The Cincinnati Reds come back to Great American Ball Park tonight to open up an 11-game home stand that takes place over the next 10 days. Atlanta will be the first team to roll through town and the defending World Series champions will be sending left-handed starter Max Fried to the mound. Cincinnati will counter with a lefty of their own in Mike Minor. First pitch is set for 6:40pm ET and for those out of market the game will be available on MLB Network.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for this evening’s contest:
Atlanta Braves
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Ronald Acuna Jr. – DH | Jonathan India – 2B |
| Dansby Swanson – SS | Brandon Drury – DH |
| Matt Olson – 1B | Tommy Pham – LF |
| Austin Riley – 3B | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Travis d’Arnaud – C | Kyle Farmer – SS |
| Marcell Ozuna – LF | Donovan Solano – 3B |
| Adam Duvall – RF | Albert Almora Jr. – RF |
| Orlando Arcia – 2B | Nick Senzel – CF |
| Michael Harris II – CF | Michael Papierski – C |
| Max Fried – SP | Mike Minor – SP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Mike Minor | 25.2 | 7.71 | 1.60 | 10 | 21 |
| Max Fried | 94.1 | 2.77 | 1.05 | 16 | 92 |
| Links: Mike Minor’s Stats | Max Fried’s Stats |
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Mike Minor
It’s been a tough start to the year for Mike Minor after missing the first seven weeks of the season. He’s allowed 22 earned runs in 25.2 innings this season and given up 10 home runs in five starts. Both lefties and righties are crushing the ball against him, but lefties aren’t getting on base too often against him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 83 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15 | .314 | .386 | .686 |
| LHH | 36 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | .265 | .306 | .588 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | Change | |
| Velo | 90.5 | 84.2 | 84.3 | 79.7 |
| Usage | 46.1% | 26.9% | 19.9% | 7.1% |
Max Fried
One of the best starters in the National League, Max Fried has been dominant this season. The lefty has been very good at home in Atlanta, but he’s been even better on the road where he’s posted a 2.48 ERA and held opponents to a .180/.205/.239 line on the season in five starts where he’s given up just one home run and walked just four batters. His splits against righties and lefties both show dominance, but he’s been better against lefties. That’s not a surprise for a lefty, of course, but he’s given up just two extra-base hits to left-handed hitters all season and walked just two of them.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 288 | 64 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 67 | .239 | .278 | .336 |
| LHH | 88 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 25 | .221 | .239 | .267 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Slider | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 94.4 | 93.9 | 87.3 | 86.8 | 74.6 |
| Usage | 30.7% | 13.5% | 22.7% | 12.3% | 20.8% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv, MLB Network (out of market)
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 88°, partly cloudy, 10% chance of rain
News and Notes
Justin Dunn to make another rehab start tonight
The right-hander is set to make his second rehab start tonight. His first start came in High-A with the Dayton Dragons on Sunday, but tonight he’ll take the mound for the Triple-A Louisville Bats in Toledo.
Scherzer and Lodolo return
Early this afternoon it was announced that Max Scherzer would return from the injured list on Tuesday to start against the Cincinnati Reds. Just after 4pm the Reds announced that Nick Lodolo would also be returning from the injured list to start on Tuesday.
Tyler Stephenson to begin rehab on Monday
Tyler Stephenson (broken thumb) says the current plan is to begin a rehab assignment Monday. Thumb feels good while hitting and throwing.
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) July 1, 2022
I guess the Mets kind of figure that using Scherzer against the Reds is like another rehab start
In a season of many losses last night’s fiasco in Chicago was one of the worst efforts by this current Reds team. It’s obvious the bullpen is an Arson Squad, incapable of holding a lead or maintaining a tie or even a small (1 or 2 run) deficit! Don’t hold out much hope for tonight against Max Fried and the Braves! Fully expect Mike Minor to get lit up again early and often! Will check back in at the end of the game to see how many runs Minor allows and how many runs the Bravos score on the Reds bullpen! Let the fireworks begin!
Minor seems to be ok the first time through the lineup but then he gets lit up like drunk on st patricks day
+1,000
Bobby Nightengale has a pretty good primer on Reds tiers of players at the deadline as the Reds are obvious sellers
Castillo 1
Mahle 2
Decent hitters 3- Pham and Drury
Platoon hitters 4- Farmer, Solano, Naquin
None of these 7 will be Reds on Opening Day 2024 or on a future winning Reds team and on a current 100 loss team in 2022 and a 2023 team with no chance to win….all 7 need to be traded to gain maximum roster return and also open up opportunities for younger players. I’m ok with running out this lineup till the AS break in 3 weeks to showcase for scouts, but a month from now….no way.
