The Cincinnati Reds are looking to avoid being swept this afternoon as they take on the Milwaukee Brewers in the final game of their 3-game series. Cincinnati will turn to lefty Mike Minor to try and stifle the Brewers offense. Milwaukee is handing the ball to Adrian Houser. First pitch is scheduled for 1:40pm.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for this afternoon’s contest:
Milwaukee Brewers
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Christian Yelich – DH | Jonathan India – 2B |
| Willy Adames – SS | Brandon Drury – 3B |
| Andrew McCutchen – LF | Tommy Pham – LF |
| Hunter Renfroe – RF | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Luis Urias – 3B | Kyle Farmer – SS |
| Keston Hiura – 1B | Nick Senzel – CF |
| Victor Caratini – C | Mike Moustakas – DH |
| Tyrone Taylor – CF | Albert Almora Jr. – RF |
| Mark Mathias – 2B | Aramis Garcia – C |
| Adrian Houser – SP | Mike Minor – SP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Mike Minor | 14.2 | 7.36 | 1.50 | 5 | 13 |
| Adrian Houser | 62.0 | 4.21 | 1.44 | 25 | 49 |
| Links: Mike Minor’s Stats | Adrian Houser’s Stats |
|||||
Mike Minor
The lefty is making his 4th start of the season today and will be looking to turn things around. In his first two outings he didn’t get out of the 5th inning. The last time out he pitched into the 7th inning, but did give up four runs in 6.1 innings for his best start of the season.
With just three games under his belt this season his splits aren’t all that useful, so I didn’t include them below. With that said, lefties have an OPS of .924 against him with just two walks and three strikeouts in 24 plate appearances. Righties have a 1.007 OPS against him with three walks and 10 strikeouts in 43 plate appearances against him.
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 90.4 | 84.3 | 84.3 | 79.5 |
| Usage | 44.4% | 29.6% | 19.3% | 6.6% |
Adrian Houser
There are some big splits for Adrian Houser this season. Righties aren’t doing much against him, posting a .644 OPS against him on the season. Lefties are hitting well, doing a little bit of everything en route to an .819 OPS against him.
Not shown below are the home and road splits, and they are quite big. On the road Houser has an ERA of 5.72 (2.94 at home). Hitters are hitting .302/.362/.466 against him when he’s away from Milwuakee – a 190 point advantage over what they hit against him when he is pitching at home.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 142 | 31 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 21 | .240 | .303 | .341 |
| LHH | 130 | 33 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 28 | .285 | .354 | .466 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 94.6 | 94.1 | 84.8 | 85.7 | 81.1 |
| Usage | 18.1% | 47.2% | 11.5% | 10.5% | 12.7% |
When and Where
- Game time: 1:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 75°, sunny, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Dauri Moreta called up, TJ Friedl Optioned
The Reds made some roster moves prior to the game today, calling up reliever Dauri Moreta and optioning outfielder TJ Friedl to Triple-A. Today will be the last day that teams can have 14 pitchers on the roster and the Reds are making sure that they get to utilize it.
Nick Lodolo’s rehab outing
The lefty pitched last night in Durham for the Louisville Bats. His final line was 2IP, 4H, 2ER, 1BB, 6K. He threw 49 pitches. But his line isn’t quite what it seems. He gave up two infield hits, a blooper into center on a check swing, and a 19-hopper up the middle. No one made anything close to hard contact against him.
Lefties hit Houser, yet no Max Schrock?? How will we ever figure out about the young guys such as Schrock, Lopez, etc if Bell never plays them? I do not understand the purpose of a rebuilding year like this. It should be called a retread year as that is all the Reds play. Hopefully after the break most of the retreads are traded and released and we actually build towards 2023/2024.
Also Garcia is starting the third straight game. I don’t believe in Okey, but let him play with some regularity to see if he can or not. We know Garcia can’t.
Max Schrock will turn 28 in October. He’s not exactly young in baseball terms.
Fair point Doug. I try not to complain too much. I just hate to see a guy who clearly can hit get called up to sit on the bench for five days (including the 2 off days). It’s hard to find any rhythm like that. Overall, just very frustrating to figure out any direction the Reds are going this year, other than striving for mediocrity.
And neither is Senzel.
Also, unless I missed a recent call-up, the Reds sent Alejo Lopez to Louisville. So, Bell can’t play him right now.
He has been down for a week or so. It was more of an example of not ever giving a guy the chance. While India was out would have been a great time to see if he can hit consistent or not. At the minimum he could have platooned with Phillips at 2b during that time.
