The Cincinnati Reds will look to avoid being swept (both in this series and on the season) by the Los Angeles Dodgers as the two teams wrap up their 3-game series at Great American Ball Park this afternoon. The Reds will look for Hunter Greene to be their stopper on the day, while the Dodgers turn to future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35pm.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for this afternoon’s contest:
Los Angeles Dodgers
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Trea Turner – SS | Jonathan India – DH |
| Freddie Freeman – 1B | Brandon Drury – 1B |
| Will Smith – DH | Tommy Pham – LF |
| Max Muncy – 2B | Kyle Farmer – SS |
| Chris Taylor – RF | Donovan Solano – 3B |
| Justin Turner – 3B | Matt Reynolds – 2B |
| Gavin Lux – LF | Albert Almora Jr. – RF |
| Cody Bellinger – CF | Nick Senzel – CF |
| Austin Barnes – C | Chris Okey – C |
| Clayton Kershaw – SP | Hunter Greene – SP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Hunter Greene | 65.0 | 5.26 | 1.29 | 28 | 85 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 39.0 | 2.08 | 0.85 | 6 | 40 |
| Links: Hunter Greene’s Stats | Clayton Kershaw’s Stats |
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Hunter Greene
The season line for Hunter Greene still doesn’t look all that great with a 5.26 ERA. But over his last eight starts that number is 3.65 and he’s been able to keep the home runs to an acceptable level, giving up just seven of them in 44.1 innings over that stretch. The walk rate has lowered itself in that span, too, as he’s held hitters to a .174/.257/.342 line over that time.
Greene has dominated lefties this season. Righties have a slugging percentage against him that is higher than the OPS against him from lefties. The splits have been about as night-and-day as they get. Even in his last eight starts where he’s been much better overall, righties are still slugging .532 against him with an OPS of .838. Lefties in that stretch are hitting just .098/.213/.159 against him in those same eight starts.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 142 | 35 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 11 | 40 | .271 | .331 | .612 |
| LHH | 140 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 45 | .172 | .279 | .320 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 98.5 | 87.5 | 89.7 |
| Usage | 50.6% | 43.8% | 5.6% |
Clayton Kershaw
The unquestionable best pitcher of his generation, Clayton Kershaw isn’t the same pitcher he used to be, but the results are. Through seven starts this season his ERA is at 2.08, he’s not giving up home runs, not walking anyone, and he’s striking out a bunch of guys.
Left-handed hitters don’t get many chances to face him, but this season when they have, they’ve hit .320 against him with as many walks in 29 plate appearances as right-handed hitters have against him in 118. Righties are hitting an absurdly low .167 against him this season with a .195 on-base percentage. Usually you’d say that guys were due, but against Kershaw….. they usually aren’t.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 118 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 33 | .167 | .195 | .272 |
| LHH | 29 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | .320 | .379 | .360 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 90.5 | 85.9 | 83.5 | 73.1 |
| Usage | 40.0% | 44.1% | 1.3% | 14.6% |
When and Where
- Game time: 12:35pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 81°, sunny, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
A whole lot of losing
Reds have lost 8 straight games to the Dodgers, all by multiple runs. It's their longest losing streak to one team all by multiple runs since they lost 8 straight vs the Cubs in 2015-16. They've twice had streaks of 9 games, which is their max:
1991 vs Pirates
1944-45 vs Cubs— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) June 23, 2022
Giving up on the playoffs
OK, yes, it would take a miracle for the Cincinnati Reds to turn the season around and make the playoffs, but it’s still June and there’s an event planned for Great American Ball Park for October 13-16. It’s strange to see, but hey, if you want to hit some golf balls, Topgolf has you covered.
Oh, great. Senzel is playing.
As he should be.
Senzel’s OPS is below Aquino, Friedl, Lopez, Moran, Moustakas, and everyone else you’d probably already guess without me listing them. I’m not saying demote him, or even bench him, but no, it shouldn’t be assumed he is in the lineup. He’s no longer a young kid, he’s shown no signs of development as a MLBer.