You left 3M off that list. I’m assuming it’s an oversight on your part … (sarcasm font off)
Schrock needs some time as a regular lefty DH. Hes hit well in the minors and for minute in MLB. Can he hit at the MLB level profiling as a DH? I have no idea. I’m not in the camp that anyone can be an OF and so I dont want him in the OF rotating. We neHed good defensive OF’s. Hes not an infielder either. So, Moose is blocking information and the future. Pham is blocking guys. Solano was a Good idea but not anymore on a 100 loss team. He’s blocking guys.
The only reason to watch this team is youth and draft and trades in July and we are finally in July.
Yep. Blockers, blockers, and more blockers.
Not what a 100-loss team needs.
Not sure why they need to trade Tyler Naquin. They are going to desperately need outfielders next year, they have none ready in the minors, he won’t be expensive to sign and he isn’t going to bring much back If they trade him.
Now, if he doesn’t want to come back, then trade him, but if he isn’t opposed to it, extend him. He is better than what they will get at the end of Spring training next year, when they make all of their free agent signings.
Naquin is a free agent. He’s not a Red after this year.
The Braves lineup looks as Goliat and Minor is David. Is really Minor going to make the David´s feat? Well, we’ll see tonight… I have low hopes…
Plenty of opportunities for HR lovers to watch tonight. Sadly, few of them if any will come from our lineup.
Good call, Mark.
Is it really Minor day again……smh Betting the over
+100
Am I Mistaken or did Reds split their four game series with Braves. I admit this place is becoming depressing
yes, they split the 1st 4 but a lot has changed since opening day.
The double play inspired confidence….. this inspired confidence with my bet
+100
To quote Theoden Kink in the Two Towers … and so it begins.
The good news is, it looks like I won’t miss anything much when I choose to go take my evening walk. We shall see if we can at least fill in that hole Minor started to dig.
Nope. Just a routine GIDP by the guy who should be our fulltime DH at this point.
I’d hate to Clete early two nights in a row.
Not even a fair fight.Minor should be released right now.He has nothing to even compete against major league hitters
Votto in the #4 slot, particularly against a LH’er clearly isn’t helping the team. It’s kind of becoming Suarez 2.0. Bell really needs to man up and manage this team to win or resign. It’s clear he’s not going to be fired.
hey we have a job where you get paid a couple million to produce a subpar product but if you quit you will walk away from your money
Bell aint resigning, and I do not blame him for that. Blame Krall
Its what Bob wants or he would fix it.He must be making money to accept the performance he gets from those running the team.I am not sure if you want to win why you would want anything to do with this organization.I understand there are only so many major league jobs and maybe its not about winning as much as I would like to believe.I see no way to ever get better unless new ownership arrives.
I’d like to see the splits on scrubby faced Joey vs. clean shaven Joey. I’m thinking scrubby faced Joey has better numbers.
Good point! I would like to see the splits on “Jolene” versus “Paint It Black”.
Clean shaven tonight, Votto left 6 men on base. Ouch!
Joey Votto with the lame 4-6-3 78 mph jam shot dribbler.
Can the Peter Pan people with their Disney magic fairy dust just stop with the nonsense that Joey Votto is coming back from the dead. Not hating on him. Love the guy. One of my favorite players of all-time. But as a Reds fan, at some point realists have to decide its time to move forward at first base if you truly want the Reds to win. Sure, he might hit 8 home runs in July. He might homer today. He might get to .255. He’s not going 0-243 the rest of the year but every hit or double or home run is not validation that hes not a 39 yo in rapid decline. It’s July and he’s 30/31 in MLB at first base in WAR. Those are facts.
It’s time to start looking for the Reds next first baseman. Like really soon.
They don’t need to look far, Tyler Stephenson is there. They can’t continue to lose him to catcher related injuries.
I’m with you Mark. Reasonable people can disagree on Stephenson’s best role. With his injuries, I’m in the first base camp and use Castillo to get the next catcher.
Reasonable people cant come to the conclusion that Joey Votto will be a productive first baseman and hitter at a premium hitting position in 2023. Thats just not happening. Time to aggressively move forward on Votto’s replacement. I’m open but the solution is going to be external in some way shape or form- whether its trading for a catcher and moving TS to first or keeping TS at C and trading for a 1b.
Dude. You do this every game. It’s getting old.
What’s getting old ????
Other than playing a 39 year old man who is the worst first baseman in baseball? Do you want the Reds to win? if you want the Reds to win…its not with Joey votto at first base. RIGHT? I get people dont like to hear that truth. But, if you are a true Redsfan, you want to win. The truth hurts…I get it. That means the Reds need a real first baseman.
Not sure Tyler Stephenson is the answer either, unless you want your first basemen hitting 12 home runs a year. Stephenson is valuable as a catcher, not a corner infielder.
