The Cincinnati Reds will look to rebound after last night’s 2-0 loss in St. Louis. Hunter Greene takes the mound with the hopes that he continues what he’s been doing for the last month as he matches up against Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright. First pitch is set for 2:15pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for this afternoon’s NL Central match up:
Cincinnati Reds
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St. Louis Cardinals
|
| Nick Senzel – CF | Tommy Edman – SS |
| Brandon Drury – 3B | Nolan Gorman – DH |
| Tommy Pham – LF | Paul Goldschmidt – 1B |
| Joey Votto – DH | Nolan Arenado – 3B |
| Kyle Farmer – SS | Tyler O’Neill – LF |
| Matt Reynolds – 2B | Brendan Donovan – 2B |
| Colin Moran – 1B | Dylan Carlson – RF |
| Albert Almora Jr. – RF | Yadier Molina – C |
| Chris Okey – C | Harrison Bader – CF |
| Hunter Greene – SP | Adam Wainwright – SP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Hunter Greene | 55.0 | 5.40 | 1.35 | 24 | 74 |
| Adam Wainwright | 66.0 | 2.73 | 1.23 | 22 | 48 |
| Links: Hunter Greene’s Stats | Adam Wainwright’s Stats |
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Hunter Greene
Over the last month we’ve seen a different Hunter Greene than we saw in the first month. Since May 10th he’s made six starts and posted a 3.41 ERA while allowing just five home runs in 34.1 innings, giving up just 22 hits, walking just 13, and he’s struck out 43 batters.
For the season it’s been night-and-day difference when it comes to how lefties and righties have hit against Greene. Right-handed hitters have crushed the ball against Greene. Left-handed hitters have hit for a little bit of power, but they’ve also hit just .179 against him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 121 | 31 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 32 | .284 | .347 | .624 |
| LHH | 120 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 40 | .179 | .275 | .349 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 98.5 | 87.5 | 89.6 |
| Usage | 52.9% | 41.6% | 5.5% |
Adam Wainwright
Over the last five weeks Adam Wainwright has been downright dominating. In his six starts since the beginning of May he’s posted a 1.85 ERA, throwing 39.0 innings and giving up just three home runs and holding hitters to a .565 OPS against him.
Left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters aren’t getting results that are much different from each other against Wainwright so far this season, but they are going about it a little differently. Lefties are making way more contact and drawing more walks, but that hasn’t results in more hits or more damage against him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 115 | 27 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 23 | .252 | .296 | .374 |
| LHH | 154 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 25 | .232 | .305 | .348 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 88.3 | 88.5 | 84.9 | 82.6 | 72.9 |
| Usage | 10.3% | 28.6% | 23.0% | 9.6% | 28.6% |
When and Where
- Game time: 2:15pm ET
- Where: Busch Stadium
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 84°, partly cloudy, 5% chance of rain
News and Notes
Buy, Sell, or Hold on the Reds?
Chad Dotson looked at each player on the Reds roster over at Cincinnati Magazine and offered up the option to buy, sell, or hold on each one. There’s a lot of selling for a roster that’s supposed to be building for the future but when you have half of a roster on the injured list I guess that makes some sense because you’ve still got to field a team, right?
Cubs DFA’d Clint Frazier and his .356 OBP today, which would handily be tops on the Reds
Has to be worth a look…right?
Likely any interested teams can take their time thinking about Clint Frazier.
Reds have worst record in NL so should be top of the waiver wire, right?
Another good test for Hunter in an hostile environment. Love to see her m dominate the hated Cards.
A little better lineup than yesterday but still 6-9 spots very weak.
Gonna miss the majority of this one today, someone take over for me if Votto Homers. On a side note, will have TOp GUn Maverick spoilers starting tomorrow lol
We live close to a Regal Cinema. The parking lot has been packed for the last week or so. Cruise is printing money.
I bet it.
Wainwright is still in the majors only because umps give him calls like the one on Strike 3 to Joey. He’s a walking endorsement for robo-umps.
