teams over .500, right? That seems about right. I feel like we’ve struggled with Mil, SF, LA, SD, and ATL. Hopefully the Reds can flip that script in the playoffs.
For the most part just the Giants and Padres to date.
ATL 3-4 (done)
MIL 9-10 (done)
LAD 2-1 (3 remaining)
SD 1-6 (done)
SF 1-6 (done)
If there is a game or Two variance in the total W/L vs >.500 count it is probably from interleague games.
But I think it is worth noting that the Brewers coming out and taking charge of the head to head season series with the Reds after the All Star break defined the race the in the NL Central. Before the break, the Reds led the series 8-5 but after the break, the Brewers dominated 5-1. If the Reds had gotten even a split in those final 6 games, we’d still be looking at a real dog fight of a race in the Central.
The Brewers were ready to play coming out of the chute in that first series after the break; and, the Reds despite being at home were not. Hats off to Counsell and the Brewers organization for grasping the situation in advance and doing whatever they did to set the table and tone.
Can we keep everyone healthy and see what this lineup can do with Winker back in it? The depth/potential of that lineup should put pressures on the pitching, regardless of who we run into.
The biggest season surprises to me – and there have been many – have to be Miley, India, Farmer > Suarez, the bullpen in totality, and Joey.
The most fun I’ve had watching a Reds team since 2012.
Time to relax on the Barrero campaign. This team is where no one dreamed they would be at the start of the season. I don’t want him in the middle of a playoff race trying to see if he can hit major league pitching. Compare Farmer’s numbers to all the F/As we were screaming for. Not bad. And every team player knows that locker room chemistry is crucial. That’s all you hear from Joey, Naquin, Moose, Tucker etc. Sit back wait for Winker and enjoy the ride. P.S. I do think AA and Shogo should be our last options. Just terrible.
Agree, Beaufort Red.
Agreed
+500 and I’m a fan of Barrero. But we need to get to Game #163 (or better) and he can be a role player for this season. 2022 is a different matter.
And Farmer has been much better than projected, especially given it was Geno’s job to lose (which he did). He’s avoided big injuries and is playing through the grind of more games than he’s ever faced, especially at SS. Let’s dance with them that brought us for now. We’re pretty much in control of our own path at this point.
Due respect to everyone’s feelings but Farmer is showing signs of running down again. His OBP for August is .272. His OPS for the month is .624. He has struck out 16 times and walked just twice with 6 GIDP for the month.
Farmer’s Winning % Added (WPA) is below league average for the month. In August, he has produced 6 fewer runs than league average for a hitter batting in the men on base/ number of outs situations he has batted in (RE24).
If he is to be the player the Reds need the rest of the season, they need to get him time off. How Bell does that is his job; but, the numbers are almost shouting that he needs to do it, and now.
Don’t know about OPB,OPS,WPA, RE, PMS,ED or any other sabremetric. All I know is were winning and the clubhouse is great. Doubt these stats would have had any affect on the Big Red Machine or the 1990 Reds. It’s called the human element. Kinda like the guy who isn’t the sharpest tool but his personality makes coming to work a lot easier. By the way I’m an aeronautical engineer and retired airline pilot, so I’m definitely a techie and numbers guy.
those stats im sure were all good for those teams. its not hard to take these stats in context, just the same as whichever stats you happen to like. even a minor understanding of sabr stats is pretty useful, not just writing them off since its a new thing.
Maybe get him some rest against righties. Farmer has significant split differentials with a .688 OPS and wRC+ 84 against righties
His slugging against lefties is big at .500
You knew Moose would hit again. Had to get his timing down. I was one of the few who backed him during his struggles. Unfortunately, after four+ months, we knew Suarez wasn’t. Moose is the call the rest of the season.
Yes, Hoffman has found his niche. He’s our 2-3 inning guy and every team needs one.
Let’s keep this winning train rolling.
I was wrong about Moose, I thought he needed a d l stint. Anyone have a good recipe for crow? I’ll be eating a lot of it this year.
Alan Horn, were you ever 23, or have kids that age? It’s not messing with his confidence. At that age with his abilities, he is an overconfident, indestructable, gift from God to earth. I don’t worry much about his confidence. However, a 30 something man who’s body is starting to break down on him for the first time in his life may start (probably will start) having those feelings and doubts about himself. He needs/deserves the chance to get back to what he & the FO that signed him knows he can do and has done (aka Joey Votto washed up, trade him). These guys are no different than anybody else in the world, they just have people expecting them to be robots. Chill out, and get off your soapbox.
Go Redlegs!!
Careful now, if Barrero as the utility SS allows Farmer enough rest to bounce back in his performance through sufficient recuperative rest to restore his performance level it might keep Barrero from playing more SS