He will fall of a cliff if he hasn’t already so it will come down to what he wants to do and I just hope he doesn’t want to hang around and embarrass himself.Reds will lose and do that without him just fine.He deserves better but truth is he really isn’t helping the team.He will get a cookie to hit every now and then to remind us but it just is what it is.
DH only against RHP with maybe a start at 1B on some rare occasions.
Yeah of course Mark.Joey has already earned his contract and will get paid regardless.Maybe they can work it out and for me looking at him its not about winning cause the Reds will not even win if he goes part time.
It’s becoming an issue. 70.5 mph dribbler in Ab #2
Votto isnt competitive in certain situations. Roger is correct. Reds need to protect him and his legacy.
Needs to start resting against lefties.
I call batting practice … anybody with me?
Do our guys not pay attention to how the umpire is calling the zone? I mean, it does appear to be bigger tonight, but at least it isn’t moving all around … yet.
Time to go take a walk in this wretched humidity. At least we got one back that inning.
Well got a run back…. and made him throw alot of pitches. That is a succesful inning
Small victories. Especially lately.
I just cringe when Votto comes up.
I know we are not very good with or without him now, but I know you are saying that the Reds are for some reason afraid to take him out of the lineup or move him down out of the 3 or 4 hole!
Look at his Left on Base compared to RBI’s
Look at his defense, his Base running, how many stolen bases has he had the last 5 years? Maybe 1 a year, when the catcher drops the ball! What an exciting player the past 4 or 5 years to lead the Reds. Forget about the 25 Million this year and next. Build a New Team !!!
Farmer and Solano are not the answer tonight against this lefty for sure.
Sometimes the best decisions for us are made for us by others.If the Reds have anybody with Joey’s best interest in mind then they will make it for him.I see no reason to continue this with Joey unless they don’t really care about him and they may not.
Who else would’ve signed up for two ERs given up by Minor through five innings?
Minor has been able to wiggle out of some tough spots
WOW Olsen swinging on 3-0 with Riley on deck.I love it even if it didn’t work.Just shows how a manager shows his players he’s in the game.
Senzel battled hard but lost.Already with a hit and our only run scored.Small steps but I have to pull for him.
See how Olson didn’t fall down and try to ole’ that pick at 1B. That was gold glove caliber.
Mike Minor pitching a quality start? I thought I was watching the reds not the twilight zone lol
He’s sporting a shiny new 6+ ERA. Baby steps.
Today is Bobby Bonilla day. Another 1.1 million to the bank account.
If he would agree to it, Votto could take next years contract and ride off into the sunset, and collect a paycheck the next 25 years.
32 million, as he has a 7 million buyout for 2024. So you would have to offer more then that at 1 million per year to get it done
(Fried). Talk to text
I’m back. Happy to see the Bravos haven’t scored and Minor went 6 innings. Too bad we didn’t push another one or six across.
Kuhnel. What could possibly go wrong?
Umm that
I actually typed that before the home run, as I’m on a lag.
Kuhnel needs a break from MLB, or maybe we need a break from his recent performances.
Debbie says THAT could go wrong. Very wrong.
And that’s a Clete for me. Can’t toss cookies to guys like Swanson, especially with runners on.
Just when I thought the over was in trouble…. bullpen to the rescue…need 4 more
Larkin said getting the leadoff out is most important. Out #3 seem kinda important too…Kuhnel thinks so anyway
The Reds have a
1. 3B/DH who hasn’t earned a nickel of his $64 Million dollar Contract the past three years
2. An OF who gets into fights over a fantasy football disputes
3. A 34 year old pitcher earning $7.5 million dollars who has been miserable every time he takes the mound.
4. A number 2 pitcher who gets rocked every single time he pitches in his home park
5. A utility guy who came up as a catcher playing shortstop the past two seasons
6. A bullpen that couldn’t shut down their opponents if their collective lives depended on it
7. A manager who refuses to play anyone under the age of 34
8. A TV broadcaster who is apparently paid extra for every pop culture reference he makes
9. A GM who I wouldn’t trust to run my Strat-o-matic team while I ran to the restroom
10. An owner who tells fans to F off
And all you guys want to do is complain about the team’s Hall of Fame First Basemen. Really?
I think you nailed it!
+1,000 and a bonus +50 for each one … total +1,500
I’m right there with you. Joey is aging before our eyes, but he’s not the biggest problem by a long shot. 7, 9, and 10 are the biggest. 8 is just freaking annoying.
+500 VFL
Objection on the reference to Farmer who has clearly pulled his weight. Agree with the rest
Sounds like a Braves home game on that Swanson homer.
And the Reds bullpen strikes again! Game, set match!