Speaking of Clint Frazier. He’s 5 for last 14 with 4 walks (.500 obp) and we already know the Reds love former 1st rounders. I’d say there is some chance he could do what Drury’s done. Drury was in the minors 2-3 years ago. Maybe Frazier could do what Phillip Ervin did vs lefties in a platoon. Why not?
I’m ready to move on from Aquino. He’s had his opportunities again and again. I really tried to be open minded and patient with him. But, there’s no realistic path to him hitting MLB pitching.
What is up with Brandon Drury?
I’d say why not on Frazier. We got an odd group of OF, he’d fit right in.
Drury seems athletic enough to play a decent LF. I want to keep him a Red for a few years. He has 1 more year of ARB left. I would like to see if we can tack on 2 more seasons, it wouldn’t be expensive.
Hunter needs a split/change vs lefties. 2 pitch combo isn’t going to work unless he’s spotting 101 that day. The slider is going to flatten out down/in occasionally to lefties and thats a problem. He could try the Chris Sale style of bending that slider wide and trying to clip the outside corner instead of a back foot slider every time
Unreal potential and repeatable delivery though
When everybody comes back, there is no reason for Drury to sit. He should be starting 3rd baseman from here on out.
Cubs rotation decimated. Miley out again. Hendricks dealing with stuff and Stroman on the IL with shoulder inflammation( 3 years $71 million)
So that puts them in line to take 2 of 3 from Reds?
Hoping Greene can get through 6. Maybe he can get a quick one and stretch it to 7.
Greene at 70 pitches after 4.
Going to need at least 9 outs from the bullpen.
Diaz and ???????
Warren hasn’t pitched in a bit so him and Cessa maybe.
I’d go with Detwiler for the 7th and if he does well, then keep him out there before closing with Diaz. I imagine it will be some combo of Diaz, Strickland and not sure who else. I can’t imagine Bell going back to Santillan but I guess it wouldn’t surprise me.
Alex McGarry- first baseman promoted to AA.
He led the Midwest league in OPS and top 5 in HR, extra base hits and RBI. I’m in the Stephenson to 1b camp, but perhaps another succession plan might be viable.
I don’t see him ever making the big leagues, but I’d be happy to be wrong.
Bullpen time. Buckle up!
Bullpen for 12 outs…buckle in friends
Buckle up for 4 innings of bullpen….w/ inherited runners
We should all be buckled now….LOL
No there’s always somebody who wasn’t paying attention.
Obligatory walk for first man a Reds relief pitcher faces….check…
Check that. Diaz waited until batter #2 to issue the walk. But not a bad walk given the circumstances.
And a pretty good job by Diaz there.
Nice play by Senzel.
Solid job by Diaz and another good outing from Greene. Not sure Diaz can go another inning, so probably see both Warren and Strickland at some point.
I know Sadek is not a favorite around here.
I don’t mind him. He is well prepared with info…He constantly has to beg Larkin for insight for which boils down to how “he used to do it”. Then when Larkin says nothing, Sadek tries to fill the dead air.
With Cowboy or Welsh on color, they provide highly intelligent insight, thus keeps Sadek more at bay
Exactly. Larkin brings nothing to booth and Sadak then had to talk and talk …
I like Sadak and absolutely agree that he’s better with Welch, Cowboy or Lecure. Larkin was a great player and seems like a nice guy, but he also seems loathe to call out poor play.
Greene out-pitched Wainright, win or lose. Another giant step in the right direction.
Even when the BP blows it this game will be a positive step.
Not all is bad this year.
Greene and Ashcraft great
Diaz looks good
Senzel CF defense looks good.
What is up with the umps on strikes and balls this series. Awful
Giving Reds fans something else to distract them from the poor defensive play?
Cessa would not have been my choice for this inning. Not sure why Hoffman and Kuhnel are relegated to games the Reds are losing while Cessa (who has been really rough the last few weeks) continues to get the hold situations.
