The Cincinnati Reds will look for more of the same from their offense tonight after pounding out 16 hits and 14 runs on Tuesday against Arizona. Mike Minor will take the mound and look to be more like Graham Ashcraft, who tossed 6-shutout innings, than the Reds bullpen, who allowed eight runs in the final two. The Diamondbacks will send Merrill Kelly to the mound to try and pick up their first win of the series. First pitch is set for 6:40pm. The Reds are now saying that the game is expected to begin at 8:20pm.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for this evening’s match up:
Arizona D’backs
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Cooper Hummel – LF | TJ Friedl – CF |
| Josh Rojas – 3B | Alejo Lopez – 2B |
| Ketel Marte – 2B | Tommy Pham – LF |
| Christian Walker – 1B | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Pavin Smith – DH | Kyle Farmer – SS |
| Jordan Luplow – RF | Albert Almora Jr. – DH |
| Alek Thomas – CF | Aristides Aquino – RF |
| Jake Hager – SS | Matt Reynolds – 3B |
| Jose Herrera – C | Aramis Garcia – C |
| Merrill Kelly – SP | Mike Minor – SP |
Brandon Drury was originally in the starting lineup, hitting second and playing third base. He was a late scratch with a sore achilles and was replaced by Alejo Lopez. Lopez goes in at second base and Matt Reynolds slides over to third.
Now Nick Senzel has been scratched from the lineup. TJ Friedl will step in at leadoff and slide over to center. Aristides Aquino moves into the lineup and takes over in right field.
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Mike Minor (2021) | 158.2 | 5.05 | 1.24 | 41 | 149 |
| Merrill Kelly | 59.0 | 3.66 | 1.39 | 24 | 49 |
| Links: Mike Minor’s Stats | Merrill Kelly’s Stats |
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Mike Minor
After missing the first two months of the season Mike Minor made his debut last week. It did not go well as he allowed five earned runs in 4.0 innings while giving up three home runs. It’s just one start, but coming off of back-to-back seasons with an ERA over 5.00 it didn’t leave a good feeling with those watching.
Tonight he’ll get another chance to make an impression and he’ll get to do so against one of the worst offenses in Major League Baseball.
Splits (2021)
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 569 | 133 | 30 | 3 | 24 | 36 | 123 | .252 | .301 | .456 |
| LHH | 100 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 26 | .253 | .313 | .396 |
Pitch Usage (2021)
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 90.9 | 85.6 | 85.2 | 80.4 |
| Usage | 42.8% | 21.9% | 19.6% | 15.7% |
Merrill Kelly
Not shown below are the home and road splits for Merrill Kelly. On an OPS front the difference is small – just 28 points. But he’s also only struck out three more batters than he’s walked on the road compared to having 22 more strikeouts than walks on the road. The big difference comes in his ERA, which is 5.04 on the road and 2.65 at home.
When it comes to lefties and righties, there’s not much of a difference this season in how they’ve hit against him. Lefties walks a little more, strike out a little more, and they hit for a little more power. But they aren’t exactly doing a ton, either, posting a .721 OPS against him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 140 | 34 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 25 | .268 | .329 | .362 |
| LHH | 112 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 24 | .245 | .333 | .388 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 92.5 | 92.5 | 91.0 | 88.2 | 82.1 |
| Usage | 30.2% | 12.2% | 19.9% | 22.9% | 14.8% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 75°, cloudy,2 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Justin Dunn building towards a rehab assignment
Justin Dunn, recovering from a right shoulder injury, is throwing bullpens and will remain in Arizona after the team travels there next week to build up for rehab games.
“I feel normal now. It’s a big weight off my shoulder.” https://t.co/3Jb1MIm7Qp
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) June 8, 2022
TySteve with the evening off (I’m thinking due to the Noon-Thirty-Five start tomorrow).
Good to see Drury is available tonight. I wasn’t watching when he went out, so I didn’t see what happened.
