The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds by two touchdowns last night as the team from Ohio continued it’s spiral, falling to 3-21 on the season. That’s the worst start in franchise history, and tied for the second worst start in the modern history of Major League Baseball. The Reds will send Hunter Greene to the mound this afternoon to take on Adrian Houser and the Brewers as they wrap up their series. First pitch is set for 1:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for this afternoon’s NL Central contest:
Cincinnati Reds
|
Milwaukee Brewers
|
| TJ Friedl – RF | Luis Urias – 2B |
| Brandon Drury – 2B | Christian Yelich – LF |
| Tommy Pham – LF | Willy Adames – SS |
| Mike Moustakas – 3B | Rowdy Tellez – 1B |
| Tyler Stephenson – C | Hunter Renfroe – RF |
| Colin Moran – 1B | Omar Narvaez – C |
| Matt Reynolds – SS | Tyrone Taylor – CF |
| Ronnie Dawson – DH | Jace Peterson – 3B |
| Albert Almora Jr. – CF | Keston Hiura – DH |
| Hunter Greene – SP | Adrian Houser – SP |
Today we’re getting to see the Reds debuts for Albert Almora Jr. and Ronnie Dawson.
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Hunter Greene | 18.0 | 6.00 | 1.61 | 10 | 22 |
| Adrian Houser | 21.1 | 2.53 | 1.17 | 10 | 16 |
| Links: Hunter Greene’s Stats | Adrian Houser’s Stats |
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Hunter Greene
We are all back on Hunter Greene watch this afternoon. After averaging 99.9 and 100.9 MPH with his fastball in his first two starts, he’s averaged just 96.2 and 97.2 MPH in his last two starts. That kind of drop off in velocity isn’t just noticeable, but a bit scary.
Consistency has been an issue early on this season for Greene. He’s been on the verge of completing a start with a positive grade a few times before the last few batters changed the grade. Home runs have been an issue so far, as has his higher-than-expected walk rate. Both lefties and righties have hit well against Greene so far, though righties have found a little more success.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 47 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | .268 | .340 | .512 |
| LHH | 38 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 12 | .250 | .368 | .469 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 98.3 | 86.7 | 89.4 |
| Usage | 60.7% | 31.2% | 8.1% |
Adrian Houser
Walks have been an issue for Adrian Houser this season, but he’s counteracted that by keeping the ball in the park all season, too. Right-handed hitters have one more strikeout than walk against Houser, but are hitting just .159 with two doubles against him. Lefties have had more success against him – showing a little more power and a better average.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 51 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | .159 | .255 | .205 |
| LHH | 36 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | .250 | .333 | .375 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 94.5 | 93.9 | 83.8 | 85.7 | 80.3 |
| Usage | 16.2% | 49.6% | 10.9% | 9.7% | 13.6% |
When and Where
- Game time: 1:40pm ET
- Where: American Family Field
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: They have a dome
News and Notes
Updated Reds rotation
#Reds rotation for #Pirates series:
Fri: Overton
Sat G1: Lodolo
Sat G2: TBD
Sun: Mahle— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) May 5, 2022
The great news here is that it seems that Nick Lodolo’s back is doing just fine and he’ll be ready to come off of the injured list on Saturday and return to the rotation.
Big night on the farm
Last night saw 2021 1st round pick Matt McLain hit two home runs for Double-A Chattanooga – tying him for the organizational lead with seven of them. He wasn’t the only top 10 prospect to hit two homers last night on the farm, either. Oh, and Joe Boyle extended his shutout streak to 17.0 innings to begin the season down in Dayton, who has the best record in professional baseball at 18-5. Plenty of good things happening down on the farm right now.
Mclain was a college player I think he could handle coming up on this team.
So were India and Senzel. He’s in AA playing at or above the level he saw at UCLA and working more frequently and for a longer season. It might work, it might now.
Plus, in order to promote him, you either move him to 2B or 3B or displace Farmer (right, Bell will do that).
And don’t forget Barrero is also in that same queue soon not to mention that India is supposed to be back inside of 2-4 weeks.