Reds need Cessa going forward
Hopefully he can get through the rough patch and become a better value.
I feel a BOHICA moment.
I stand corrected!! Beautiful!
Farmer 4-4 against righties today. Just put it play mister.
Farmer Fo, Fo Fo.
All off righties.
He must have read the comments yesterday and said “Hold my beer” 🙂
Farmer may want to sign up for a dating app because he is Mr. Single today….
Lol
Farmers Only?
I’d try to find a place for Lopez as a bench piece myself. Though I imagine he’ll be one of the first to go down when Solano and India come back. Rather see Moran and Moustakas go.
The 1-21 crowd yesterday in the 2-0 shutout getting it done today against the 40 yo Wainwright. Lopez and Reynolds playing add-on.
Louisville Bats have India Solano Shrock and Barrero hitting 2-5.
Reds claim Stuart Fairchild
Wonder if that means they’ve made a decision on Frazier already then
I wonder how many games the Reds would have won, or lost, if Bell would give up the one and done strategy
It doesn’t look like they’re going to win this one.
I wonder if 3 runs is enough for Strickland
I think not
I said this the other night. Hunter Strickland doesn’t look right.
He looked the same as he always looks. Plenty of baserunners. He had a 2-3week stretch of decent pitching. Other than that he’s been bad since spring. I don’t even know how he made the team.
No he looks like his arm is worn out or his shoulder is barking. It’s very noticeable. He’s not throwing near as many fastballs as he did before.
Are we still buckled?
I’ve unbuckled. I’m hoping a tractor trailor hits me head on.
Even by Reds ‘historically bad bullpen’ standard, this is a really bad bullpen.
Castellini could turn it into a GASP feature: “Chamber of Reds Bullpen Horrors”.
No children under 10 years of age.
Last year’s bullpen was terrible. I think this year’s is a tad better and that is saying something!!
There’s been so many bad bullpens for so many years it’s hard to keep them straight.
“Reds Bullpen Chamber of Horrors” will need a full time curator.
TOOTBLAN!!!! One of the worst you’ll ever see.
Well, That was weird
I’m fine with David Bell staying the rest of the year…but his use of Hunter Strickland and Heath HemBree and Sean Doolittle and Pedro Strop and David Hernandez and Zach Duke in high leverage situations the last 4 years is a stain on his record.
Exactly…and if you ever got a good inning from 1 of them, they were immediately removed
You left out Art Warren..just sayin’
Win, lose, or otherwise….Let Kuhnel pitch the 9th.
Apparently, “lose”.
More of that Kuhnel. Bell will pull him.
Kuhnel has shown promise this season. As mentioned Bell will put someone else in the 9th.
Tyler Mahle should have at least 4 win’s and Castillo should have at least 4 wins this season. I for one don’t put to much on win’s and losses from the starting pitchers.
Senzel hit streak likely over, but he made the defensive play of the game….saving multiple runs.
I just read the comments start to finish. You would think we were losing and all was grim. Yet we haven’t trailed the whole game. This place is depressing.
Now you know why.
p.s. Welcome!
Luke must be new here 🙂
I’ve seen it before. But it’s just sad that you guys bring the gloom before it happens. And it’s every game, even the ones we win. You just got lucky your gloom was correct tonight. What a miserable way to live if you ask me.
I watch every game and am engaged to the last out. That’s why I usually only come here at the end of games to see what you all said. Then most of the time I see comments about the game being over and people leaving as soon as the first run is given up. It’s just sad.
Jose Peraza hit the ball harder then Nick Senzel. He can’t drive the ball so the OF will come in even more and cut off some of the bloops. It might be all the leg/knee issues, but he can’t hit
Yeah, he’s getting to be Billy Hamilton. Pitchers have no fear of him driving a ball so they can challenge him in the strike zone, which also means he rarely walks either. I’d agree that the injuries may have caught up to him.