He has an expected batting average 50 points higher than his average, suggesting he’s been very unlucky. He had 7 balls that were outs but would have been home runs in over half of the mlb stadiums. He has elite speed (top 10%) on the basepaths, and plays top level defense (top 25% in outs above average). He should absolutely be in the lineup this season as the Reds should be giving all their top young guys as much playing time as possible to evaluate. Especially Senzel, who has been plagued with injury. So see if he can stay healthy and put together a long season. Most of those you named are infielders and the others have no business playing ahead of him. I get that you are disappointed with such a high draft pick, but 2022 is the year for the Reds to play him every day no matter what (along with several others who have been sitting in favor of mediocre veterans).
I think you misread me a bit, I said “ I’m not saying demote him, or even bench him” I’m ok with them playing him on a daily basis, but I’d also understand if the club felt it was time to go in another direction with him.
To me he is no longer a young prospect with a bright future, he’s a failed prospect with a questionable future. I honestly see him as a 4th OF, or a utility man going forward. I hope he goes 3 for 4 today, and starts becoming what we all expected him to be. I just don’t prioritize his development like I used to.
He hasn’t been unlucky. He’s been lousy, in the bottom 10 in MLB. BABIP is essentially meaningless
xBA and BABIP are different stats. He has had so many hard hit balls right at defenders. And xBA takes that into account. It’s hardly meaningless.
Ok. as you wish. Just remember, that was last year’s mantra for the entire team. And banning the shift next year, likely won’t make that big a difference.
We got Greene going today, I like our chances!
We will lose Kershaw pitching he will have 14k today. Also why isn’t max schrock playing is he hurt or something since he been back with the reds he only pitch hit 2x. He can’t start or something very odd. Both games we lost by allow them score 8 runs and we only put 2 and 4. They scored 16 runs in 2 games n we scored 6 in 2 games
I don’t get that negative until we are actually losing. Today it makes sense that Schrock is out of the lineup, we are going against a Lefty. I am with you on wanting to see him start, if not daily at least half or more of the games.
I want to see Drury get some tricky plays at 1B. It would make him even more of a must sign for the Reds if he can spell Votto. Maybe even take over 1B for a year or 2 until they get another prospect ready, or a FA signed.
I don’t believe anyone is a must sign for the Reds if they’re due for a raise
I would like drury be with us for 3 years to fill void of first base. Not being negative just realistic
@Eddie, sorry just poking fun, and yes, sign Drury for 3 years! I’m all in.
I know just disappointing seeing votto as a kid to now I’m only 28 MBS and want to see votto win a title before retirement. I grew up Learn the big red machine Era and would love them win a title since been forever now. I hate our own and sad us fans can call how the game play out. The young pitching look gassed so far this season which different ball game for them than minors. These are hard hitting teams and Dodgers 1st offense of this season. Greene already 60+ pitches only in 3 innings. Least u n I agree about drury lol
Farmer/Stephenson can play 1B to rest Votto. Honestly, Moran is an upgrade on Joey right now but I sure hope he has one more hot streak left in him.
So got an appointment at 1 so I am going to watch the first inning or so and then pause it until I am done. So I will be delayed. Someone cover if Votto homers. Oh wait…. never mind
Looks like Joey might finally be admitting it is time to pull the chute on facing lefites, especially THIS lefty.
Gotta argue about something since the Reds stink and the Dodgers are still the Dodgers.
The “unquestionable best pitcher of his generation”
I will give you probably the best pitcher of his generation and his 2013-2015 seasons were absurd. Post-season performance undercuts things a bit as Kershaw has not done well and post -season performance has to go into the calculus on generational best.
Max Scherzer is close and if I had to pick a game 7 World Series pitcher from 2012-2020…Id take Scherzer.
Don’t sleep on Verlander either.
“Playoffs? PLAYOFFS??”
– Jim Mora
Nice first inning by Greene. Love the guys essentially tricking Turner into a TOOTBLAN to end the inning.
I am always a bit excited when it’s Greene day. Infact I think the Reds should play the Band Greene Day, and Encourage fans to were their green St. Paddy day gear. It could be a huge fan experience.
Yeah, but the Reds are owned by American Idiots.
