The Cincinnati Reds offense never got going as they lost 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, losing the series at home, falling to 73-65 on the year.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Tigers (65-73) |
4 | 6 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (73-65) |
1 | 6 | 1 |
| W: Urena (3-8) L: Castillo (7-15) SV: Soto (18) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Casey Mize had a perfect game through the first three innings of the game. But as the rookie begins approaching his innings limit for the season he was replaced to begin the 4th by Jose Urena. He kept the perfect game going for one batter, but then Tyler Naquin and Nick Castellanos both singled to break things up and threaten the shutout, too. Joey Votto, however, lined into an inning-ending double play that had Naquin picked off at second on the play.
The next inning the Reds got right back to threatening. Mike Moustakas singled to begin the inning and an out later Tucker Barnhart added a single of his own to put runners on 1st and 2nd for Max Schrock. He would ground into a force out at second base, putting runners on the corners for Luis Castillo with two outs. As things tend to go with a pitcher at the plate – it didn’t. Castillo struck out to end the inning and the game remained scoreless.
Cincinnati went quietly in the 6th and 7th, but in the 8th they tried to put together a rally. Max Schrock led off with a 13-pitch walk. Jonathan India then had a 1-out single to put runners on the corners for the Reds. Asdrúbal Cabrera came off of the bench to pinch hit for Tyler Naquin after the Tigers brought in lefty Gregory Soto. A wild pitch during the at-bat brought Schrock home and got the Reds on the board as India also moved up a base. Cabrera would walk to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Nick Castellanos. Soto got Castellanos to chase two pitches out of the zone to pick up the strikeout and leave things up to Joey Votto in a left-on-left match up. It didn’t work out for Votto and the Reds as he also struck out, stranding two runners on and sending the game to the 9th with Cincinnati trailing 4-1.
Needing at least three runs, the Reds sent Eugenio Suárez to the plate to hit for Amir Garrett to lead off the bottom of the 9th. He flew out on the first pitch that he saw. Kyle Farmer saw one more pitch than Suárez did but the result was nearly identical as he, too, flew out to right field. Aristides Aquino came up representing the last chance for the Reds. It wasn’t meant to be as he, like the two hitters before him, flew out to right field to end the game.
The Pitching
Things were going very well for Luis Castillo through five innings. He hadn’t allowed a run and have given up just two hits at that point. But then the 6th inning rolled around and things went south. Akil Baddoo doubled to lead off the inning. A line out followed, but then an error on Joey Votto put runners on the corners for the Tigers. The big blow came next when Jeimer Candelario tripled to put Detroit up 2-0. He would score on a sacrifice fly that followed to extend the lead to 3-0.
The 6th inning was the final one for Castillo as the game was turned over to Luis Cessa to try and hold the game at 3-0. He needed just eight pitches to get through the inning that included a strikeout.
Brad Brach, just off of the injured list today, took over for the 8th inning and walked the first batter he saw. A broken bat single into center with a runner on the move brought in another run, making it 4-0. Jonathan Schoop, however, was thrown out at second base trying to take the extra base on the throw home that was cut off by Joey Votto and fired to second. The next batter struck out and then another single into center turned into an out at second base as Jeimer Candelario tried to extend it to a double.
Amir Garrett took over for Brach in the 9th inning. He would begin the inning with a strikeout and follow it up with back-to-back ground outs to keep the score at 4-1 and give the Reds offense one more chance. The bats couldn’t get going and Cincinnati dropped the series.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Chicago Cubs
Monday September 6th, 2:20pm
Sonny Gray (7-6, 3.89 ERA) vs Justin Steele (3-2, 3.48 ERA)
Reds seem content to “compete” for the second wild card spot rather than aggressively seize the spot. It starts with the Front Office:
How long to we have to watch subpar play at 3B, offensively and defensively, when we have a better option in Barrero at AAA?
Why do we have add a waiver claim pitcher to the 28-man roster when we have a relief pitcher who hasn’t given up an earned run in 2 months at AAA?
Time to put the best players on the roster and in the daily lineup … no excuses!
