The Reds and Diamondbacks meet tonight for the second game of their 3 games series at Chase Field in Phoenix. Fresh off a win in game 1 of the series, the Reds can assure themselves of no worse than .500 road trip with a win tonight. And who can say? If they get the win tonight, they can garner a winning road trip with victory in the upcoming Wednesday matinee. But first things first, a win tonight.
Starting Lineups
| REDS
SP: Tyler Mahle |
DIAMONDBACKS
SP: Zach Davies |
| 1. Jonathan India (2B) 2. Brandon Drury (3B) 3. Tommy Pham (LF) 4. Joey Votto (1B) 5. Kyle Farmer (SS) 6. Nick Senzel (CF) 7. Mike Moustakas (DH) 8. Albert Almora Jr. (RF) 9. Aramis Garcia (C) |
1. Daulton Varsho (RF) 2. Josh Rojas (3B) 3. Ketel Marte (2B) 4. Christian Walker (DH) 5. David Peralta (LF) 6. Pavin Smith (1B) 7. Carson Kelly (C) 8. Alek Thomas (CF) 9. Geraldo Perdomo (SS) |
Nick Senzel loses the straw draw for the leadoff spot but recovers to beat Mike Moustakas in the coin toss for the #6 spot.
Starting Pitchers
The Reds Tyler Mahle is scheduled to oppose fellow right hander Zach Davies of the Diamondbacks. Just as with Monday’s game, this is a rematch of starting pitchers from 5 days ago in Cincinnati. The ‘Backs won that game 5-4 on the strength of a 4 run ninth inning against Tony Santillan.
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB% | K% |
| Tyler Mahle | 65.2 | 5.07 | 1.36 | 10.5% | 25.8% |
| Zach Davies | 62.0 | 4.21 | 1.24 | 8.5% | 19.3% |
| Links: Tyler Mahle’s Stats | Zach Thompson’s Stats |
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Tyler Mahle
There is not much to choose from in Tyler Mahle’s 2022 handedness splits. Right handed hitters have slightly better batting and slugging averages against him. However, left handed hitters reach base more often because of Mahle’s much greater propensity to walk them (13.8% vs 6.25%).
Over the last month, Mahle has looked at least a little more like the Mahle Reds fans had expected to see. In 6 starts he has accrued a 3.86 ERA versus his prior 6.46 ERA. He has however continued to walk about 10% of hitters and has allowed 5 homers over the last month. Both those figures need to come down for Mahle to get into range of performance expected from him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 128 | 30 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 34 | .256 | .305 | .402 |
| LHH | 159 | 29 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 22 | 40 | .215 | .321 | .378 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Cutter | Splitter | Slider | |
| Velo | 93.7 | 86.1 | 85.8 | 84.0 |
| Usage | 49.7% | 12.0% | 26.7% | 11.3% |
Zach Davies
Before reading any further, glance down at the pitch usage chart for Zach Davies. See anything strange? Yes, Davies has completely eschewed the use of a 4 seam fastball in favor of a mix of the sinker and cut fastball. Back in the day, he would have been called a sinkerball pitcher. In other words, he pitches to contact and hopes to induce a high rate of ground balls. Added together, groundballs, infield popups and strikeouts comprise nearly 80% of Davies’ outcomes.
When it comes to handedness splits nothing really jumps out. Left handed batters get on base slightly more frequently versus Davies. Right handed batters hit for a tad more power; but they also strike out at a markedly higher rate.
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 134 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 34 | .219 | .284 | .403 |
| LHH | 125 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 16 | .257 | .320 | .372 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Sinker | Cutter | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | — | 89.1 | 87.4 | 79.2 | 74.4 |
| Usage | 0 | 48.1% | 8.9% | 35.7% | 6.4% |
Bullpen Status
Reds
Reds relievers covered just 2.2 innings Monday night as Mike Minor gave the team a boost by pitching an out into the 7th inning. Hunter Strickland needed just 12 pitches to record a 1 inning save. However Strickland joins Alexis Diaz with a 3 day pitch count just over 30. They could be restricted tonight. Reiver Sanmartin marked his return with a strong 0.2 innings requiring 20 pitches due to an extended at bat. He could be unavailable.