Maybe fast track McLain to AAA and let him grow in and simmer there?
I wouldn’t bet against one of McLain or Barerro eventually ending at 3B or in the OF.
Right now Mclain would be a nice 3rd base choice, at least we would be looking to the future.
I could buy that. Of course, he’d need to play a bit there at AA or AAA just to get oriented first. And then DTBell would have to keep The Moose off the infield dirt (except for emergencies).
I’m still on the fence about Barrero at SS. Just haven’t seen enough of him yet (for reasons we know all too well).
I’m concerned about Hunter too — Stay healthy! I still remember David Bell boasting about this “in game adjustment” Greene made in the last SP game that turned a difficult outing into a K-fest at the end. Since that great first start or two, the record is not so good. Greene kind of clammed up when asked later about the “secret”… it’s kind of unorthodox to change the mechanics “on the fly.” As for the lineup, I am anxious to see the new guys and the other young players, Pham and Moose get a pass for some really good ABs lately.
I’m holding my breath until we see him today. Game is on one computer while I’m working on the other, so I’ll stay tuned in.
Same here Mark. Cheers!
That lineup has 3 guys in it who were expected to be starters when they opened the season – Pham, Moustakas and Stephenson. Yesterday, they had only two, with Stephenson missing.
They are a bad team, and I agree that Phil the Phool sucked the life out of them, but they have also been unlucky with covid and injuries, none of which appear to be remotely serious. And then everybody slumped at the same time.
I have them down for 100 losses minimum, with an outside shot at the ’62 Mets and 120. They are last in MLB in OPS, and last in MLB in ERA by a long shot — the Reds are at 6.68 and 29th place Nationals are at 4.89 ERA. Plus, I heard that they are also last in one common fielding metric, which I am sure surprises nobody on this field.
Larry Bird is not coming through that door, either.
And it’s up to TySteve to show us he’s back and ready to play after the dirt-bag shot at his melon.
Didn’t waste any time, did he?
Ok, now with a 3-0 lead, let’s see if the Reds can complete the first inning with a lead.
OK, Hunter. They boys staked you to a 3-run lead before you took the mound. Let’s see how you are progressing.
Not like that, please … 😮
Velo is back up to higher nintes… that is good
Urias was happy Hunter provided that much velo
seems the entire brewers roster is happy…. not MLB ready….
UGH!!! What a time for Yelich to heat up.
Greene has to get something over the plate besides the fastball.
Yep. 100MPH with no movement won’t cut it against these guys.
@Mark Moore Actually, look at the statcast data. Greene’s fastball has movement, both vertical and horizontal, that ranks in the top 65% of the major leagues. It is 100% NOT the lack of movement in his fastball that is the problem. It’s that he isn’t throwing his off speed stuff for strikes. The assumption people make that his fastball is straight is simply incorrect.
Seems like Greene will also ride the bus back to Louisville soon, I wonder who’ll be left to open games as Gutierrez shall also be sent down.
One of them will probably go down to make room for Lodolo. To me, it doesn’t matter which one at this point.
Greene is on an innings limit. Let him learn with the big boys. What’s the worst that can happen. Fall out of last place?
Lol, say someone should go down and have no idea who should replace him. Typical Reds fans. In a lost year i have no idea why you wouldnt keep him in the bigs, whats AAA gonna teach him?
That you earn your spot in the big leagues and you keep it by performing. It is not a gift that is non-retractable.
NOT EVEN ONE OUT….. Hunter may need the Louisville treatment as well
ANOTHER POPUP THAT DROPS!
Yeah Hunter’s ball is straight as an arrow which hurts and he’s giving them center cut too. Big leagues are not the place for throwers. He needs alot more work
Absolutely incorrect. As I mentioned above, look at the statcast. His fastball has more movement than most. He clearly has adjustments to make, but having a straight fastball is not one of them.
That missing 3-4MPH in velocity really tightens up the window where he can successfully throw the heater too. Shoulder high, they cannot catch up to it over the center of the plate at 102mph and do tend to chase it because they are fooled that it rides versus coming down into the zone.