Hoping Minor can show some consistency aside from consistently letting some Snakes get on base. And hoping our seemingly new-found offensive prowess shows up again tonight. Really don’t want to see a BP game.
My view of the weather says the originally projected storms aren’t happening. That will feel a little odd after the past two games.
Almost time to Kick this Pig!!
Looks spotty for the next hour and then appears clear after that
Again no Stephenson? I guess he only plays two of three. Tinker with his little league mentality.
Never fails. As soon as he gets hot at the plate Bell cools him off. I get the need for time off catching before a day game, but I don’t buy for one minute he couldn’t DH.
+1000
Bell’s the biggest cooler in mlb,been doing it for years now
I’d take you guys seriously if any of you had the faintest idea why Stephenson isn’t playing.
I agree as I have many times. If he’s there, healthy and ready to play with no issues it’s crazy not to DH him. That’s kind of one of the many uses for a DH. Not using it to keep your best hitter in the lineup is not wise to put it nicely. It’s an ongoing issue with David Bell. He sure didn’t use it wisely in 2020 when he first had the chance.
Stephenson needs to bat every game (either as catcher or DH) unless he is injured. Sore is not injured, catching at 12:35 tomorrow is not injured, bad pitching matchup is not injured. That guy needs to bat in 150 games a year. He is young and strong and capable.
I hope it rains all night so I don’t have to watch Mike Minors 92 hour fastball and 87 mile slider get beat down and hear Sadak Barry explain why he sucks.
D Backs I am sure are glad no Drury and no Ty Steve after last night
Those guys got tired and worn out jogging around the bases last night
Farmer Votto and Senzel are my picks tonight. Got a Hit every inning with Minor on the mound. GOt the 2.5 HRE 1st inning too
No India and Solano in the lineup for Louisville. Guess they are taking it slow and easy at the beginning of the rehab assignment.
I’m not even seeing a “Gameday” icon yet which is where I go to see the line-up. MiLB.tv isn’t showing anything. They getting rained out?
They are in a delay currently.
the word delay is being thrown around
Does Brandon Drury have a chance to be an All-Star this year? He’s 3rd in the NL for OPS for 3rd basemen
What path will the Reds take ?
A. Trade Castillo and Mahle at the deadline for the best offensive prospects they can get in return. Play to compete in 2024-2025.
B. Hang on to Castillo and Mahle at the deadline and try to sign one or two impactful position players over the winter and compete in 2023-2024.
C. Trade Mahle and/or Castillo for “near- ready” MLB bat(s) and hope to compete next year.
D. Hang on to Castillo and Mahle until they have to trade next summer and get Pennie’s on the dollar in return.
E. Other
You tell me…
C. Trade Mahle, extend Castillo. My confidence in Mahle has slipped and while Castillo hasn’t lived up to what everyone expected, I still think he’s a better pitcher than Mahle.
I’m leaning toward “A” as the best option overall. “C” is possible but less likely.
Either way, I think they are gone by the deadline. At least one of them will be.
I’m fine to trade one or the other, and extend the other. If it’s me I’m keeping Castillo and trading Mahle. But please not for “MLB ready” players. Let’s get a stud prospect or two, preferably for the outfield.
You might get a stud for Castillo, but I doubt you get as good for Mahle unless you include a Farmer or Drury.
Luis will cost much more to extend than Mahle.
I’d still rather keep Castillo, unless you are wowed by a desperate team
And yes, I would have a different opinion if Lodolo was healthy and performing as expected. IMO, Connor Overton is too old to gamble on. So that gives Ashcraft, Greene, Lodolo, Castillo, and Overton in the short run. Some of the younger guys like Abbott and Williamson may show in the next couple of years and that could change my thinking.
You can add Tejay Antone in that mix as well. He’s recovering from Tommy John and will be ready next year.
Thanks , forgot TJ, excluded Guterriez, Santillian, and Sanmartin on purpose though.
A, and keep kicking that can further and further down the road
Personally, I think both will be traded next month. Castillo will bring a nice haul. As I have mentioned before, I think the Reds and Mets match up nicely. I would love to see the Reds land land the Met’s young catcher Francisco Alverez and SS Ronny Mauricio.