Diamondbacks
J.B. Wendelkin and Ian Kennedy are likely unavailable after high pitch count appearances Monday. Caleb Smith did not pitch Monday but has a 3day pitch count over 40.
News and Notes
Word on Aristides Aquino’s injury from Enquirer beat writer Charlie Goldsmith. What looked like not much at all when it happened or even yesterday afternoon has turned into a significant situation. Charlie also has updates on Max Schrock and Nick Lodolo.
Aristides Aquino, who injured his ankle sliding into home plate, is expected to miss about 4-6 weeks.
David Bell said Max Schrock continues to be very close to returning. He’s playing tonight in AAA.
Nick Lodolo will have two or three more rehab starts to build back up.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) June 14, 2022
Thought Of The Day
Mike Moustakas returned Monday. The stage is set for Jonathan India’s return tonight. Donovan Solano and Max Schrock are also presumably on the cusp of returning to the Reds. Jose Barrero lurks at AAA. This begs the question trying to hide like an elephant in the corner of the dugout. What should be the Reds immediate goal? How should the roster spots and playing time be parsed? Should the Reds focus on putting the best team on the field every night? Or, should the Reds focus on building the trade value of players like Brandon Drury, Albert Almora Jr, Schrock and Solano, not to mention Matt Reynolds, all who could be coveted pieces for contenders looking to build out their benches at the trade deadline? And are these two paths even necessarily mutually exclusive? GO REDS!
Where, When and Weather
Game time: 9:40pm ET
Where: Chase Field Phoenix, AZ
Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
Forecast: 100° or more but who cares. Chase Field is indoors and air conditioned.
Data Courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, and Rotowire
I like this line-up pretty well, especially given the available roster. That’s a solid OF defensively and the IF also should be fairly solid.
Anxious to see if RoY performs better than his Louisville stint. Senzel in the 6 hole seems about right to me.
And at least Mr. Moose isn’t wearing a glove tonight.
Almost time to Kick this Pig!!!
I’ll watch about 30 minutes max again tonight. Then I’m off to bed.
Charlie Goldsmith gave some revealing info today on lance McCalister show and twitter.
Long story short.
Brandon Drury isnt going anywhere and will play a lot of 3b and bat 2nd .
Moose is being moved to a lot of DH
Max Schrock and Almora might be a RF platoon.
Reds are going to focus on a winning culture and not a lot of trades.
That means Kyle Farmer is staying at SS (Barrero homered and is 2-3 btw.)
I only see Castillo and Pham being traded. Mahle will take a lot.
Solano is going to be rotated a lot.
Interesting …
That would mean a lot of platooning at several positions. Were I Kyle Farmer, I’d be a bit PO’d that I’m working my butt off and don’t have an opportunity to play for the post-season.
I don’t get the “winning culture” statement at all. There just isn’t enough meat on this particular bone to pull that off this year barring an absolute miracle. And even then, the chances of playing in October are slim to none and slim’s out of town.
He contrasted that with the Pirates and said Pittsburgh is focused on incrementally making every decision a step forward in roster construction
Winning culture doesn’t mean winning this year. That was gone with 3-22. I would take it to mean trying to work on getting the little things right with the young guys and doing things the right way. Pitchers throwing strikes and not giving outs away. Making routine plays and advancing runners. Running and/or stealing occasionally. Alot of things that this team hasn’t done since the Rolen Reds
Thanks, Old School.
Indy – if that’s the intent, then you drop Moose like a hot potato (or untradeable manatee), you trade Pham, Castillo, Reynolds, Farmer, and probably Mahle (if possible). And you work with the young studs showing you are completely committed to them for the future of the club.
But I’m not a GM or manager or anything else related to the MLB game. So what do I know?
Just wondering…Who is Charlie Goldsmith?
Is this his opinion, or does he have some “inside scoop”?
Enquirer/Castellini plant elevated above other reds beat writers to deliver Castellini message.
Hes literally 23.