Absolutely correct
Reds ownership and front office are among the worst in mlb (possibly the worst)
Agree 100%. What winning the Reds have done has been in spite of them instead of because of them. The season is almost over and they are still trying things that haven’t worked all season. The handling of personnel (players) is the worst I have ever witnessed by any Reds front office/ownership. That is from some terrible FA signings followed by this past off season up until the present. You have a manager who has never won at any stop I know of and over manages with his double switches and left/right match ups. I hope the next manager has a track record before he is signed.
while I don’t defend the FO, I must criticize the fans and the poor showing the’ve made for the last month. We are in a playoff race, yet on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we can only muster 23k in the stands, that’s poor. The last Sunday home game we had a whopping 17,000. As fans, we complain about the front office, yet they have put us in the thick of a playoff race and we don’t act accordingly. It was only a few years back we were winning 65 games.
Spot on BK – front office and ownership are awful ! For pieces inn AAA that can help possibly and ………………………… crickets
Case in point, it’s a joke Dauri Moreta is not in the bigs! They don’t want to win.
I bet the Reds are the only ream in baseball who’s opening day starter has 14 losses.
Make that 15 losses: and he would have a slightly better record if the Reds would score some runs when he pitches, which they have not of late.
I don’t think you will find many pitchers anywhere who have an ERA of 4.20, more strikeouts than innings pitched, and 14 losses.
He was awful for 2 months, and since then, he has pitched like an ace. But, they don’t score many runs to support him. And when they do score, the bullpen steps up to wrestle a loss from the jaws of victory.
Fact.
I have given up on trying to figure out the front office. I think the players are starting to question if the the front office really wants to win.
The answer is obvious when their prize off season acquisition was Sean Doolittle
Did anyone really think DB was not going to pitch Brach today? It is like it is his birthday and he got the newest greatest toy on the market, and has to show it off.
Brach wasn’t the problem today, it was the (lack of) offense. I thought it made sense to get him out there when the game wasn’t on the line. Lots of reasons to complain about DB if that’s what floats your boat but I don’t think pitching Brach is one of them.
Reds are saving their offense for 9 games against Pirates. Votto 0-4 with DB. He’s burying his head in the sand thinking about making adjustments. Wonder why Bell does not start Tyler at first once in a while. Wonder why Bell pinch hit for Naquin, who has 2 hits and been hot.
Turn the page, regroup and hope to beat up the Cubs.
Well, the Reds have a road winning record that is almost as good as their home record, so maybe a long road trip would be good for them.
The front office should consider a short term rebuild after the season. Trade Miley, Gray and Mahle for what you can get. Pay Suarez and Moose to go away. Give your young players a chance to get become established while adding a couple more high round draft picks. Then as the bad contracts come off the book add a free agent or two.
It wouldn’t be a terrible strategy. The problem is I don’t have faith that Nick Krall could pull it off.
The Reds screwed up the last rebuild they’d screw this one up as well.
I’d call that a “retool”. We have pieces that are redundant or broken. I think you still can trade Suarez, just won’t get a good return, and I’d keep Miley, but other than that I agree with you. I would love to see a rotation in 22 of Castillo, Miley, Greene, Lodolo, Gutierrez. We’d be thin on starters (who could help in 22) in the minors, having Ashcraft in AAA, but not much more. Santillan could be stretched back out, but he’s probably better in the pen.
Won’t Greene and Lodolo be on an innings limit when they are called up? You won’t actually have five starters with both of them in the rotation.
I think AJ Hinch should be permanently banned from baseball for his role in the cheating scandal, but I did wonder yesterday where the Reds would be with him in our dugout?
No, all they need to do is eat the Moustakas, Suarez and Akiyama contracts. Getting them out of the way (with the DH coming) opens up plenty of ABs for the younger players. They have to eat them, anyway, because no other team is dumb enough to take on more than a pittance of their contracts.
They likely need to do a one-time capital call to their limited partners, but the organization in general is in good shape aside from $35 million in dead money next year and $31 in 2023.
The only thing that could help is the new CBA goes through and there is a 100 million salary floor. Then teams might come and take Shogos 7 mil one year contract or take a flier on Suarez.
Why do so many people want to trade away starting pitchers???
This team is deeply flawed. But the strength of the team is the starting rotation. Why do we want to mess with it?? You want a rebuild?? I’m with you.
Start with the bullpen. Keep Sims and The Bug Man. Everyone else is subject to the axe. Then, go to the infield. India, Barnhart, and Stephenson stay. The rest?? We’ll see what happens.
I love our outfield hitters – but they are the WORST defensive OF in baseball. They would all make fine DHs. Since we can only play one DH, we might consider moving one of them and getting an athlete to play CF, and maybe a corner spot.