I think they will trade Mahle for near ready bat and a pitching prospect (likely a lottery ticket).
I would be OK with the Reds keeping both, if they were committed to spending what it takes, this winter, to bring them into contention. With the Reds rotation next year, they could be competitive with a couple of productive bats.
But I don’t have faith the Reds will spend what it takes, and even if they would be willing to, I don’t know if they would be able to attract top free agents.
The worst option to me is for the Reds to stand pat. They just means Castillo and Mahle becomes a year older and diminished returns when they do decide to trade them.
The good news is we should know soon. Choose wisely Redlegs!
I think it mostly comes down to what Big Bob had for dinner the night before when it comes time. It’s impossible to predict someone when they themselves don’t know what they’re going to do going back and forth on a regular basis.
C) trade Castillo for a king’s ransom (see Jose Berrios trade from Min.. to Toronto) Try to sign Mahle to a reasonable #3 starting pitcher role. If he won’t sign, trade him at the trade deadline next year as his stats will be better on a better team next year.
The Weather Channel radar looks kind of nasty until almost 9. If that’s the case, it might be too wet to play tonight (though I know they hate to cancel games).
Nothing on WLW about a start time.
Announced 820 start time
Looks like we’ll see Minor after all.
Anyone else think Moose will be getting DFA-ed by the All -Star break at the latest? He still can’t stay healthy and performs poorly. No reason to keep him at this point when he’s not part of the future and has zero trade value.
I’d be a little shocked if they DFA him. But they have to realize he’s completely sunk costs at this point. It doesn’t really even look like he’s enjoying himself anymore. Perhaps they could negotiate some sort of buy out and he could “retire”?
I think they will follow the Akiyama precedent: keep him this year, squeeze whatever production they can get from him, and then release him before the beginning of next year, therefore only having to pay his salary for 2023.
Just a guess. What do I know?
With Senzel and Drury both scratched from the starting lineup, I wonder if that means the Reds have only one position player available off the bench? Stephenson.
WHAT??? Certainly didn’t see that coming.
It was said on Twitter that Drury has some Achilles soreness, I believe. I haven’t seen a reason yet for Senzel to be scratched.
Well, there you go … I don’t Twit …
Tell me about it. Decided to play DraftKings fantasy for the first time this year and picked Senzel and Drury. They were both penciled in the lineup at 4:30.
What a Triple A lineup tonight? They’re already down so much firepower so why not stick Almora Jr in CF and let Stephenson DH? Stephenson can get another day off when they can put a better lineup out there. Idk?
It may not be pretty with this lineup and Minor pitching.
MLB.tv video feed is now live. Let’s see what we can do tonight with this patchwork lineup.
Here we go… really upset to see senzel scratched
Lower back soreness, Mark Sheldon reports on Twitter.
Minor seems to be spot on so far. Smh
Two up, Two on … this is going to be a long night, isn’t it?
Ends up a bullpen game with a day game tomorrow and a short bench. Really not a great night for the Queen City Redlegs.
We better score some runs.
Greene, Ashcraft, Castillo, Mahle, Overton, Minor. One of these is not like the others…
You look up and down the Arizona lineup and there isn’t a whole lot to get excited about.
I winder when this team is going to be healthy and play a consistent number of games with their better lineup…
OK, that didn’t turn out like the disaster I thought I was seeing.
I was really hoping for the rainout
Yeah Friedl you’re such an established major leaguer that there is no need to run there
I was thinking the same thing.
Well thats a new one
They need to get Lodollo healthy and trade both Mahle and Castillo for offense. The bull pen will be better next year with Sims and Antonne. The other starters could be any 2 of many young pitchers they have along with Overton and or another pick up. With a smart front office this team could soon be something special. Though many may not agree I would love to see Joe Maddon replace Bell, he does a great job with young talent and that is soon to be the Reds.
Pitcher balking by falling on his bum.
Hilarious.
