The Cincinnati Reds only had five hits but one of those was a 3-run home run from Kyle Farmer and it held up as Cincinnati defeated the San Francisco Giants 3-2 and guaranteed themselves a series win.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Giants (24-21) |
2 | 12 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (16-30) | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| W: Gutierrez (1-6) L: Wood (3-4) SV: Santillan (3) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Brandon Drury singled and Tyler Stephenson walked to put two men on for the Reds in the bottom of the 1st inning. That’s when left-handed destroyer Kyle Farmer came to the plate and hit a 3-run homer off of Alex Wood to put Cincinnati up 3-0. The Reds only managed three more hits the rest of the game – all singles.
The Pitching
Vladimir Gutierrez gave up a leadoff double and the thoughts “here we go again” probably raced through many of the 26,000+ fans heads at Great American Ball Park. But the righty buckled down and retired the next three batters to strand him at third base. The next inning wasn’t as easy as a 1-out walk was followed by two singles that loaded the bases. Once again, though, Gutierrez was able to escape the jam without any damage. The Giants broke through in the 3rd inning with two doubles, the latter coming from Joc Pederson to cut into Cincinnati’s lead and make it a 3-1 game. Gutierrez only gave up one more hit, a single, over the next two innings and exited with his best start of the season behind him.
Luis Cessa took over for Cincinnati in the 6th and gave up a home run to Evan Longoria with one out to make it a 3-2 ballgame. A 2-out double by Donovan Walton put the tying run in scoring position, but Cessa struck out former Red Curt Casali to end the threat. Alexis Diaz came out and threw a perfect 7th inning to hold the Reds lead.
Ross Detwiler took over in the 8th and gave up singles to Brandon Crawford and Luis Gonzalez before Tony Santillan was called in out of the bullpen. He needed three pitches to induce a ground out that ended the inning and stranded both runners. Santillan returned for the top of the 9th and gave up a single to Curt Casali to begin the inning, who was then pinch run for. A 1-out walk put the tying run at second and the go-ahead run on first. After striking out Darin Ruf the game came down to Wilmer Flores. He took the 6th pitch of the at-bat and lined a single into right field and Aristides Aquino came up firing, unleashing a 93 MPH throw to Tyler Stephenson at the plate and beating pinch runner Joey Bart by 10 feet, ending the game on a play at the plate.
Key Moment of the Game
It came early, but Kyle Farmer’s 3-run homer in the 1st inning was enough to hold up for the Reds win.
Notes Worth Noting
Tomorrow’s game is a MORNING game. It will be on Peacock.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
San Francisco Giants vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday May 28th, 11:35am ET
Alex Cobb (3-2, 6.25 ERA) vs Tyler Mahle (2-5, 6.32 ERA)
Defense played a BIG role in this game. 🙂
If only AA could hit consistently. Let’s hope Farmer takes over 3rd once Barrero is available.
As long as his “trouble with the curve” continues, that’s the pitch he’ll see most. Not sure how to remedy that as he’s been told his entire life he’s a power/HR hitter first. Adjustments at this stage aren’t easy. But they are possible.
He seems to be putting the ball in play more since coming back which is a good sign.
Agreed. He’s much more active at the plate and that should pay off.
Even if he can’t hit the curve, if he could read it better and lay-off the ball out-of-the-zone and force the pitcher to pitch it for a strike, that would help.
We agree again, LDS. A rare occurrence, but winning can do that.
hahaha I’ve always said winning will cure everything. 🙂
On Peacock … but only the Premium (read PAID) version. If you haven’t gotten your free trial, you’ll be fine. For any of us who already burned that option, we’ll have to get creative or settle for Gameday and audio. The frustration with MLB and these money-grubbing deals knows no end.
Good win today. Good thing that early lead held up for Granny to see. A series win against a team like the Giants is pretty sweet. The sweep would just be icing on the cake (and another monkey off our back).
You guys might check the MLB app. When the games were on Apple TV earlier, they were also available on the MLB app — at least on mobile.
What a fine baseball game.
I bought tickets tomorrow to continue this winning streak
Go Reds. Setting the alarm clock and coffee maker?
I’m with you, tickets here as well! I’ve seen many different varieties of Reds games, but never a morning first pitch. Brunch at the ballpark??
I’m flying in next Thursday….attending Friday-Sat. games.