Lots of places need to be adjusted. The rotation is not one of them.
Miley is controllable for 1 more year, Gray, Castillo, and Mahle are controllable for 2 more years. There is zero and I mean zero percent chance Bob will extend SG, LC and TM. Best case scenario is 1 of the 3. If you rebuild like your saying the Reds will not be good over the next 2 years. Why wouldn’t you trade 2 now and get a nice return? Especially when you have 2 high end pitching prospects knocking down the door. Trade from depth and retool.
One of those high end door knockers has pitched very little this year and is currently IL for pitching shoulder strain. Does not generate warm fuzzies.
It actually would be a terrible strategy.
It just shows you how foolish it is basing anything “strength of schedule”.
Before so many start depositing money into the Cubs/Pirates games coming up, remember that contending teams in September always find significant challenges beating teams who have nothing to play for and are letting their future players have a shot at proving themselves.
Confidence seems to be a fickle and fleeting thing in pro sports and the Reds are fresh out of it when they need it most.
+100
And the Reds seem determined to just batten down the hatches and go with old tired players except for India (who may himself be getting frayed around the fringes from over use) and the occasional burst of Stephenson they get when oppo teams use LH pitchers.
Barrera should be up and playing almost every day. Rotate Farmer through the several spots he was expected to be a super sub at then get him a day of rest. Then Barrero a day of rest then repeat.
If Winker looks middle of the month or beyond away, bring up Freidl and use him in a rotation.
Oh, and by what looniness is Moreta still at AAM?
Today was suppose to be the day the Reds offense shows up and they win. Right handed pitcher on the mound for the Tigers. Wrong. Tomorrow they face a lefty. Not feeling it . The Reds cant beat the easy teams and Cardinals are beating the Brewers. Even San Diego is hanging around with their difficult schedule. Now the Mets are back in it. I dont see this team making it. Instead of competing against one team (SD) now they have 3 other teams to scoreboard watch. Not good.
The Tigers are not an “easy” team. They got off to a very bad start to the season, but since May 9th, their record is actually 54-49, which is a .524 winning percentage, which works out to about 85 wins on the year.
Reversion to the mean. They make the WC but I’m not betting on them. SD & StL both look more capable
The Reds are a .500 team since the break.I see that continuing.
So, serious question. If the Reds don’t make the playoffs, does David Bell get fired?
Wishful thinking.
Is he under contract for another year or does his current contract expire at the end of this season?
I think the Reds have an option. They will pick it up.
The Red’s will pick up D. Bell’s option. Playing meaningful ball in August will get it done.
He should be as should Krall, but I can’t see either happening. I don’t think next year will be any better, most likely worse. Votto older, NC gone, Suarez and Moose continue to be anchors. The only positive would be trades and bringing up some young pitchers. I would like to think about Senzel but can’t see it.
Agree plus India and Stephenson are likely to regress a bit.
David Bell isn’t going to get fired. Whether or not he should be fired is a fair debate to have, but it’s not going to happen.
They could dig up John McGraw and put him in the dugout it’s not going to matter, as long as, the Reds have the current ownership.
If the Reds finish around 10 games over .500, whether or not they make the playoffs, I suspect he will be retained, because in the eyes of upper management…
1. the Reds exceeded expectations of many preseason performance estimates and,
2. ergo, some significant progress was made this year.
Of course, if the Reds finish third in their division, behind the Cardinals, I can only imagine the “hair on fire” disposition of Reds’ fans.
If the Reds totally collapse from his point on, I’m still not sure it will make a difference on David Bell’s status.
Then again, what do I know?
Does Bell even want to come back as manager in this crazy setup might also be a fair question. There is just too much weirdness that has gone down not to wonder if Bell and Krall are on the same page philosophically and tactically. Might Bell even have his eyes on stepping up to a bigger job?
NO!!!
Asdrubal Cabrera walked today. He is now 0-7 with 1 walk and 4 whiffs. The Reds are now 2-6 since replacing Jose Barrero with the Falstaffian Cabrera.
And by almost any statistical measure, offensive or defensive, Cabrera is the most productive 3B on the Reds roster, especially against LHP.
I notice you failed to mention Barrero’s sparking Suarez-like stats during his recent call up, nor that they mirrored his 2020 stats.
I wish Votto is clutch as Vogelbach. Come to Cincy Vogelbach, I’ll treat you to Skylines.