ROBBED
How far did you get on But But But … ?
enough to delete delete delete
Joey gave it a ride … nice timing on the leap to snag it.
I was thinking about going to the game tomorrow, but the last two times I saw Mahle pitch at GABP he got pounded. May have to wait for the next home stand.
Angel being Angel
No kidding.
I wonder who’s the first to get tossed by complaining.
39 pitches in three innings for Minor — quite efficient!
Pleasantly surprised
How was Arizona 26-29 coming in? They’re a 90+ loss team easy. Gallen is very good and I guess Bumgarner and Kelly were strong early, but their offense is horrible.
or our pitching is good!?!
Uh oh … Phil C is in the TV booth
Yep…..talking about the Kids…. obviously been given talking points this time
Well, well, well … Phil Castellini on the TV broadcast.
Guess he didn’t have any other place to go.Couldn’t help it.
Lets hope they stay horrible until they get out of town.I don’t recognize any of them other then the guys you mentioned and Peralta.
Sadak and Barry, being employees, probably won’t ask “the question”?
Probably not. I think this is an attempt to let Phil talk about cool things the organization is doing in the community.
Its actually a great ploy by Phil, we can’t really sit here and trash the Reds Community efforts. Think about the children after all, well played Phil, well played
Friedl doesn’t belong right now and Garcia showed some power during the spring but he doesn’t belong here right now either.Guess we don’t have anybody else so it is what it is.
boom
Could feel it coming.
Minor can go along way in saying he belongs if he can get through 6 or 7 tonight.Second time through the order.
Could have … let’s use the proper tense, Roger 😮
Stink Fish Pot!!!
We all just new it was too good to be true. And with our barely there line-up tonight, it really could be trouble.
Agreed, unfortunately.
Reds are going to have a fire sale.
Mahle, Castillo, Farmer, and Pham
Reds attendance in 2022 is 16,534 per game and no one there tonight or all series. Last time Reds had attendance this low was 1984 at 15,752.
You wonder if the Mets or Blue Jays or someone else would take on Moose’s remaining contract if Castillo is the prize. After the Suarez trade, I wouldn’t bet against the Reds forfeiting some prospect capital return in exchange for Moose’s contract. That would fully reset all contracts past this year x Votto’s last swan song.
I just don’t see it Old-school cause I think the organization cares more about a few wins then looking ahead.I agree with 3 of the 4 if it were my money and Moose for sure.I like one of Mahle or Castillo to stay preferably Mahle.
Larkin kinda alluded to some unpopular decisions coming up.
$50 double or nothing fantasy league. Only guy of 11 to take Christian Walker. Sorry guys, but I’ve seen Minor’s act before. See if I can survive Drury & Senzel late scratches? Maybe they’ll pinch-hit in a key spot
Wishful thinking I guess.Memo to Minor and all soft tossing lefties-You can’t pitch up in the zone at GABP at any time for any reason.
+500
Could be a big moment in the game right here. Minor has to get the number nine batter out and prevent any more runs.
further damage averted
Seen enough tonight.Two runs seem like 5 and any more makes it a done deal.
Stemmed the bleeding …
Somebody needs to step up and do some hitting and scoring. So far this is a far cry from last night’s Everybody Hits Parade.
Seems like they would split up Minor and Mahle. Both can barely make it out of the 5th. Bullpen will be used heavily with them two back to back.
Wow, hit it somewhere besides centerfield!
+500
Inches … just a couple of inches to the right on exit and it’s in the gap to score Pham.
SMH
Never fails! A HBP or a Walk prior to a HR! And, 14 runs last night and nothing so far? Gotta generate some offense somehow!
Down 2-0 after 4. Mahle pitching tomorrow at GABP. Looking at a split, I’m afraid.
This homestand is an example of what teams in a pennant race can’t do. They blew 7-3 to the Nats in the one loss and then gave away the last game too with errors and lack of concentration. This game they pair up one of their worst pitchers with a Triple A lineup? Farmer has been hot, but Kelly was dumb to go into Joey’s wheelhouse. We could’ve got 3 there, but will probably lose. Can’t blow too many games against the weak sisters. After all we are missing Gallen this series and he’s one of the better arms in the NL.