Oh come on Mr. Moose! You were dogging it more than a little and TySteve has all the awkward gear to deal with. We can’t give 2nd (and 3rd) chances like that.
Good thing Hunter saved y our @$$ with a strikeout.
I was thinking Major League but I changed my mind to Bad News Bears.
That was better. 99 with some movement away. Froze his knees.
It’s now an 8-inning game.
Second day in a row where they scored more than one in first, this time three, and failed to get out of first with lead. So sad and hard to watch.
Flat and in his wheelhouse.
Greene is not ready.
The dissettling thing is that he looked the part his first two outings then somebody supposedly started working with him on a 2 seamer. The rest is history (losing 3-5MPH on his easy gas and getting rocked).
When the Reds players and pitchers get “worked with” it generally has an adverse effect. Something has to change.
And this is over…. Thanks for the preview, but Hunter needs to go to AAA to learn how to pitch and not just throw. He will be back but he isnt ready right now
Learning to pitch against competition that can’t challenge you is no way to learn. He needs to stay up and struggle. It’s not like it’s going to hurt the Reds’ chances to compete anyway. Let him learn here. AAA will only reinforce the “thrower” problems because he can get away with it there.
He didn’t last year, he got hit around there. We do have real pitchers coming off the IL soon, have him master triple A and then he comes back better
Just have to keep an eye on his confidence/mental state.
To much scar tissue could be tough to eradicate.
And we can pretty much stick a fork in today. Not sure who needs to work with Greene, but he needs to make adjustments he’s not making. This is just too painful to watch much more today.
If they hadn’t dumped Miley and Gray, he wouldn’t be here yet. And clearly he shouldn’t be here yet.
Yep. Not enough time settling in at AAA.
I thought Hunter was supposed to be good? I thought Derek Johnson was a pitching guru? What in the name of Bob Stephenson is going on?
I see what you did there …
+500
The DJ part was fake news. Pitchers were good before arriving….regressed, then found success since leaving.
Bauer might have been the exception….but he was a Driveline/Boddy guy, so who know how much DJ influenced him.
Is this series considered Batting Practice for Milwaukee? At least Amy is there in the front row.
Is this the desperation and despondency Stupid Cubbies fans felt for so long?
Asking for a friend …
Not sure the Cubs ever lost 19 out of 20 or whatever the number is currently. Mark, I think I understand your feeling, and many others here do as well. It’s a true feeling of hurt and pain, not just frustration.
Two 3-run innings outranks a 4-run inning in my book.
Cue the dumpster fire GIF.
The 2022 Cincinnati Reds! A 1 team effort to keep HRs/scoring on track!
How does Hunter Greene even move thru the system when he has so little understanding of pitching? Where is the coaching to help him with deception or sharper breaking stuff? I just can’t take any more of this nonsense. I’m only still here now because of gambling
There is a gambling addicts hotline.
My attentions been paid to my other team this year, only reason im still here is i do still root for this team regardless of record. This offseason was more of the same and worse from the FO so ive checked more out on them than i normally might.
There’s times we all forget that there are 15-16 guys on the injured list, which is beyond bizarre, of course. It seems like half of them are sick, and the team hasn’t made any announcements about something going through the clubhouse.
I mentioned earlier that he is a thrower and not a pitcher. He’s a bright young guy so hopefully in time he will get it. This really apparent, when he can’t get anything over the plate except is fastball.
I’m going to disagree with some of the commenters here. I would not send Gutierrez and Greene down.
Sure, they’ve had some real tough outings, but sending them down now isn’t the answer. Those two have done enough at AAA, so they have nothing further to prove down there. I’d keep running them out there for the Reds and let them work on figuring things out, even if it means they take some lumps this year.
I will say that the Reds did the right thing sending Sanmartin down, but Gutierrez and Greene are more talented than Sanmartin and just because they sent Sanmartin down doesn’t mean that Gutierrez and Greene are in the same boat.
Gutierrez is terrible. He is a AAA pitcher nothing more. He doesn’t have good stuff and he doesn’t have anything that resembles a out pitch.