Maybe he’s rusty. I thought he played last night, but I guess not. I’d rather have him leadoff then Friedl if thats the only choice? India when he gets back
He can hit and play defense. He stays back on the ball, but he can hit. I wish people would get off his back side. and this isn’t at you @indy, but in general. I dont’ see any of us being able to hit a major league pitch.
Actually I think more people stick up for him then should because he’s the #3 pick golden boy and everyone thought he would be great. My opinion is RLN is too nice. I’m not rooting against him and it will decide itself this year. He either does or doesn’t.
He’s a career .240 hitter with an OBP barely above .300. At some point, you are what your stats say you are. He’s been worth negative WAR the last two years and that holds true for this year.
My opinion is that Senzel isn’t using his hands and wrists enough. His swing resembles a tennis backhand. He’s not generating bat speed.
Ive been a Nick Senzel guy but I see the handwriting on the wall. Only thing is he plays a good CF and hes 300 k more than the mlb minimum.
I’d put him in the 9 hole and play CF and move Elly De la Cruz to CF in the minors as the next CF. Rotating Almora and Naquin platoons and Fairchild in CF or Friedl is re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Just finish 2022 and get rid of the old guys and clear payroll.
De La Cruz will quickly outgrow both center and short. He’s destined to be a corner player (even if he’s adamantly opposed to it).
The continued faith in Strickland and Santillan are maddening. Outside of elite relievers (and the Reds have maybe one of those in Diaz), most of the time you have to ride the hot hand as long as possible. That’s why the one and done strategy is a particularly bad way to manage a bullpen with a bunch of average arms.
‘One and done’ gives Bell the chance to show that he’s ‘managing’.
So then 1-2 of them go 30 pitches and maybe you win that game, but then they’re out for 2 days then what does Bell do? Guys have to get outs. Different guys have to get outs
I agree lol… I get frustrated, but you are right, darn if u do and darn if u dont.
After the AZ game and bullpen melt down I thought about it. Bell plays who he has, and that is on upper management. The last two season’s have been particularly bad with Reds bullpen
Maybe pitching every third day might help?
A hand stays hot until the next batter. Diaz is the most reliable guy in the pen, but even he is prone to walks and wild pitches. The strategy hasn’t been strictly one and done, either, but I understand the rationale when your pen is going to pitch three or more innings every game and lacks multiple effective options.
Santillan again.
Double up those buckles folks.
I beg your pardon…still Kuhnel, but Tony S is warm.
SUPER!!…Kuhnel throws a heavy ball like Ashcraft.
twin killing
At 20-37 you leave Kuhnel in. Kudos to Bell for once. Let’s see if Kuhnel can become the closer.
And So it goes!
Is this professional baseball?
Asking for a friend?
Nope, little league. Everyone plays.
Everyone have a great rest of your Saturday..
Well I guess he wasn’t ready but at 20-37 it’s about finding out who is.
He will be fine, but today wasn’t the day
Brutal
It was never in doubt.
3-22 was bad. This is a new low and I stand by my statement yesterday this will be the worst team in reds history and lose 102 games. The 1982 roster is now watching.
I thought Bell did a heckuva job. Put guys in position to win the game and they screwed it up. Maybe you push Cessa another inning, but then Strickland, Kuhnel, or Santillan have to finish it up. Maybe you go to the 9th still 4-1, but Bell has to use the guys on his roster
I was good with how he used Diaz and with leaving Kuhnel in to finish. It didn’t work, but thought it was a good move. I’m sure I’ll be mocked, but Detwiler has been solid since he came back from injury. He’s one of the better guys in the bullpen right now, so I would have put him in instead of Strickland or Cessa myself.
Another good start wasted. I still don’t understand why he burns Diaz early. Imagine if they still had Iglesias and Bell had actually used him as a closer. Oh well
Have you seen Inglesias lately. Angel fans want him cut loose.
No but he had a good run after the Reds. Bell isn’t trying to develop a closer, a shutdown guy. He’s playing the high leverage game and runs out of pieces
Diaz faced the heart of the Cards order–the best hitters. Save him for the ninth so he can pitch with the Reds down a run or two? Use your best pitcher against their best hitters.