So is Bell’s strategy to let them pitch until they give up some runs? Or is he just incapable or unwilling to remove a pitcher when he’s in a jam? Don’t want to bruise their egos?
Remember when Dusty refused to take Zack Cozart out of the #2 hole? Dusty said “Cozart was just going to have to learn to hit there!” LOL
Kuhnel has not been pitching good at all he needs replaced now.
Has given up 3 homers and all have been killers.
Gents! The bottom line is: Good teams find a way to win! Bad teams find the many, often creative, ways to lose!
The official Reds Bullpen song: “It all comes undone with a walk and a homer”
Cessa gets the bullpen back in order. 4 pitch walk to first batter.
Hold my beer and I’ll do it again!
Is this a home game or a road game?
What an embarassment.
Here’s another example. If Cessa doesn’t shut it down on batter #3, get him out of there.
Ozuna did him a favor. Fuy can’t throw a strike and he swings
How long are the Reds going to fool with Kuehnel? Time to go back to AAA. Bell seems to always bring him in, only for him to fail!
Cessa going to get me paid….. just need 3 more runs
one more
How could you question the bullpen. They got you man.
Come on Cessa , only a double? You’re better than that. You can’t keep the ball in the ballpark. Groove one for crying out loud.
Tyler Naquin has a couple of hits tonight and Dunn with 3 no hit innings.
One of Naquin hits was a home run. Dunn has pitched 3 perfect innings with 4 strike outs.
A hanging slider is about the only breaking ball Duvall can hit. Come on Cessa, quit throwing junk!
This really is the new low of the last 8 years. Atlanta fans screaming in GABP in an 8-1 game. Reds bullpen awful and the offense a bunch of utility 30 year olds or overpaid vets playing out their contracts,.
thats the equation for a 100 loss team.
At some point, things need to be blown up
Sadly, I’m beginning to wonder if there will EVER be a winning Reds team again, under the current ownership.
First of all. This team urgently needs a new coach.
Anyone.
Sorry folks, but the last 6 runs are all on Bell. He may not have a great bullpen but he exacerbates the problem with no real grasp of their usage. When they aren’t pitching well, get them out of there. He’s not a manager by any stretch of the imagination. He needs to learn from “Capital Hook”.
I am sure most of the participants in this blog have seen baseball many years, not only in the MLB, but in minors, school leagues,etc.. and all of them should be in agreement with you: the manager is terribly bad.
He’s not even being competitive at all for a while.. . He should resing tonight.
+1000, excluding myself, I’d trust any number of folks on here to manage the team better. And on some days, I don’t even exclude myself. That’s just how bad he is.
Let’s not forget…if they do happen to have a good inning, they must be removed immediately.
Batting average against Cessa now over .300! Cessa is horrible
Well, at least Minor got his ERA under 7.00!
It’s the little things, Dennis 🙂
and the over is reached…. good job reds… if you cant win, at least let me get paid……now hurry up and get this over
Just an update for everyone- THE WHOLE BULLPEN STINKS! THAT IS ALL!!
This is really the lowest moment since 2014.
Worst team in baseball
Atlanta fans cheering in gabp blowing out the last place Reds.
Wake up ownership
July 4th weekend Old School. Ownership is at the lake for the long weekend.
Lake Lose-a-saukee
Give credit while its due. Mike Minor had a really good performance today. It may be his only decent start this year but with the rumblings from the rest of the SP, we will probably need him more than anybody realizes to not get close to that triple digit number that has long term implications.
It’s funny how the umps have to check the hand and glove of our relievers. I guess they could be cheating, but somehow I doubt it.
Embarrassing!
positives, Minor actually was servicable, and I got paid.
Thank God it’s over.
Amen to that!
Guess the bus to Louisville is broke down.I would imagine somebody in Louisville or Tennessee would walk to GABP just for a try out as a pen piece.Pitch one inning and let it rip ain’t much to ask.
I’ll be the first to say I have no confidence in Bell, but maybe he’s just depressed, too, given the management he’s committed to working with.
But the Luis Cessa performance was the epitome of everything that is off the rails this season.
After weeks and weeks of subpar, way below par, bullpen performance and the disasterous consequences of walking the first batter you face…..what does he do: walk the first batter he faces.
No direction from the manager, not direction from pitching coach, no consequence from either.
It’s happening over and over and over the same way, again and again.
Bell is too stoned, or stunned or somnabulent to break the chain.
Tonight’s game story was absolutely, completely, utterly predictable:
“Veteran pitcher struggles his way back from injury to first decent start……only to be undone by (historically bad) bullpen assembled by completely inept management team, in the office and on the bench.”
Went off to play a game with the fam … fireworks outside the house and for the Braves. Nothing that exciting for our Queen City Redlegs … again.