Respectfully, you can’t keep running starting pitchers out there with 8.00+ ERAs and who keep getting crushed. That’s not major league baseball. Give me Connor Overton holding the opposition to three or fewer runs in five or six innings any day over what Greene and Gutierrez are doing.
9 HR in 20 IP? I’d have to disagree…
I watched Hunter in AA last year and did not think he was read for the majors. Lodolo was the better pitcher of the two. I thought Hunter needed at least part of this year in AAA to work on his stuff. I really did not think Lodolo was quite ready either but he was a lot closer then Hunter. I think both will be very good Major League pitchers in a year or two. You can work on your craft here or Louisville. Given how bad the Reds are I guess they might as well be getting experience at the major league level. The Reds are going nowhere so why not let them pitch.
If they keep getting mashed at the big-league level, eventually that will ruin whatever confidence they might have in their own ability.
The counter argument is that sending them down only one month into the season is showing a lack of confidence in them. I just haven’t reached that point yet.
Moon, I agree. If you send them down now and they have success at Louisville (again), you’ll never know if they translates to the majors until you bring them back up and they have another go at it. Just leave them up for now and try to get better.
Athletics are mostly about the mind.
Especially at this level.
Do we have a shrink on the bench?
And if we don’t , we should.
Or , is that DJ’s job?
The faster they come in , the faster they go out. I just came in to see 2 homers. Same ol same ol.
It so obvious that Green’s fastball has no movement, he needs a solid coach to help him develop that movement. I don’t think it matters if that happens here or in AAA. The Reds need a major house cleaning on the coaching staff. I would like to see either Cowboy or Sam join the Staff to help out with the pitchers, something has to be done, DJ is a flop.
Statcast disagrees. Your eyes need checked.
Greene’s ball has a lot of movement. Unfortunately, it seems to mostly occur right after it contacts wood.
@Doc That’s a result of not being able to locate his offspeed stuff, not the lack of movement on the fastball. It’s obvious teams are completely ignoring his slider and changeup and refusing to swing at it, while waiting for that fastball. Even well located fastballs are no match for professional hitters who are just waiting on it. Greene has adjustments to make, but they aren’t as major as people seem to think. He starts locating his slider and he’ll be a stud literally overnight. Even with all the homeruns he’s given up, his strikeout numbers are very good. The very moment he’s able to keep hitters off his fastball it will change like night and day.
I f you go back to the Braves first game and watch the first time through the order with Austin Riley and Adam Duvall at bats in particular- it was unfair. 101 top of the zone and inside and east west unhittable sliders. It was unfair. THe 3rd time through the order they got him though and obviously the scouting reports plus inconsistency = 3 steps backwards.
Maybe the catching is in play here as well. Interesting if Curt Casali were catching him. I remember Castillo one year had huge splits if Casali vs Barnhart were catching and obviously last year Miley had his personal catcher in Barnhart.
Urias getting plugged after last night and Counsell’s old-school ways might make this interesting going forward. Maybe a brawl could spark something?
Highest starting rotation ERA since ERA was a stat. Not making that up.
Truly? It would not surprise me.
Looks like TySteve is getting back in sync. That’s at least one positive.
The Reds should immediately fire Bell, DJ, the hitting coach, and Krall. Rotation should be Mahle, Ashcraft, Castillo, Lodolo, and Overton. Ashcraft goes back to Louisville when and if Minor is activated. Greene and Guitterez are clearly over matched currently.
Good ideas, I might even keep Green and go with a six man rotation. A different coach might help him, you never know.
Pitchers have given up 32 runs in three games so far.
2.2 9 8 8 1 7 5 76-46
Not watching the game, but 7 of the 8 outs were K but 5 HR and 9 hits? Weird stat line.
And not a “better weird” like we were sold, is it?
#whereyougonnago
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Hunter Thompson
Yeah, I think that he may be tipping his pitches, and the Reds haven’t caught it yet. He is also leaving his fastball in the middle of the plate, too, but they seem to know when a fastball is coming.