+1,000
Lol, but Phil is pretty fly for a white guy.
And we lose a runner right back
DJ has got to go, the Reds pitchers have a terrible idea of how to keep their pitch counts down. With the future young staff they need to pitch to contact and DJ doesn’t teach that.
@ Mark – have you forgotten Greene has made it to 8 innings twice now and Tyler Mahle has made it to 7+innings as well a few times? Oh how we have short memories as fans??!
Can Tommy Pham pitch?
Did that hit the sign? I think a Dodger fan just won a truck.
The Reds Bullpen included Duarte, Wilson, Sims, Guitterez (after being pulled from starting rotation) , Santillan, and Diaz. All are currently on the DL. The real question is why isn’t this happening to the Dodgers, Brewers, Cards, and Yankees?
DJ gets a pass more than any other person in the organization
DJ has mostly been given some garbage to work with but I believe Mike Minor is DJ’s fault. No doubt he recommended him since Minor pitched for him at Vanderbilt. This is a fireable offense for a guy making almost 10 million. It was a huge stretch to think Minor could have a good season and turn into a trade chip pitching half of the games in GABP and with his home run rate in KC.
Home runs in GABP will happen but pitchers especially here can’t walk hitters.Until they get it then it will continue
Hunter is facing a real team today, even guys that are struggling seem to be hitting today. Of course not sure his location has been real strong today either. A lot of improvement needed before he is a true force.
His location has been very poor. We saw last night from both Detwiler and Kuhnel that they pitched one fantastic inning and followed immediately by terrible location the next inning. The Reds have a lot of pitchers who can’t get it done consistently. Not telling anyone here anything they don’t know. There’s only so much the pitching coach can say to pitchers like this before the team has to move on to the next acquisition or minor league prospect. As I am typing this, Greene fell behind 3-0 to Bellinger and then grooved a fastball that wound up in the moon deck.
And to be fair to Greene, the Dodgers are an elite team. But he has not given himself a chance to compete by falling behind hitters consistently in the count.
And robo-ump can’t get here soon enough. Greene has that up and in fastball strike to lefties that gets called only about 40% of the time.
Are you suggesting move on from Greene?
Greene’s throwing it nowhere near the plate or he’s throwing it right down the middle. Either way he’s missing.
I’m suggesting that he’s not anywhere near the savior some people think he is currently. He needs a lot of work, both on perfecting a third pitch and generally locating effectively both within and outside the strike zone. He has the potential to be great, but if he keeps getting pounded in the big leagues, I’m not sure how much that will help him.
But if the Reds pitchers have the wrong philosophy they are going to fail trying to do what they cant do. Who doesn’t want to miss bats?
Pitching is first and foremost about strike throwing and getting strike 1 and ahead of the hitter. Its about locating pitches so hitters cant barrel it and hit it hard with authority, Its also about deception and disrupting the hitters rhythm and timing and slowing down their bat speed to get outs with soft contact.
Strike throwing, locating pitches, getting ahead in counts, not walking guys and getting quick outs with soft contact should be the priority. Missing bats should not be the #1 pitching priority.
My contention is that if DJ or anyone else told this team’s group of pitchers to make sure they throw a strike on the first pitch, they would not be able to do it consistently. And I agree, that is so important. We saw that with Gonsolin the other night.
Look like umpire and Greene was getting heated when he was walking to dugout
Professional hitters against a rookie learning to pitch at the big league level.Behind in the count and walking hitters won’t work against these guys.He will learn
Apparently on a warm afternoon in June, the options are watching reruns of programs like ER or reruns of Reds games.
I feel for Greene, but this is part of the learning curve. You don’t get better if you don’t face the best teams and sometimes take your lumps.
It’s just hard to watch over and over and over and … 😮
If it is the Clooney Era, I am sure which way your wife is going 🙂
Johnson’s most important job is to develop the Reds best( and only) asset and that’s young pitching. Better be careful or Green will become Amir Garrett- a predictable 2 pitch pitcher that throws a ton of sliders, tries to strike everyone out, gets behind in counts and then gives up the gopher ball.