Mike Minor…. ok Over it is lets go teams get 10 plus runs combined
Same thought from me BetonRed
Alexis Diaz to the 15-day injured list. Sigh….
Almora swings at a lousy 2-0 pitch then went to 3-2 later before a doubleplay. So inning over instead of 1st/2nd with 1 out. I know Farmer is hot, but he’s another one. Its 2-0 so it must be a meatball so I’m programmed to swing. Good teams with professional lineups don’t go to the plate already programmed. They play the numbers. 2-0 better actually be a center cut meatball or I’m not swinging
Good morning, good afternoon, good night. Garcia down in 3. I’m so glad he calls a great game and we can carry a .140 hitter K/GIDP machine with our powerful lineup
It seems like Bell should swap Drury and Votto. Put some hitters behind him. Senzel, Farmer, Moose? Not enough. And Garcia? Not that he or Okey either one is going to hit a lot but wouldn’t hurt to try. Beyond India, Stephenson, Green, Ashcraft, maybe Drury, maybe Almora, maybe Castillo or Mahle (keep one), the Reds should shop the rest of the 26–man roster. As for Minor & Moose, if no takers, then just DFA them and move on. Just admit that “aligning payroll to resources” means a rebuild and quit pretending the Reds are “getting better in a weird way”.
I would keep Diaz as well. This team is quite terrible. I got them at 31-61 at the break. 25 out of wildcard.
I wasn’t thinking of IL guys but I thinking keeping Diaz and Moreta are good moves. But Santillian, Sanmartin, Cessa, Detweiler, Strickland, Warren, Hoffman, and the rest, not so much.
They both are owed too much money they won’t dfa them
Oh, I agree. But those are sunk costs and currently adding no value. Moustakas talked about finally getting the security he sought and then didn’t live up to his part of the bargain, i.e., showing up in shape and ready to play. Certainly, I wouldn’t package him with Castillo or Mahle just to get rid of the contract, thereby screwing up the potential return. In all honesty, I’d be more comfortable with Williams making these moves than Krall and that’s a very, very sad statement on Krall.
Agreed about the sunk costs,the Moose and Votto contracts are both untradeable so I’m expecting a few more years of 90-100 losses.Minor should go to the pen when Lodolo returns to try to build some trade value
I agree. My suspicion is Bell will follow his usual pattern and it will be Lodolo in the bullpen with Minor starting. Or they leave Lodolo in Louisville. But maybe he and the Reds will surprise me. That would be nice for a change.
Just when I was about to lose faith in my bet, the floodgates open
7 run inning comming up b
Big same game parlay for me today. Pham hit and both teams over 2.5 (+125). 1 leg accomplished 2 to go
Joey with the single but at .205 when does his slow start become a concern?
It was a concern before the season started. He turns 39 in September. He is below replacement level now, negative .3 WAR.
Nothing you can do. Play him more at DH and give him scheduled rest and get ready for the 2023 farewell tour and prepare for his first base replacement. This is why 2024 is the goal and 2023 is the transition with Moose and Votto both owed $53 million in exit fees 2023. Also why you trade Mahle and Castillo for some high end prospects ready in 2024.
I hope they are ready by 24. They have alot of holes to fill.
Blackout???
Is Senzel one of the biggest busts the Reds have ever had?
Houser with a center cut 93 mph for Senzel and all he can do is hit a little floater to RF. He’s done. Zero bat speed or power anymore. Too many injuries
plus 1000
Yep. Should be Almora in Center and Schrock in Right today.
Idk about Schrock in the OF defensively? Especially RF? I think I’d consider Drury in LF and Pham in RF with Schrock at 3B, but I think they’ll experiment Schrock LF Pham RF to start
I would agree with you if they were a better team but at 23-42 and definitely losing a 100, I would see what Schrock has out there. If they can play Vanmeter out there then they can play anybody out there.
True. I guess if Max can play 3B then he probably has a stronger arm then Pham anyway and why move more people around. Platoon Max/Senzel if you want, but Nick is showing nothing to be a regular
Even Garcia getting on base… If we do score 7 I am taking credit for it lol
Listening only. AAJ double sounded sweet
AAJ has been clutch! 4th OFer or CF and batting 9th on a good team. He won alot with the Cubs. He knows what winning looks like!
At what time is the Senzel experiment over with? He will be 27 in a week. They say a batter needs 1500 at bats to find out if he is a keeper. With his history of being out of the lineup he should be 32 when he reaches 1500.