Wish it lined up for Greene or Ashcraft, but it looks like i get to see Mighty Mike Minor.
I, my son and grandson will be there Friday night Section 417 Row B on the aisle.
Maybe we can be good luck charms to a victory.
Section 227…Row A.
Splurged a little with Club level
My sons and I are flying to Boston to see the 2 game series against the Red Sox. Have never been to Fenway park. Castillo and Green pitching. Hope to bring home a couple of wins.0
+500
Jim take the ballpark tour it’s very good. I have never been to a game there. I hope to someday.
@votto4life the tour is on our checklist. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Fenway is great. So much history and atmosphere, it’s like going back in time.
Fenway is beautiful. I really hope that your seats aren’t behind one of the pillars. Aside from that possibility, it’s a fine place to watch a ball game. Have a great time and bring home some Reds’ wins!
I know I might be crazy old man but I think this team has a chance still. They grind it out and they have some good players coming. Pitching is looking good. I don’t know, I’ve seen crazier things but the losing was early and they got 5 months to fix it. So far 13-12 in May with 2 to play. Who would have thought that? I’ll keep my “You Gotta Believe ” going.
Never hurts to be positive buddy. 🙂
Im not going that far… but the Reds have the 3rd best record in baseball since 3-22.
They will end the year with a respectable record. Not quite the total dumpster fire that they began the season with.
There’s still a lot of baseball to be played, and who knows what will happen, yet.
I hope at some point, that Management will dump the “over 30” players that they can and make this a real youth movement for 2023-24.
There is also no way that ANYONE will take Moustakas. We are stuck with him.
Agree, Old-school, but it helps that they’re fun to watch and have some prospect of being better.
I have posted several times before that the Reds will be much better the second half of the year as their young pitchers get experience and round into form. They have been getting great pitching and still have Overton (who really has been their best starter) and Lodolo (who has looked very well) on the mend and hopefully back with the team soon. I am watching for the future, not now. The old saying “Nothing is ever as good or bad as it seems” apply to the Reds. They were not as bad as they appeared during he first month of the season. And they are not as good as they have looked over the past week. But to me they are getting better every day. I think they can play around .500 ball the rest of the year and the future looks prerry good. They have some holes to fill and need to find some depth but they have some players. We are just about to pass the real dregs of the major leagues in overall record and I think we will eventually pass the Cubs and Pirates in the standings.
I agree with Melvin, it never hurts to be positive. But even to get back to .500, they’re going to have to have a winning streak as amazing as their historically bad season start was. Is this team good enough to do that? I’d love to think so, but they haven’t shown it yet.
Take it a game at a time. I like the way things overall are developing, especially pitching.
That’s not true at all. In order to get back to .500 they don’t need a historic winning streak, they just need to win 4 out of 6 each week for a couple months. That’s hardly historic.
I would be very happy if the Reds play .500 from this point on. That still means they will end up 14 games under .500.
I guess I have mixed emotions about it. While I would love to see the Reds do well during the second half, there is a danger that Castellini will view it as the club being on the right track.
I think the recent success can be attributed to several things, a typical dead cat bounce, regressing (or progressing) towards the mean and playing without any pressure just to name a few.
Even as the pitching and defense has begun to jell lately, the offense is still woefully lacking.
My plan moving forward would be make your best offer to extend Luis Castillo, if he turns you down, trade him before this summer trading deadline. Do not hang on to him. His value depreciates every day.
If you have to trade him, get the best offensive prospects you can for him. Preferably, an outfield or two with right handed pop.
This will be the biggest trade Nick Krall will ever make. The Reds can not afford to get it wrong.
My speculation only:
1) If they somehow get back to a contention status, I don’t think the front office will trade key players — particularly if the attendance picks up consistently. They have to know they have turned off a huge portion of the fan base, and if they sell off from a team that has fought back from a historically horrible start, the rest of the fans may just have had enough.
2) If they stay between 10 and 15 games under .500, I think they will entertain offers for both Castillo and Mahle. As you said, they would need to get top position player prospects who are ready now or very soon, not three or four years from now.
I think a team looking for offensive prospects has to be very careful in this age. There seems to be such a drop between a hitters AAA stats and his major league stats (see keleneic, Adell, marsh and host of others). If they aren’t top 10 in baseball they carry tremendous risk. Catching skills are probably more likely to translate.