Seriously? Gimme a break. Maybe today, yeah, but over their careers? NOT. EVEN. CLOSE. NEVER. WILL. BE.
Oh relax, take a joke. Enjoy listening to Votto talking about making adjustments. It’s coming.
Vogelbach has been released multiple times in his brief career.He can’t hit lefties at all.
No thanks on the big fella
I’m about sick and tired of the Reds losing games because of Bell’s stupid shift crap in the infield. In todays game, the 2 hits that lead to ALL of Detroit’s runs were hit where defenders would have been had they been playing straight up in a normal position. What in the heck was Votto doing playing almost to 2nd base on a left handed pull hitter like Candelario. The routine grounder that went for a triple would have been a routine out had Votto been playing a normal first base. For a manager that is so hyped up on analytics cant see how often the Reds get burned by a shift. Bell is so clueless. If he is retained after this year its an injustice to all Reds fans. Without Bell the Reds would be 25 games over 500 easy. GEEEEZ!!!
+1000
If Bell were a smart manager, he would have noticed by now that Castellanos can’t hit outside sliders, but swings at them anyway. Sparky would have benched him against any pitcher with a decent slider. I don’t like the shift because it isn’t the way they did things when I was younger, but I think most teams use it now. The thing is that–yes–balls get hit through the shift, but if you didn’t use the shift, balls would get hit through in different places. They base the shift on hitters’ tendencies. How stupid.
Bell has made a few decisions that I don’t agree with (once Barrero came up, he should have played every day, for example). But this team has overperformed. If someone had told us at the beginning of the year that the Reds:
* Would play the whole season without a legitimate Major League shortstop
* Would lose Votto, Winker, Castellanos, Senzel, Gray, Lorenzen, Sims, and Antone for significant periods due to injuries
* Would have nearly 30 players appear out of the bullpen this year, with at least 10 players recording saves
* Would DFA their team leader in saves in August, and his name would be Heath Hembree
* Would get sub-.200 batting averages from Eugenio Suarez and Aristides Aquino
… we’d have been THRILLED to learn that we were competing for a playoff spot in August. David Bell may be a great manager; he may be a mediocre manager (I’m not willing to suggest he might be awful after he’s managed this dumpster fire of a roster into playoff contention). But whatever he is … He is not currently what is holding the Reds back, and I hope he’s back next year, because I’d like to see what he can do with a real roster (and I’m more than a little terrified of what management would bring in to replace him).
I think the problem was more bringing the infield trying to avoid giving up one run which led to the big inning. If Votto were playing back, even where he was positioned, the soft grounder would have been easily fielded–instead it turned into a triple.
There’s a very old saying and has been changed thru the years so I’ll use the version from Ray Stevens There is none so blind as he who will not see
The old saying begs a question: he who will not see what?
What the Real issue is with the Reds (hint:It’s not David Bell)
I agree.
The easiest wild card schedule is not looking so easy.
It hasn’t started yet. Detroit is not an “easy” team. They a 5 games over .500 since May 9th. Their record just looks bad because they got off to a horrible start over the first 5 weeks of the season.
Brewers come back to defeat the dirty birds 6-5 and Astros has tied the Padres 3-3. No body wants this second wild card
If the Reds fail to make the postseason, it falls squarely in the laps of the GM and ownership. This team has battled through injury after injury and managed to produce a winning record. They survived a large chunk of the season missing Lorenzen, Sims, and Antone in the bullpen. They survived the absence of Votto for a month. Castellanos missed several weeks with his hand injury and others stepped up in his absence.
Yet the front office has done virtually nothing to support the players. They dumped Iglesias and Bradley last winter and replaced them with scraps from the waiver wire and Sean Doolittle. Aside from a couple small trades at the deadline to help improve the bullpen, Krall has left the team without any outside reinforcements. It was rumored that Bryant was discussed with the Reds, but the team didn’t want to add $7 million in salary. Yikes.
It’s not every year teams have the talent and chemistry to get to the postseason. Krall and Castellini have already blown the chance to win the division, and now the wildcard is in jeopardy. MLB practically handed the Reds a ticket to October baseball with the cake schedule in its final month. Yet the front office failed to address the missing pieces, rather choosing to shuffle the lineup around daily hoping for different results.
+1
(Not to mention the handling of Senzel.)