Joining in with the concerns on Senzel. I think this year is it for him to have unfettered control of Center. Berrios could be moved there. Could hold on the Almora. Needless to say that that pick was wasted
Minor … heavy sigh
Ive been an unabashed Senzel supporter because he was the best hitter in college, the best hitter in the Cape Cod league and rocketed thru the minor leagues hitting at every level. He was good first 300 at bats in 2019 and then Turner Ward got him and he got hurt.
Then 2020 was Covid and a lost year.
Then 2021 was injury and bizarreness.
Then 2022 covid again but healthy and good in CF and still good plate discipline….but hes not hitting for average or getting on base or hitting doubles/triples or making regular hard contact.
That said- Who is your CF if not Senzel in 2024. I’m going with Elly De la Cruz- he’s increasing his walk rate a bit and cutting his K rate a bit, and 6’5 with blazing speed and OPS’ing .950 and lots of errors at SSNobody on this current Reds roster or AAA or AA roster is a future franchise CF.
#Elly4CF
They are going to have to do something with their shortstops. McClain, Barrero, Cruz . … Somebody has to move and the Reds are dying for outfielders.
McClain K rates are not good so he’s not close to MLB. Barrero will get his opportunity in 2023 and hopefully picks it up in AAA now to start that opportunity post AS break. This season is lost so at some point Krall and Bell have to admit that but they wont do that until the AS break.
Last interview I saw, EDLC said he wanted to be a shortstop. But if he could get to the major league quickly, I bet he’d change his mind.
I see Barrero as a flop in the majors,McClain isn’t a good hitter so hopefully Cruz is the guy.When they dump Castillo and Mahle they need to get a couple good young outfielders.I don’t know Almora’s contract situation but I’m all for keeping him and Drury around unfortunately the worst ownership in mlb will probably let them walk rather than pay them
I’m not ready to write Barrero off just yet. But, yeah, I agree. I’m thinking EDLC is the guy as well.
If not Senzel, then probably Friedl or Siani. Siani could be the guy, although I need to see more of Siani to make a better evaluation.
Friedl? seriosuly
Now that was a blast.
Reds miss Peralta, Burnes and Woodruff. They are on the verge of being swept.
Brewers came to town struggling and it looks like a sweep. I think the Reds are actually getting worse if that is possible. 23 and 43 after today, low point of the season record wise. The players on this team should feel embarrassed about all this. The biggest failures in my eyes in any order = Moose, Votto, Senzel, Garcia, the entire bull pen and many more.
How is Garcia a failure? He was never going to hit. I don’t think anyone expected a thing out of him.
Well he has given less than most back up catchers.
It’s amazing that they aren’t the worst team in baseball. I think there is a real problem that they need to figure out how to solve but it seems like the recent labor stoppage actually is pushing toward more division between the teams.
I hate losing as much as the next guy, if not more. The frustrating thing is that the management makes no changes, the same lineups more or less, the same roster, the same management, the same dinosaurs, day in and day out. Bench some folks, call up somebody, trade, anything to show some accountability. Enough of the “letting them work it out in games”. This is one sorry organization. There’s always next year, no wait the year after that, nah, it’s never going to happen. The Reds are the 21st century version of Cub futility.
Dont forget Bell, Krall, and Castellini. You win and lose as a team.
Ownership didnt do their job. FO signed Mike Minor among other things. Bell is the captain of the Titanic. Bullpen has stunk. Offense has stunk. Any many players have underperformed as noted. It’s a complete fail…..but I’m still optimistic if the franchise admits its a lost year, 2023 is a transition year, and 2024 is the reset and all decisionspoint to 2024, then thats a plan.
Only if they sell and the new owners clean house
One more run please!!!
Votto was overmatched.
As he has been most of the season. And I hate the promos for him and Moose that they are going to get hot soon.
Did anybody really think Votto would get a hit. He is an all time Reds great but let’s be honest his best days are gone. He had a good year last year but that may have been his last hurrah. He would be doing himself and the club a huge favor by retiring after this year. I hate watching him struggle like this on this awful team. His performance wouldn’t be that noticeable if the team was decent but this situation just makes him look bad.
He won’t walk away from all that money still owed
You are probably right, but I ask how much money does he need? As for this week end the only good thing is they are hurting the Cardinals.
I don’t know who’d step into Votto spot if he did. We are not likely to have a guy ready in 24, much less now. Maybe in trading Castillo and Mahle, we can find a replacement for Votto, and an outfielder.
I’m wondering why he was scratched in the first game coming off an off day. He was doing well and looked to have turned things around in the last homestand, but then struggled on the road trip. Wondering if he tweaked something and isn’t fully healthy.