Wrong team playing add-on here.
I’m good for about another 15 minutes max. Less if we see more Snakes cross the plate and/or we can’t muster any crooked numbers ourselves.
Last inning for Minor if he makes it thru the 5th!
Huge mistake by Reynolds. They always come back to haunt you.
How is that not an error? I thought an error was failure to make a play that could be made by a normal player.
Minor need to go back to the minors. He killing our rotation confidence n offense not clicking today. Votto could have 2hits but good defense
Really liking that Minor signing. But at least that kid Stephenson is resting. Can’t hang with the old guys I guess.
Plus 1000
I can’t see Minor given to many more chances. Hopefully, Lodollo gets healthy quickly. I also think it’s sad that Minor got stuck with this line up. This is a Bell problem, once Drury and Senzel weren’t playing simple changes = Stephenson to DH, and Almora to CF.
As this team gets better it will become more and more obvious that Bell must go. I just hope they are smart enough to pull the trigger, but I doubt it.
Been saying that for 2 years! Captain Smith of the Titanic had better luck!
The next time you feel yourself wanting to give Nick Krall a pass for this disastrous season, please remember he is the GM who gave Mike Minor $10,000,000 to pitch this year.
Reds are only on the hook for $7.3MM and KC pays the declined option buyout. Not that Minor is worth 7.3 million.
Let’s imagine the unimaginable and project that Minor might pitch 100 innings this season.
That would be 25 starts at 4 innings each at this rate.
That works out to around $100K per inning.
So he punched the timeclock for $400,000 tonight.
Let that alignment of resources sink in.
The bull has wrecked at least part of the china shop.
I need to adjust my math based on Doc’s input.
Just under $300K for Minor this evening.
Certainly a lot of folks in MLB are getting paid much more.
But the inanity of the Garrett trade makes me frightful of turning Bull Krall loose with dealing Castillo and / or Mahle.
One Rookie Davis is enough for the life of any baseball fan.
TS was hitting too good and getting back into a groove, DB cannot let that happen, and take away from Farmer and Votto doing well…
OK, friends. I’m officially calling Clete and tapping out. I’ll go to bed hoping for a better outcome, but it won’t steal any sleep thinking about it.
Catch you tomorrow.
This pitcher Merrill Kelly bears an uncanny resemblance to Chris Elliott, the son of Bob Elliott of Bob & Ray fame.
Cessa continues to struggle
Yes, he gives up lots of homers — not good for a reliever.
Schrock 3-5 tonight
Barrero 1-3 1BB, 2K’s
I had Schrock slotted in as the primary DH this year before he got hurt. It will be interesting to see how Bell uses him
He hits far too well for Bell to get him consistent at bats. He’ll play until he gets hot then sit for a week.
Likely will depend on how long Moose’s case of Covid lasts.
If it’s a case of the “long Covid” and he needs to sit out for 2 to 3 months then Schrock might get the chance we’d like to see.
Hopefully, he can play his way into the lineup a la Drury and Almora in a way even Bell can’t ignore.
It’s the way it is. A hitter gets hot and then Manager Bell sits him to give another player a chance. Not a pathway to competing.
People that need to go when Schrock, Barrero, India and Solano return. 1. Friedl, 2. Reynolds, 3. Lopez, 4. Aquino, my 5th choice would be Bell. I also think Minor should go for Lodollo and they also need to look for a back up catcher, Garcia has been a major disappointment.
I don’t think we’re going to see Barrero anytime soon.
My hunch is that Bell really doesn’t want to play him, anyhow.
Moving him to the outfield is just nuts.
India, Schrock and Solano likely, maybe in that order.
Friedl, of course, will be sent.
Lopez, probably.
I think they’ll hang on to Reynolds and probably Aquino.
Phasing their return with the likely IL merry go round might make the decisions easier for all parties.