I tend to agree with Welsh, in that he only has pitched only about 200 innings above high school, and hasn’t yet learned how to get out hitters whom he can’t overpower. The only place to learn how to do that is the MLB level, because those hitters don’t exist anywhere else.
We are unfortunately going to have to be patient with Greene.
Mirrors what Greene did in AAA.
He was drafted out of high school. Of his four years since then, two of them were spent rehabbing, both before and after TJ surgery. He has maybe 2+ years of pitching. He is not, in my opinion, ready, as are very few high school pitchers two years of play after being drafter.
At no level has Greene shown the kind of dominance that, say, Ashcroft has. Bringing up Ashcroft might result in a poor outcome, but at least he has earned a trial based on performance, not on press clippings of people wowed by 100+ fastball.
I don’t see a significant difference in stats between AshcrAft (at least spell it right) and Greene in the minors. Greene’s performance in AA last year was actually much better than Ashcraft’s. So I don’t know where you get the idea that he’s earned it more than Greene on the field.
Let’s compare AA last year since they both played at that level part of the year:
Greene: 5-0, 1.98 ERA, 41 IP, 14 BB, 60 K, 1.00 WHIP
Ashcraft: 7-3, 3.36 ERA, 72 IP, 24 BB, 74 K, 1.13 WHIP
How exactly has Ashcraft earned it more on the field than Greene?
Just checked in. Not pretty. As for Greene, my view is that he would not have been called up to start this quickly had the management not needed a drawing card. As a result, his development is likely lagging his potential by a bunch. Regardless 3-22 after today and 14.5 games behind the Brewers and at least 6 out of 4th place. And yet no management changes anywhere. The only “move” was claiming Duggar.
It would be nice if one of the next three batters in the lineup could run into one and tie it up.
Would HAVE, Tom. Past tense … 😮
Freidl playing small ball with a bunt. Love it. First time in years we have a team with some speed. Utilize it.
Who would walk Moose on 4 pitches?
Well, looking on the bright side – the Reds have 4 more chances. If they score at least 2 more runs, it’ll be their highest run total of the season. I’m sure Bell will tell us then how well the team played.
Go get Dan Straily from Arizona’s AAA team. Won’t cost anything much and he had a solid PCL 4.20 era til his last start. He knows how to pitch and he might be able to help the young guys. I think he’d probably be a little south of 5 era wise which would be an improvement for us.
I don’t see any reason to pick up anyone else from the scrap heap. This season is most. Mey as well play young guys and feature Pham, Naquin, and others in an effort to trade for young high upside prospects. Straily does nothing for the Reds.
season is lost. sorry
What team would give up prospects for Pham or Naquin? I mean any team could have signed Pham 2 months ago.
I just don’t see it happening. The best the Reds can do is maybe get a team to take over their salaries for the second half.
Maybe we can get Cueto back and he can show Hunter how to do the Luis Tiant spin. A little deception is what is needed to hide that fastball.
Cueto is now with the White Sox. Tony Larussa mentioned how excited is is to see Johnny pitch a couple of days ago.
The Reds were rumored to have been interested in signing Cueto this Spring, but I think they leaked that rumor because it was right after they traded Winker and Suarez.
I would have went to a game to watch Cueto pitch in a Red’s uni again, but apparently it was too much to ask for.
Nice to see a Reds pitcher actually get out of a jam with no damage.
I didn’t turn on the “torture chamber” until a few minutes ago. From the previous posts, it sounds like Greene is still throwing that “flat as a pancake” heater.
I also noticed that he only threw 46 strikes out of 76 pitches with a wild pitch. Was he having control issues?
I also don’t see his average velocity. Anyone watching noticed where that heater was sitting in MPH range?
I like the idea of giving Cessa a start. He has plenty of different pitches, and doesn’t overthrow. It would take a few starts to get him stretched out, but the guys they are trotting out there now are only going 3 IP, anyway.
One of those days that the bats did show up, where with some competent pitching we may have had a chance to win the game. Unfortunately, we are stuck with pitchers that are not ready and just come out and throw flat gas
So funny i am tracking the game on gamecast on ESPN and the hats for Reynolds, Pham, Drury, Alomara and Dawson are not reds hats.