Wow … a seasoned veteran beat reporter then who has seen the game from every possible angle.
I suppose we should take whatever he offers with a large bowl of salt then.
Almora’s batting splits are .273/.263, while Schrock is .277/.250, though very small sample. Their numbers don’t suggest platooning according to Bell’s L/R handedness theory. Don’t even know what winning culture means in the context of the Reds. There are very few examples n the last decade and a half.
Does this mean if someone dogs it on the field, they get pulled?? Like Harrison Bader and the Cardinals’ winning culture?
Glad to hear this. Drury is clearly, at this point, the best option at third base both offensively and defensively. I would love Schrock’s bat in the lineup, but as an outfielder, he was pretty bad defensively last year.
Max Schrock is close…..close to sitting on the pine and watching Moose pop up and occasionally play defense like a manatee with a glove on its flipper. Dumb money spent always plays over guys in their prime with this organization.
+10,000 solely based on the “manatee with a glove” comment
untradeable manatee-classic!
Okay, that really made me laugh
I see manatees regularly every year from my condo deck seat in Florida.
They are big and slow for sure.
Moose or Manatee? Maybe both.
Tried a round robin parlay with Fried, Pivetta, and Mahle to get Ws tonight. First 2 look like they’re in the bag. Hope road Mahle shows up big tonight, but the Dbacks just saw him so I’ll be ready to bet the other side if things turn sour
Good to see India back. Hope he gets his swing back quickly. On the trade front, I think I’d rather they shopped Naquin and held on to Almora, younger, better batting splits, less power, and a bit more durable. Solano, Reynolds, certainly seem expendable. Drury and Schrock, I tend toward keeping. Castillo? Only with a huge return. Mahle & Moose in a package deal? Senzel, seems like time to move on. Minor – maybe an application of the greater fool theory? It’s going to be intense, I’m betting.
Looking at the Roster going forward. Whether Mahle and Castillo depart or not the Starting Pitching Rotation is set with Greene, Lodolo, Overton, Ashcraft, plus either one of the two aforementioned or Dunn.
Diaz is the closer of the future, besides tony and art warren, the Bullpen is still in flux
C Tysteve
1B Votto
2B India
3B Drury- its what I would do as I would hold him through his Arb years
SS- Farmer – despite what others say he is a Legit SS. Barrero can come up and try to take it from him.
OF- I would hold on to Almoria. Work Shrock in there but once again a black hole right now. Maybe convert McClan, but even then he is still some time away.
Only for sure bench bat is Lopez. Dude has been done dirty IMHO
Correction… Drury is a Free agent, so disregard that
Also, I forgot the communists won so I got to factor in a DH as well.
Starting the night off with the usual Doube play. I’ll go with 3 tonight for the Big Double Play Machine.
Indy as usual is all over Reds baseball.
Might be time to rename Moose to Manatee.
All in favor say Ayyy.
Aye!!
Aye
I worry about how that would make Manatees feel. They’ve done nothing wrong.
So RoY starts back with the old HBP. Led the league in that last season, didn’t he?
Nick Senzel is like that 12 year old playing on a 50/70 field who now has to play on a 14 yo 60/90 field. What is wrong with him? Nick Senzel is done as an MLB player. HE cant hit a baseball anymore on a big boy field
Only 22 pitches in two innings for Mahle …
With no-hit stuff.
Twenty-two pitches in 2 innings?
Who is that imposter in the Mahle uniform?
Speak of the devil … Charlie Goldsmith was in the WLW booth. Didn’t really say anything of note that I heard. They jabbered on about a notebook (Thrall said “composite” when what I believe he meant was “composition”).
I’m sticking for our half of the 3rd and then have to tap out.
Turns out that smack by the Manatee was just a long-ish, noisy out.
You stayed for Mooses at bat. Must see TV.
6-55. Can of corn.
Nice work by Almora.
Well that didn’t work out how we wanted it to …
I’ll catch you all tomorrow. Late afternoon game should give me the opportunity to watch most of it.