I also think he changed his tactics partway through last year to try to hit for more power, but the changes with the ball this year seem to have blunted that strategy and he is hitting some long fly balls instead. I could see him walking away, but that outlawing of the shift might convince him to stick around. He’s lost a lot base hits the last few years because of it.
A certain catcher would move to first base,but it doesn’t matter
you are correct, but as you say it doesn’t matter.
Reds would be worse offensively as they have nothing in the catcher pipeline to replace Stephenson if he moves.
Reds are 20-20 since there terrible or horrid start. Trying to stay positive, but tend to agree with the norm. Didn’t the hitting coach mess with Senzel’s swing at one point? Not sure it makes a big difference. Also, Votto seems to be at the end. As mentioned overmatched.
That fan is getting Free tickets for sure
The way the season is going with injuries, I’m surprised Almora didn’t hurt himself.
Pretty much everyone knew the day would come for the Votto contract that Walt gave him to come back and haunt the Reds.
2023 25 million
2024 20 million
2025 he’ll be owed 7 million
Unfortunately it appears that time is now
Yep, the Reds need to negotiate a by out and retire him
The contract doesn’t haunt the Reds. Votto outproduced it significantly and if the Reds can’t afford to pay a fair market contract to a homegrown probably HOF then they should fold the team. The contracts that haunt are Moose and Shogo, who they got zero production out of at all.
What haunts them is they should have never given him a 10 year contract into his 40s. They should have given him a 7 year with a higher per year pay. Not sure why teams want to give contracts into the 40s. Seems like nobody learns the lesson.
Because that is the only way you are ever going to get a superstar to sign with you. No one is handing out contracts to guys into their 40’s who aren’t among the most elite players in the game.
Do you think the Reds would have raised payroll to accommodate a higher salary for Votto or would he have just taken up an even larger slice? I’d bet heavily on the latter scenario. They have had 10 years to plan for these last couple of years from Votto.
I posted about the Braves and Minor below so I will stay on that theme. Braves had a decision very similar to the Reds. The Reds gave Votto a massive contract through the declining years of a players 30’s. The Braves had Freddie Freeman asking for the same thing. An aging all-star that wanted to retire with the Braves and wanted paid. Braves let him go and signed Matt Olsen. Olsen is 4 years younger and will be Freemans current age when his contract with Braves is up. This year Freeman is hitting .290 and Olsen .250. Olsen has 8 HRs and Freeman 5. So similar production but right now I would give edge to Freeman. We will see how this looks in 3-4 years. But the Braves took a different approach than the Reds.
Best $10 million ever spent by Reds FO! Mike Minor contract!
I laugh with you.
Or the 21 million on Akiyama. Or the 64 mil on Moose. Or…
Braves has similar experience with Minor when he was there. He was pretty good first time through the order but then the opponents bats would turn into artillery and the fireworks would start. So they tried him in the bullpen thinking he would be effective there but the shells started as soon as he took the mound so they got rid of him. Maybe history will repeat itself here and Reds will do that same thing. Some children learn through observation. Others just have to put their hands on that hot stove to figure out it is not what you want to do.
Dodgers coming in for a series against the Reds. 7-11 in their last 18. Nothing like a series with the Reds to get things turned around.
Hendricks, Hinds, Thompson, and Allen all future outfielders. Then you have Burrero, De la Cruz, McLain, not to mention Johnson and Callihan on infield. Out of those players mentioned. Are they the answer come 2024.
I’m not sure most of them will be ready by 24. They have alot of holes to fill.
Truly they do. Alot of holes.
2024 seems ambitious. It’s been a somewhat disappointing year for the guys in the upper minors. Last year they had several really good, breakout years, but some of those guys (McClain, Allen, Barrero, etc.) have been a bit disappointing or injured this year. The position player talent pool is deepest in the lowest levels and 2025 is probably a more realistic timeframe unless the Reds splurge on a few free agents.
I’m not that concerned with who replaces Votto at first base. We’re talking about first base. Almost anybody can play first base. Look at the Brewers today. They had one of their middle infielders play first base today. It’s not a concern for me. Find a guy that can produce at the plate and try him at first base.
Pathetic effort against the Brewers! What does it take for the FO to make a change in managers? Watching Bell’s post game clips is like watching the movie Groundhog Day!
Maybe the hitting coach. All I know is Senzel was a hitter. Even his 1st year not bad. Now can’t hit, and If memory serves me correctly they tinkered with his batting stance. Here we are.
Senzel is one of those guys who just know will flourish once he leaves here. Justin Turner II.