I’ve tried to give Bell the benefit of the doubt due to the cards he had been dealt but to leave Greene in to continue to be hammered, and hammered, is just unacceptable. He had nothing to learn there and could do nothing but lose what little confidence he had left. The boy needs to go.
We all kid around and everything but i really think these Reds are going to win another game at some point in the near future.
Well, maybe not the NEAR future …
I hope Miley or Gray talks to to rookies. Oh wait, nevermind. Reds have no vets to guide the young guns. Look only way Greene is gonna learn how to pitch is take his lumps. He has a far higher ceiling than the pitcher who started last night. What we are seeing is a example of getting rid of talent and replacing with lesser talent and or rookies. Call this what it is, a rebuild and maybe win 50 games this year.
Reds never “were better in a weird way”
How is this a rebuild though? The Reds have a payroll around $111 million- nowhere close to the lowest. They didn’t tear down all the pieces this winter either, instead opting to keep Castillo and Mahle. Even with the worst record, the Reds could end up with the number seven draft pick. And they added well over $20 million in payroll in acquisitions including Minor, Pham, Moran and Strickland.
The $20 million added is one-year only. They will likely trade at least one of Mahle/Castillo at the deadline or before, plus Pham, too, if anybody needs him. Of the $111 million, $41 million goes to Votto and Moustakas, and another $8 to Akiyama. They have exactly $0 commitments beyond the 2023 season, other than buyouts on Votto and Moustakas.
The team in 2024 will be the younger players like India, Stephenson, Lodolo, Santillan, etc., plus about 8-10 guys now in the minors. And they will have plenty of money to use to plug in some free agents — not stars, but good role players.
So, they are pretty much going to flip their entire roster in 3 years.
The players in my opinion they brought in are on back end of career, and or worse than the guys they traded or put on waivers. The rookies and second year pitching is not great right now and not much veteran leadership. Just my opinion
The Reds have created such a mess. Greene should have been IL’d after his velocity drop, then rehabbed in AAA. Gutierrez is lost out there, and Sanmartin may never be seen again. I’d sacrifice Gutierrez, and let him figure it out up here. Greene needs to go down to AAA. Ashcraft isn’t ready yet, so I’d bring up Lively and Castillo to join Mahle, Gutierrez, and Overton. Hopefully Greene or Ashcraft can push their way into the rotation in a month or two.
Fast track McLain, I wouldn’t mind an immediate call up from AA to the Reds. We need professional quality players up here. At the very least I think he’s show he is better than the AA competition, so a promotion to AAA seems like the bear minimum I’d do. Also promote Torres to take his spot in AA, as he’s also a college bat, and is showing he’s more advanced than A+ pitching.
“Breaks for 2nd” … more like lumbers after seeing the ball get kicked into LF 🙂
Do we squeak one back here? Hader coming up most likely, so …
Nope …
Only the following players have any real trade value
1. Castillo
2. Mahle (not as much as he before the season started)
3. India
4. Stephenson
5. Senzel (probably not much)
6. Barrero
7. Greene
8. Lodolo
If you trade Mahle and Castillo you are waving the white flag for at least 2023 and probably longer
If you trade India, Stephenson or Barrero you might as well close up shop.
Best you can do is keep Castillo, Mahle, Greene and Lodolo and hope they form a half-way decent pitching staff next season.
I have no idea where they find 6 solid position players. But this is the only chance to avoid a repeat of 2022 in 2023.
And that’s my cue to check out.
Later, friends. Always good to share the misery with y’all.
Isn’t it time to go somewhere?
I didn’t watch the game time to strike on Bob n this team because til they fill the sting in their pocket from us fans only way they will try really do something. I read somewhere no one pick up aquino so he back in triple a ugh. They should call up mclarin to mlb. I still don’t think Barrero will be our future shortstop as a lot fans hope and want. I don’t see him a threat nor hitter. I feel 2023 be better when the shift eliminated I feel shift cause to much flyball to be consider hits now and lefties come nonexistent anymore so be interesting to see with no more shift and pitch clock