Good night, friends.
do not jinx it sadak
Too late, had to talk about a perfect game in the minors. I don’t really believe in it, but many fans do, so why break the rule Sadak
Cards Mikolas loses no hitter with 2 outs in the 9th. He’s at 129 pitches….then they took him out
Mahle is a good road pitcher
Reds better get a good prospect if he’s traded.
Vlad or Revier aren’t just being plugged in.
20 years into GABP as a home park, do you think the Reds make any effort to vet potential draftees for how their pitch repertoire might play at GABP. This sounds like something forward thinking Dick Williams might have tried. So, if the Reds ever worked on it, they probably don’t anymore.
I think the Reds should figure out how to move the fences back. Might better help the pitchers going forward.
Seems like the only thing they thought about 20 years ago was building that hitter-friendly right field sundeck for Junior to use in his pursuit of Hank’s 755.
Anyone seen whether the ex-white sox DH (Mercedes) or Clint Frazier – formerly of the Cubs were picked up by anyone yet. Both were designated by their teams last week. I wouldn’t mind seeing us pick up one or both of them if no significant assets are involved. Mind-blowing how many outfielders we have lost to injury this season. Got to be room on that 40 man to bring in one of them. Trade Pham and try one of them.
Mahle has not got any run support all year.Don’t expect any tonight or tomorrow with Castillo pitching.
Nice hitting back to back by Senzel and Moose. The light may be going on about how to handle a soft tosser.
Ex Red Jackson Stephen’s gets his 2nd save today for the Braves.
Almora slowed his bat and stroked it. Unfortunately it went right at the SS.
It’s a winning formula vs. soft tossers. Wait and poke it the other way.
They mostly try to hit it 500 feet, and fail miserably.
Did moose have the slowest steal in history
Yet another stolen base by Moose.
Maybe start Okey the majority of time going forward. Garcia just can not hit.
I concur. Garcia was alright when you needed to spell Stevenson a day but not as the full time. Day game after a night game we will see Okey tomorrow
Mahle with on 60 pitches through 5 and no walks? Who has he been talking to?
Watching Greene and Ashcroft.
Barrero 3-5 with a HR
Schrock and Solano 1-4
I saw that, would be nice to see a few more good games, then bring Barrero up!
Leave him Louisville awhile. He won’t be playing short on the Reds in the near term. So let him stay down and hit everyday. Beats the bench.
I want him in the OF, but saying that seems like I’m talking politics, half will hate me for my opinion. I’d agree if he’d be riding the pine.
I prefer him at short but ultimately if he’s called up, I want to see him play. Young players with futures sitting while the dinosaurs play is just shortsighted and very frustrating
It was probably worth the chance. Took 2 perfect throws to just nip Farmer at the plate.
I can’t slow it down but it sure looked like his foot was in there before the tag.
At least worth a challenge.
Agree that it was worth a shot since the Reds are suffering badly at the plate. But Mahle is pitching a gem and it’d be a shame if he’s pinned with a loss.
Mahle 10 K’s thru 7 well pitched innings. Should be able to go at least 1 more.
I’m not sure if he even had a 3-2 count tonight. This is the Mahle we expect. Maybe he decided against nibbling.
The Mahle spot in the rotation has been my least favorite to watch. What a performance this is.
Brilliant performance from Mahle tonight. Hope they can push one across here and get him a win.
Complete game win!
Farmer loves lefties.
VOtto and farmer come through… sac bunt?
no just rely on the weak bat of senzel
The double plays the last few games are killing me. Just brutal.
he really should have bunted. then that grounder by Moose scores a run
Here we go. Manatee against Maniply.
Why wouldn’t you pinch run for Joey there? If you hit-n-run with anyone with a little speed then its 1st/3rd nobody out and they probably scratch across a run. I cut Bell major slack with this pen, but he’s so passive on the bases? We desperately need to go in another direction. Senzel hasn’t had an extra base hit in the covid era so why not bunt them along if you do have 1st/2nd nobody out? Brings the infield in and puts the defense under extreme pressure
Not to mention Senzel showing low baseball IQ again. He’s been going the other way more often then Freddie Mercury and when we need him to advance Votto then he decides now is the time to roll over 6-4-3.