Greene needs deception and soft contact to add to his FB and slider. A change up or 2 seamer/split or something off speed down in the zone that disrupts the rhythm of the hitter and slows bat speed is what Greene is missing. Weak grounders and pop-ups and 12 pitch innings are a good thing.
I’m with you. Greene needs work, and I’m not sure getting pounded in the big leagues is the best thing for him.
I agree with your assessment, I was just asking in earlier comments. He has a change up but doesn’t throw it much. I was looking at his game logs and he is very up and down.
I myself do think he will be fine, however crucial to learn a 3rd pitch and location, location, location
I’m sorry, but this sort of talk about Greene is just ridiculous. He’s a rookie pitcher, who is inconsistent, like most are. Right now, about half of his starts are outstanding, and the other half are terrible. That is to be expected. There is plenty to complain about, but Greene in his rookie season on a terrible team, is not one of them. Utterly laughable suggesting that maybe he shouldn’t be in the big leagues right now.
Agree. The org needs a new direction from a pitching standpoint. Guys are constantly getting hurt trying to strike everybody out. DJ has is fingerprints all over this.
Did Derek Johnson steal your lunch money when you were in 2nd grade? Man you never give him break.
Greene throws 100 mph. You’d have to be a FOOL to suggest he should pitch to contact. That would have been like telling Nolan Ryan back in the day to pitch to contact. Teach him to use secondary pitches to help get his K’s, and more importantly, push him to be able to throw 110 pitches in a game or more.
Per the game preview above:
Reds have lost 8 straight games to the Dodgers, all by multiple runs.
At least for us guys that are able to place a wager are able to benefit financially by playing the run line (-1.5) in all of these blowouts vs the Dodgers.
Never let a good opportunity go to waste!
Solano with “Kashmir” as his walk-up music, I’m impressed.
OK, we’re not shut out and Solano got an RBI. Trying to find small positives to take away (mostly so I don’t close the blinds in my office and openly weep).
Reds took 2 of three from giants. So, what r chances of that happening this next series
Solano (Age 34) would have been a great trade deadline pickup LAST YEAR. He could have been a boost for a team scratching to try to make the playoffs.
How is this 34 year old going to help the Reds in the future?
OK, I’m done here. I have a meeting starting in about 30 minutes anyway. No sense torturing myself further. I’d rather give my BP a chance to normalize a bit.
Limited watching this weekend given the time difference. Y’all are the best.
I guess if you swing early enough and hard enough and the fastball is right down the middle, you can hit it and watch it fly out of the ballpark. Learn something new everyday.
Well bullpen has given up 8 runs in two games. Wonder what will happen today.
Startering pitching is fine in my opinion. Bullpen is terrible. As we have seen
Barry Larkin was a great Hall of Fame player or the Reds but I just don’t care for him as an analyst. He doesn’t seem to tell it like it is like the Cowboy does, just my opinion.
Yep. I’d take Cowboy or the Creeper in heartbeat. By the way where is Chris Welsh?
Larkin takes the analyst role for all of the home TV broadcasts. Welch only does TV for away games, and sometimes does radio.
To me, the Cowboy is The Old Lefthander 2.0. That’s meant to be a huge compliment to both.
I sometimes think Sadak goes overboard just to keep “Lark” awake.
100% – Sadek practically begs Larkin for insight, and Lark provides nothing….causing Sadek to talk more, to fill the dead air.
🙂
You described Sadak as reminding you of the Hindenberg announcer. I think he’s dying to shout “Do you believe in Miracles” on every play 🙂
Larkin tries to stay interested with Sadak but you can tell from Barry’s facial expression that it’s a struggle. It’s like any of us bringing up a subject the other person has little or no interest in. The conversation will go nowhere.
Or, “OH, THE HUMANITY!!”
I have tried to give Barry a chance and really, REALLY wanted to like him as an announcer. He was one of my favorite Reds of all time, and does seem to know the game.
But I have listened enough to know that he just is no good at this job. Barry fails to criticize Reds players, fails to provide real insight as to what is actually happening on the play in question (as Welsh does), and fails to provide interesting stories or anecdotes from his playing days (as Brantley does).