Filling the lineup with castoffs and long term failures while failing to utilize Barreo, Schrock and Lopez . Likewise, they tried to field a bullpen most of the season with cast offs and long term failures while failing to bring up pitchers like Moreta. instead activating Brach . To their credit they made some decent trades for relievers at the deadline but it looks to be too little, too late. Injuries hurt the BP and they failed to compensate or add needed reinforcements in a timely fashion.
+1
If Krall is on a mandate from Castellini not to spend, what more can he do ? It seems Castellini has his hands in more than he should on personal decisions.
What about putting blame on high paid baseball players who can’t hit the ball in September baseball games: Suarez, moustakas, and yes, Votto?
Management went with them far too long instead of giving some of their minor league players a chance. Then they finally went with castoffs. Cabrera, Deshields Jr. and Brach versus Schrock, Barreo, Lopez and Moreta.
That’s a novel idea! Unfortunately, once the era of guaranteed contracts began, this is what we get, especially as a small market team not supported by fans.
Don’t forget that they mostly lucked into finding out how good India was. They obviously didn’t have a high opinion of him evidenced by going out and signing Moustakas to an overpriced contract. On the other hand, they seemed to have unlimited confidence in Barrero as the long-term solution at SS, since they have refused to sign anyone to fill that hole. Yet, now they don’t play him. I have little confidence in the internal scouting of the organization. I’m going to be a broken record on this, but the Deshields purchase is such a poor look. Made even worse by the fact that Siri and Fairchild are both now in MLB and they gave them away for nothing.
16 out of last 24 against the Cubs, Pirates and Nationals. If you can’t make that wild card spot with these teams making up two thirds of your schedule, you simply don’t deserve to be there.
16 out of last 25 for Padres are with the Giants and Dodgers.
The astros…. like the rest of Texas, failed us today. Looking up at the Padres now. Hope the cubs are in full collapse mode. Gotta get the ship righted somehow
Cubs have won 6 in a row, 2 over the Twins and a 4 game sweep of the Pirates. Doesn’t appear to be full collapse mode.
Team is running out of gas.No reason to think the older players will find the fountain of youth.Best lineup rarely plays.Old guys in the infield outside of Joey and one month of Farmer have been awful.Reds need a spark and its not more old guys released by other teams its Barrero
Been saying Joey needs a day off for weeks. Don’t know why he can’t sit once or twice among the string of left handers being thrown at the Reds and let Stephenson grab a start there. But go ahead and run him into the ground and see how that goes….
There is often angst among fans for day to day decisions. Why can’t we bring Barrero up and move Farmer to third, use him as a super sub. Why can’t we do this or that. The sad fact is that even though the Reds are not playing well right now, if they don’t make the playoffs it is not because of day to day managerial decisions, some of those go well and some do not. Sometimes they go bad in bunches but if the front office had not sat on its hands in April and May while the bullpen was squandering away big leads we would be sitting in great position right now, possibly for the first wildcard spot or for the division lead but definitely for the second wild card spot. If this is a wasted years it goes on ownership and/or the front office.
I agree with the critique of the front office. However, from the position they are in now they should at least make the maximum effort to utilize the talent available to get into the postseason.
Why might the team look tired on the field? Johnathan India has never before been in a full six month MLB season.
Kyle Farmer has been the iron man this year but from 2018 through 2020 he had a total of ~675 total plate appearances MiLB and MLB combined. This year he is already at 456. And as with India, Farmer has scant experience at pacing and playing through a full MLB season as an everyday player.
Joey Votto will turn 38 years old later this week and despite missing a month to injury is on online to finish at close to his PAs per 162 games career average.
Tyler Naquin did not have as many as 400 PAs in a season (MilB/MLB combined) since 2016 until this season and is now at 440.
How about doing the same analysis for Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, Big Klu et al in their equivalent points in their careers in the days of wool uniforms and no AC or creature comfort amenities in the dugouts, and Rose, Conception, Morgan, Bench and Larkin et al in their era. I’ll consider the ‘worn out’ theory when I see data that show the current guys are playing so much more than the guys of old.
They probably are tired, Jim, but the minor leaguers everybody wants used to replace them are basically untried at the Major League level. I doubt that many teams in tight contention for a wild card slot would sit multiple veterans in favor of call-ups, particularly given that the starting left fielder and pre-season presumptive center fielder already aren’t playing. Maybe one or more of the young guys would spark the team to the play-offs, but it’s no sure thing at all. And I do know that, if the Reds followed the advice to play the young guys, and they bombed, we’d be just as hyper-critical of the decisions as we are of the current path.