Scarra, mooch, Scarra mooch, Nick tried to do a fandango!
Moose starts out on 2nd. He has to pinch run for him.
Send him out for the tenth….. let this be an old school Complete game. Oh and pinch run for Moose
Bell and his vets. No good manager let’s Moustskis run. Pinch run Friedl.
But they did not pinch run for Moose…
Disregard, i see what they did here…. ok…
Now he does. He is clueless
no i got it. It was just in case that they never moved him off of second to keep his bat in the lineup.
So you have your best hitter run and your best runner hit. Ok?
He baffles me.
Hey skip….we need a sac fly. Ok, let me send up my 150 lb guy
He doubled. Better than SF.
It worked, but the numbers prove Reynolds is a better hit then Friedl and Friedl is faster then Reynolds. Melancon is actually worse vs righties this year too although bad vs both.
Another great start. Let’s hope they win this one for a change.
Alright Fredl… atta boy, India keep it going
It worked out but odd moves to me.
Wondering if anybody is up in the bullpen.
Diaz in about as much of a closer situation as he can have
Good lord.
Well that’s game. Its on diaz but it never should have gotten there, reds needed to score….. oh wait a minute….. still a chance
Really needed India to put that ball in play.
Poor Mahle. Not sure what he has to do to get a win.
All night, no errors and then this? Can we get the language rules on here lifted for just one night?
I’m not going to blame Bell or Diaz, this is Bob’s fault. Why he thought we could win games without a closer, is beyond me. I’m just hoping we’re not damaging these young arms like Diaz and Santillan, by putting too much pressure on them too soon.
I kind of assume that one run is going to score with the ghost runner and the goal is to keep it to that.
You’re a better man than me. I know it’s harder, but a good closer gets it done more than not. We don’t have that. I am talking a bit our my rear, because I don’t have the stats to back it up.
Need Farmer here after a terrible at bat my Joey.
Farmer comes through!!!!
Farm Dog!
Yes Farmer!!!!
Farmer another big hit off a righty.
I am about to come up with something for him too
OMG….. Really?????? Just make it stop please
I guess they don’t want me to go to bed.
Can’t watch that anymore, I’ll check the box later.
No this baseball isnt free….
Cessa is a seasoned vet and he wild pitches both runs in with 1st/3rd 2 outs and 1-2 on the hitter. Insane? The park is playing huge….just throw 94 mph away and let the guy fly out. If he gets a hit or hr then so be it, but wild pitch the 2nd run in? Thats not acceptable
That is about as bad as it gets. Cessa with a complete meltdown.
Back-to-back wild pitches and an error on the pitcher dropping a throw allowing 2 runs to score. All coming with 2 outs and 2 strikes on the batter. That’s as bad as it gets. I’d cut Cessa after that performance.
My buddy had Under 8 in the Cubs/White Sox a while back and it was 1-0 bottom 9th and ended up 5-4 just like this.
Talk about a bad beat!
Worse feeling is having a horrible BP.
No team is out of vs us.
Keep adding arms arms arms,
We watched Mahle throw a beautiful game and then we get this.
AAJ baby! Lets get like 4-5 runs then maybe we can hold on by 1
We get 8 more runs we should be safe.
Alright, AAJ and India…. lets hold it this time
Its 1:15 am…why can’t Sadak just dial it down a little?
Indy the guy is terrible.
The icing on the cake would be reds winning this game. But the real win was Mahle improving his trade value considerably.
Dang hope India okay.
hopefully not starting down the Senzel path.
Finally….. FInally…. a normal inning…. series split
Reds won the first one 5-4. I don’t dare predict tomorrow…
Crawling to bed with a win.
The final in 12 is Reds 5, D-backs 3… It’s going to be that kind of season…
Cessa gets credit for the win? Whaaat? What kind of logic is that? He should have to forfeit the win and give it to Mahle.
Someday he will be able to laugh about it, but only when he’s old and feeble.
With a win and a Cubs loss tomorrow we go to 4th place
With India back, it’s time for the Reds to start moving up to third place and then challenging the Cardinals in the NLC.