Barrero might wind up as trade bait along with one of the pitchers everyone is dying to unload.
A fire-sale for the ages is coming.
Reds about to go 20-36 with a .357 winning percentage. It’s now pushing mid -June.
They lost 3/4 to the Nats, and might just split with the Dbacks. Then murderer’s row till the AS break.
@Cards this weekend then @ Dbacks then 6 at home against the Brewers and Dodgers then 6 @ Giants and cubs then 11 game home stand against the Braves /Mets/and Rays with a makeup DH sandwiched with the Pirates and then a6 game roadie before the AS break at the Yankees and Cards.
This team at the AS break will be on their knees and the 26 man roster on August 2 will be radically different than it is now.
(A dip but in context now) Yeah, but to paraphrase Bogie, “we’ll always have Bell”
Your doom and gloom prophecy might just come to pass, but I doubt the fire sale.
That would take some decision making and cojones that I don’t see this organization as having.
There will be some muddling along for sure.
Besides some pitching, who do the Reds have that would be of any real interest to another team?
Certainly they won’t be trading Stephenson, India or Farmer. JV isn’t going anywhere.
Who would want to trade players or $$ for anyone else?
Castillo Mahle and Farmer
Others like Pham contract would be traded for a resin bag and sun seeds.
Yeah, but to paraphrase Bogie, “we’ll always have Bell”
Warren has to be on his last legs here. Though I’m not sure who they have to replace him. Could maybe shorten the bullpen and add a position player. Pretty grim at the back end right now.
It may not be the Rubicon, but JV just crossed the Mendoza.
They might win a bigger % of those games than you might think with the young gun pitchers and some folks back from injury. They have 30 games before the All Star game after tonight. I will predict 12 to 15 wins. Top end 35 and 51 at break = bad, bottom would be 32 and 54 = awful and 90% of teams would fire manager at that point. We will see what happens.
Let’s be honest this game was over before it started, Minor pitching and Bell’s line up construction. I hope Mahle has a good game tomorrow but that might be wishful thinking. Team’s three best pitcher’s go in St. Louis but anything more than 1 win, if that, would be a surprise. Cardinals are just better right now. but if handled right the Reds could and should quickly close that gap.
No team has ever gone 162 and 0. This was one of the games the reds were destined to lose this game. Patience with Minor diminished again. Really do not know why we did not get something different back for AG.
Reds farm bullpen learning from the big club.
Bats lead 12-6 in the 9th….now 12-12
I was wrong they play 36 games before the All Star break. my new count 15 to 18 wins. Best break record 38 and 54 worse case scenario 35 and 57. Both are failures.
As Far as my take for when individuals are leaving when some of the Regulars get healthy, the Order will be Friedl, Lopez, and then a more permanent Covid stay for Moose. Gotta think that Minor is made the Long man once Lodolo returns.
Gutierrez’s poor start and then injury probably made the Minor situation more challenging.
It might have been helpful to start him off in the bullpen rather than tossing him into the rotation to tank a couple, maybe more games.
But with Overton, then Vlad going down things got more desperate.
I’m not seeing any hints that he’s turning anything around in the forseeable future.
Until Lodolo gets back, or maybe a quick return of Dunn, we’re kind of stuck with him.
An inexplicable acquisition.
Yes, Minor we just have to hold til August and then he will be traded away for anyone who gives us any money.
Vlad has until Overton and Lodolo are healthy, which admittedly is still weeks at least. The Position player carrosell is another matter entirely. I am not entirely convinced that the Reds will not DFA Moose at some point this year.
Strickland is laboring. He’s all over the place. I have to wonder if he’s healthy. He doesn’t look right.
H Strickland struggling again….
No one will give a dime for Minor or Moose or Aquino or Reynolds or Farmer or Pham or Drury or any of the castaways on Castellini’s Island.
That’s the reality of it.
Certainly the Reds are capable of making a bad trade to dish off Castillo and / or Mahle and Barrero, but that dead wood isn’t going anywhere.