The ask for player Luke Castillo needs to be extremely high- several too Propect or 2 top Propects and a solid major league reliever. Like what the twins got for berrios last year from Toronto but Castillo is the better pitcher and should require more. If a team won’t give up their top 2 or 3 Propects for Castillo then we shouldn’t be talking to them.
The Reds are 13-8 since May 7. Everything stopped (the loss streak) when the game was postponed on May 6. I’m with you on being positive ! Nothing is set in stone…
It’s been a few years since the Reds had a defense that could contribute to wins instead of be detrimental. It’s a joy to watch. I am watching Almora with heightened interest. He is amazing defensively — so smooth and gets a great jump on every fly ball. He’s above his career norms in all offensive categories at the moment. If he can maintain that, he’s a key part of this team. If not, he’ll probably end up going back to Louisville as the many injured position players slowly return.
Amazing isn’t it that today the Reds essentially had 3 centerfielders in the OF. Now if one of them could be even a league average offensive player…….
Senzel still has some learning to do though as a CF. The ball in the gap he and Aquino collided on, was the RF’s ball. AA had a really long run to get to it; but, he had it measured as the ball had turned over and was coming to him. Senzel’s chance for it was going to be a wing and prayer.
Friday night or Saturday there was a similar but not as dramatic situation on the LF side of center. As Almora stood waiting to take his final step into a ball as he caught it, Senzel was still pursuing hard and nearly bumped Almora as he reached for the ball.
Maybe 3 is a crowd in that relatively tight GABP outfield?
Centerfield has priority on fly balls in the outfield. If hebrhinks he can get them, he calls for it and the corners are supposed to back off. That said, the problem is communication, not Senzel taking balls he shouldn’t. But in reality, ther was no time for communication on the ball with AA. Sometimes a ball is just in a spot where collisions happen.
In general yes, the CF is in charge and the traffic cop in the outfield. However, in these two instances, Senzel showed a shortage of the situational awareness required from a CF. The corner OF is going to go all out until he is called off. Obviously, Senzel did not call off Aquino.
While Aquino covered a heck of a lot of ground to get into position to make the catch, the catch itself would have been routine had Senzel not made the desperation dive into him. Without Senzel in the frame, AA would have gathered himself and pulled up on his feet without crashing into the wall.
On the other hand, without AA in the frame, the play ends with Senzel on the ground and the ball likely bouncing around on the warning track, given the height of the ball when AA picked it.
The issue I have is that it appeared Senzel was totally clueless that Aquino was anywhere near him or the ball (or that AA had caught the ball) until they made contact. The scene was reminiscent of several incidents involving (the late) Ryan Freel, also a converted infielder, in CF.
@jim – or maybe he is used to playing next to Jesse Winker, castellanos, or Scott schebler and there was no way they would range that far from their exotectr start point!
I agree, Tom. I’ve always been a fan of good defense and it’s great to see the outfield making the plays. And I agree with Jim: Senzel is showing considerable promise that he could turn into a top-flight centerfielder, but he’s still on a learning curve.
Even if this game ended as a bit of a nail biter, it’s worth noting that the Reds would most certainly have lost this game with many of the bullpens of the last 5+ years.
Think about the uncountable number of blown saves and late inning meltdowns and losses.
On second thought. Don’t.
my thoughts on the game
1. it was my first winning game i attended this year. Now 1-5- yay! and i think this is the first Saturday home win for the reds which is important
2. good crowd and not as many giants fans as i expected. i went to the cubs game and there weren’t as many cubs fans as usual either. i wonder if gas and plane ticket prices are having an effect on attendance. this hurts the reds as they do rely on visiting fans coming to the game.
3. the Sunday crowds have been good this year. better than last year i think and i believe it may be due to the later start time. i wonder how the early start will affect this Sunday’s attendance.
4. Votto’s defense at first is starting to get worrisome. there were 2 doubles down the line that i thought he should have gotten to.
5. it seems like teams like the dodgers, Yankees and giants have more effective shifts than our redlegs. the giants today really had it mastered to perfection. i just can’t see these teams signing off on “getting rid of the shift”. it is too important in their defensive arsenal
I imagine the usual Cubbie contingent to Cincy was less this time due to the Cubs following series with the White Sox at New Comiskey.
I think the Reds still would have a tiny chance to dream of wild card spot based on two facts:
1- The team is expected to receive soon the injured players missed so much and hope they will stay healthy making it better.