Opposing teams have to love the Reds! Is your team in a slump? Who ya gonna call? SlumpBusters! We’re the SlumpBusters.
Nats bats have been on fire ever since.
They miss Sims and Wilson. They should’ve kept Givens. You just can’t go with a pen full of young guys and has beens like Strickland.
Bottom line keep tanking and don’t blow this 1st rounder! If you have to deal Castillo and/or Mahle then look for a lefty with the chance to be Andrew Miller or Billy Wagner
I’m glad he stayed with Kuhnel too.
I hope he gets more chances in big spots. At least we can find out if he has what it takes to close games
Reds are going to have to invest in the bullpen. I cant stand Jocketty but at least he recognized SP was the #1 thing and he spent 48 mil on Cordero and got Chapman. This notion that the bullpen is just easy to find is garbage. Need a plan and invest.
I’ve been all over that train. But…guys are good when they get here, and after they leave. Something happens in between (DJ?)
Great American Ball Park happens.
That doesn’t explain them good when they arrive (Cessa…Givens…others)
But Cessa pitched in Yankee Stadium which is as cheap as Gabp and Givens pitched in old Camden and Coors. Idk?
Totally agree, but no point in paying for Kenly Jansen or somebody if your ceiling is 75 wins. I was hoping somebody would step up besides Diaz. I thought that Givens or Lorenzen might’ve really grabbed the opportunity last year, but they both faded horribly. Idk? If they think they want to keep more people interested then the 10K at the game and the 20 of us on RLN then they need to buy some relievers next year.
Good point guys, maybe it is the pitching coach. It is baffling. I am a fan of Brantley being pitching coach if he is interested lol
Another bullpen melt down. 2 out of last 3. Puzzles me why they didn’t resign Givens, and go find another proven bullpen arm. This is just brutal and like last year when Bell used Antone a lot, if he isn’t careful Diaz will be hurt. Not Bell’s fault though as he plays who he has.
Brewers are about to lose their 8th straight
Someone made a comment a few days ago. The Reds seem to make bullpen pitchers out of starters. Not sure if they has a affect or not, however it seems like they struggle in the pen. I wonder if they would development guys starting in the bullpen with the idea of bullpen pitcher. I am not sure if that even makes sense, but this is getting old. Not sure I can continue like last year. As we know the biggest reason Reds faded was the Bullpen!!!
The problem, as I said yesterday, there’s no accountability in the entire organization. I guess if Big Bob gets his media money, accountability doesn’t matter. After nearly 4 years of Bell mediocrity and 16 or so years of Bob’s tenure, it’s going to be a long, long time before the Reds compete again.
The Reds just suck. They’re Charlie Brown and the rest of the league is Lucy w/the football. Remember when we were supposed to get Wheeler (out for TJS at the time) for Jay Bruce and then it was Brandon Nimmo. Instead we get Dilson which reminds me of Milton.
Starter goes 5, BP has to cover too many innings and DB has limited options with adequate talent. Need starters who go 7 but artificial pitch count limits make that almost impossible, as does DB by pulling a starter if he gives up a base runner after he reaches the sixth.
As the old saying goes, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity. I’d really like to see what a more traditional manager, eg Maddon, could do vs. an innumerate, numbers guy who flies by the seat of his pants and calls it analytics.
Yep!!!
Have you met Maddon? His entire schtick is he is non-traditional. It may not only be metrics, but he is all about bucking tradition.
Maybe, but I liked his comments on the obsession with analytics and the fact they aren’t what they’re cracked up to be. On that he’s right and that’s a stone cold fact.
A stone cold opinion. To be a fact, it has to be verifiable.
They need to have a players only meeting in the clubhouse and the hitters need to take the bullpen to the wood shed! This is embarrassing and it’s killing the starters mentally ! Do the Reds have a team captain?