I can honestly say that we have been so blessed to have had Welsh all these years. I used to think I liked Welsh almost as a balm to the banality of Thom, but have come to really miss Welsh on the home games. Welsh brings all the items that I noted Barry lacks, and does it better than anyone we have had as Reds announcer — dare I say ever? But at this point I would say he is that guy for me
Agree. Welsh, Cowboy, and even Sam LeCure are more entertaining than Barry.
Completely agree. I can’t stand listening to Larkin in the booth. Welsh is much better.
I think the Cowboy comes over the air as one of the best in MLB. For me, he has a touch of Mel Allen.
Looks like Alabama was right about Greene. No feel for pitching. Fastball straight as can be. No change of speed he desperately needs. As a matter of fact, Alabama was right about the whole franchise.
Typical of the Reds. Hoffman walks the 9th place batter Barnes and that brings up the leadoff man Turner (a much better player) who hits a double. Hoffman needed to attack the 9th place hitter Barnes, but it looked like a pitch around. Unbelievably bad baseball.
This soon to be 8 game losing streak is awful, the team isn’t competitive. I realize the injuries to the bull pen hasn’t helped, but this team is a lot further away from competing than I realized.
Pirates swept the dodgers a few weeks ago, in LA
Hmmm, I wonder if Dave Roberts had some money on the Pirates
10 runs by the bullpen so far in this series. Doesn’t matter what reds offense does. Starting pitching does. Bullpen is horrid
This has been a really competitive and fun series! I can’t wait to see our talented squad in Yankee Stadium for another nail biting and competitive series!
Baseball fever! Catch it!!
At least we get a long road trip to the West Coast for one series next. Still don’t understand what the schedule makers were thinking on that one.
catching baseball fever in reds area is like catching the plague this year-or at least a bad case of covid.
I hope the next manager has a chip on his shoulder, because the players are just not responding to David Bell’s laid back attitude.
David Bell seems like a nice guy, but managing a baseball team is not a good fit for him. He probably would make a good bench coach though.
Or grief counselor.
The grief counselor shouldn’t have a hand in causing the grief.
Yeah all these scrap heap players are playing like scrap heap players.Who would’ve thunk it smh
Or maybe a scrap heap manager is managing like a scrap heap manager. SMH
Oh, wait a minute….. lol
The Reds have walked the Dodgers 9th place batter, catcher Austin Barnes, who is hitting .188, three (3) times today.
I would love to hear Doug’s thoughts on the Reds (and 4 other cheap teams) not paying players in extended spring training, as reported in the Athletic. Also, can’t wait to hear the comments defending unregulated capitalist and baseball’s anti-trust exemption.
There are 9 teams with lower payrolls than the Reds. Eight of them have better records than the Reds. Cleveland, whose payroll is $50million less than the Reds, leads their division. It’s not a small market issue. It’s not a payroll issue. It’s a management/system/organization issue. And until such time as the ownership changes or decides to get serious, it doesn’t matter what’s in the pipeline, the team will mess it up. Start with Bell, Zinter, and DJ. This management team has had 440+ games thus far and has nothing to show for it. Buddy Bell needs to call David to the office and offer him a chance to resign or be fired.
The losses will continue until fan morale improves.
Nice of you to ignore the fact that 41million of the Reds salaries is tied up in 2 past their prime players like Moose and Votto who are both awful,Sparky Anderson couldn’t make this aaa team into a good mlb team
Sorry @burtgummer01 but that dog don’t hunt
Oh you mean facts? Yeah they can be a real pain sometimes
The facts are that Ramirez is costing Cleveland $22 million. So blaming the Reds woes on the $25 million to Votto and $16 to Moose is simply an excuse. Bell could have called Moose in and told him to get in shape or ride the pine
I’d like to see Moose settle into a role as the occasional pinch-hitter, maybe pinch-runner. He’s flashed as much speed as power.
In a futile season, watching Moose on the field or at the plate epitomizes the futility of ownership and management.
And the manager.
Solano on the money, three hits today.
Usual a sign that Bell will sit someone.
Moose is crushing it at .212 against righties, after all.
Padres and Mets interested in Castillo