2- Fortunately , the Reds have played few games vs division rivals so they are gonna be facing them with the strong group of players as they can. If the Reds could win the most of the games remaining against STL and Milwaukee and of course keeping a good balance vs the others teams then it will be interesting at the end of the season
If this team finishes 500 Bell should be named manager of the year. With a team mostly made up of aging vets and utility types, injuries, young developing pitchers , very little help from ownership, 500 is a lofty goal. This was a flawed team from day 1 of the season. It led to a historically bad start. If Bell gets us to 500 he will have earned my respect and his salary
Line ups posted already. Senzel leading off in CF again. TySteve @ DH in the 3 hole. Naquin in Rf and Almora starts again in LF. Recognizing Bell is going to start Moose at 3b with some regularity- I like the rest of the lineup.Moose in the 7 hole at GABP against a righty is fine. Hopefully Mahle pounds the zone and keep the bases empty for the allowable occasional GABP solo HR.
I know you’re not high on Farmer, but he is on pace for 88 rbis. He’d be a nice platoon/utility piece on a good team! That would free up Barrero.
Then you have the issue of Moose/Drury/Schrock at 3B. Personally I think Drury is more interesting then Senzel, Almora, Schrock, or any of these other guys in their age group. One exception would be Naquin who has proven himself vs rhp. Drury has been on my radar since he came up with the Dbacks. I’d consider releasing Pham and giving him some run in LF as well as 3B. I doubt Schrock would work in LF defensively as the heavy lifter in a platoon? Its good to have choices, but its kind of touchy?
I like Farmer a lot and he is absolutely an MLB player- just more of a super sub and utility guy or a guy capable of playing every day for a few weeks at a time. If you tease down his splits- his power is great against lefties. Against righties, his power is negligible.
You raise a great point though about Drury and Schrock. I would really like to see Schrock’s bat in the lineup against righties regularly and Farmer at 3b would be a huge upgrade over Moose defensively. Drury fits in somehow as well when India comes back. I’m going to the game so Ill watch Moose up-close. He will probably launch one and go 3-4 .
I don’t think Pham is a good fit anymore. Almora is proving Pham is replaceable and Ive really enjoyed watching a good defensive outfield the last few games.
So, following what you guys are saying, they’ve got the following misfits. Moose at $16M this year (and $22M more in sunken cost beyond). Pham at a sunken cost of $7.5m for this year. Solano at $4.5m for this season. And then there is Moran at $1m.
{sarcasm font on} What a brilliant way to run a team on a shoestring while crying poor! {sarcasm off}
Point taken, but to be fair, the Moose contract pre-dates the current strategy.
Pham is certainly going to be under the microscope over the next couple weeks after he returns from suspension. That is, if he gets out of Bell’s doghouse, where he certainly has earned some time. He’s got to know that he has to raise his game quickly given the pending return of Schrock and the emergence of Almora. As well as the slight overall improvement in Red’s hitting. I thought he was a bit of a panic signing and he provided a bit of energy during the 3-22 phase of the season. I think his antics have overshadowed the need to play him to justify his signing / salary. He needs to start hitting and hitting a lot. It may sound harsh to say, but if he disappeared, I don’t think he’d be missed.
Almora needs to stay with the Reds given his relatively young age and ability to play CF. He was a great pick up by Krall.
The Reds also need to find a spot for Shrock.
Having stated all of this the Reds seem to be more competitive against Left Handed Hitters. However Votto and Moose and Naquin simply cannot be in the line up against left handed pitchers . It is almost an automatic out
Great conversation this morning. Like many, after the horrendous start they are playing good baseball. Hope India returns soon and I think Burrero needs to be up starting Boston series and Shrock as well. I say that because 20 abs is time to get timing down and stuff.
I feel Reds should release Pham, he had no regard for his team and didn’t even apologize to my knowledge. Reds don’t need that in clubhouse.
I am a Mahle fan, however really hope he pounds the zone today. As we never know which “Mahle” will show up.
Mahle is a conundrum, and he always worries me when he’s starting at GABP.
well, my Peacock login worked. I’ve been dumping 5 bucks a month (or whatever the exact amount is) on them through the entire European Football season to watch the Brit Premier League but more often than not forgotten to stream it versus just turning the TV on to the old NBCSN channel like in the past.
So, everything better work today for my catchup payback. 😉