It has been a trying season for the Cincinnati Reds – especially for the Reds bullpen. When it was announced that it would be a bullpen game for the Reds in the second game of today’s double-header, there was certainly not a lot of confidence inspired. However, the Reds bullpen answered the call in a big way.
Jeff Hoffman, Ross Detwiler, Robert Dugger and Reiver Sanmartin combined to allow just 1 run on 5 hits over 9 innings. They struck out 12 batters while only walking 2.
Despite the great effort in the bullpen start, the Reds still trailed 1-0 in the 6th inning. Tyler Naquin hit a solo home run to tie the game in the 6th. Jonathan India’s 2-out RBI single in the 7th put the Reds ahead to stay.
| Final | R | H | E |
| Pittsburgh Pirates (34-49) | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Reds (29-54) | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| W: Sanmartin (1-4) L: Wilson (1-5) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Biggest Play of the Game
According to Fangraphs WPA statistic (winning percentage added), the biggest play of the game was Jonathan India’s RBI single with 2 outs in the 7th inning to give the Reds a 2-1 lead (runners on 1st & 2nd). That play increased the Reds probability of winning by 18.4% (from 59.0% to 77.3%).
Positives
Jonathan India had 2 hits tonight, including the go-ahead single in the 7th inning. India had 4 hits total for the double-header. Let’s hope this is the start of a big turnaround in the sophomore season for India.
111.3 mph exit velocity on that RBI single from India. His hardest-hit ball as a major-leaguer.
— Matt Wilkes (@_MattWilkes) July 8, 2022
Tyler Naquin hit his first home run since May 24th to tie the game in the 6th inning.
He was used an opener today, but Jeff Hoffman made his first start for the Reds since July 21, 2021. Hoffman did a great job getting the Reds through 1.2 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts and 0 walks to get the game started.
Robert Dugger gave the Reds 3.2 very strong innings as the “bulk reliever” today. Dugger struck out 5 batters over 3.2 scoreless innings. Dugger had a 5.63 ERA and only struck out 6.75 batters per 9 innings at AAA this season. Baseball is a funny game.
Reiver Sanmartin got the Reds out of a big jam in the top of the 7th with runners on 1st & 3rd with a strikeout. He then proceed to pitch a perfect 8th and 9th inning. Sanmartin now has a 1.05 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 13 K, 4 BB in 17.1 innings as a relief pitcher this season.
Brandon Drury had another multi-hit game. He had a 2-RBI triple in the 7th inning.
Mike Moustakas hit the ball hard today. He only had 1 hit to show for it tonight, a double.
Hard contact for Mike Moustakas in today's doubleheader.
96.7 mph lineout
104.1 mph double
104.4 mph double
105.1 mph groundout
95.4 mph lineout— Matt Wilkes (@_MattWilkes) July 8, 2022
Negatives
The Reds did play some more shaky defense tonight, but whatever.
Not so random thoughts……………..
Reds phenom prospect Elly De La Cruz hit 3 home runs in today’s double-header for the Dayton Dragons. He now has 18 home runs on the season.
Elly De La Cruz smacks his 3rd home run of the doubleheader…and absolutely skulls a spectator. Yikes. pic.twitter.com/3XmZIAX8B0
— Tigers Minor League Report (@tigersMLreport) July 8, 2022
Switch-hitting infielder Elly De La Cruz in this doubleheader:
A: Hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the first game, a baseball rarity.
B: Has hit another homer in the second game.— Dayton Dragons (@DragonsBaseball) July 8, 2022
Up Next:
Rays at Reds
Friday, 6:40 PM
TV: Bally Sports Ohio
Luis Castillo (3.09 ERA/3.23 FIP) vs Shane McClanahan (1.74 ERA/2.41 FIP)
Good win. This team is built to win 1 out of 3 games translating to 2 days of agony and 1 day of ecstasy for Reds fans
+1,000
Caught most of it. Love the manufactured runs.
Flying tomorrow, so I’m not sure how much I’ll get to watch.
Still wondering who gets traded and when. I doubt much of the action impacts the bullpen much.
Great win for the Reds, but I have a question. Has any of there pitchers, especially the bullpen not been on the IL or DL? Also, the position players, same question. Pitchers and Position players, who has not been injured this year.
HAUGE win ! Now the Reds only need to squeak out one win in these next 9 to get to 30 wins by the all star break!!!!…….
No BBs was a big plus for Sanmartin tonight.
Does this outing by Dugger deserve keeping him up and sending someone else down?
That HR by EDLC really did skull the spectator. Looked like it knocked him out.
Yeah that Elly de la Cruz guy has a lot to work on in single A ball before he is worthy of double A ball.
Yeah, really. He needs to work on his pitching. 🙂
Indeed, he should be up in AA….like yesterday.
Definitely. It’s his very first season of full season ball, plus the jump to AA is considered the most difficult. If we seek his development, let him do so.
Dugger goes back down tomorrow, barring someone else on the pitching staff getting hurt.
Alexis Diaz comes off the DL tomorrow and is activated.
Tyler Stephenson comes back on Saturday.
I think he stays with the Reds as they would have to DFA him because he has no options. They’ve done it before this season, but circumstances were different. Better to send down Moreta, who has options. That way we keep both in the organization for the meantime. In this year of injuries, we shouldn’t keep looking for arms on the waiver wire if we don’t have to.
Where is De La Cruz from? Did we draft him or a trade?
International signing for a mere $65k at age 16 in 2018. Tore it up in Rookie ball and was promoted after only 11 games to A ball in 2021 where he was solid. Started in A+ ball this year and is dominating there.
Five tool prospect at SS, 3B. or perhaps OF.
Tall at 6’5″ plus, but has the tools to stick at SS.
Eric Davis started out as a Short Stop in the Reds’ farm system.
Just sayin’.
The guy has amazing bat speed, and is a switch hitter. Is there anything he can’t do?
Pitch out of the BP.
DR. He’s still far away. He’ll get there when he does
Alex McGarry hit his 9th home Run tonight since being promoted to AA just 4 or 5 weeks ago. He is now hitting .318 with an ops of 1.014.
The Reds just might have Joey Votto’s replacement in Scary McGarry.
Will you be changing your nic to “McGarry4Life” soon? 🙂
Anyways, I hope Joey gets into the Hall of Fame, but I think his career is about over. It happens to every pro athlete.
A-Mac on the attack!
Welp, I’d want my money back. The home AAAA team beats a AAA team? Pathetic
fun night at the ballpark. no tom-a-hawk chants. no lets go Mets chants. just die hard red fans enjoying a rare win. on paper it seems like the reds should score more runs than they do. maybe incorporate a little more small ball to generate some runs.
i kind of think Reynolds brings a little more to the table than Salano right now. i would like to get him more playing time. Also i don’t think Moose and Votto need to be in the lineup together. just one or the other will suffice. and right now Moose definitely looks more comfortable at the plate
i have learned to reserve my judgement on prospects until they get out of Dayton. I thought for sure Jose Siri would be a star. he never EVEN made the team. i hope De la CRUZ will be an awesome player for the reds but we just wont have an idea how he will hit until he gets to AA
Good to see India getting his swing back. Along with Senzel and Stephenson’s eventual return the offensive shall come around.
Taking a look at the Bats stats, Fairchild has absolutely smoked it with a 1.064 OPS in 64 AB. On the other hand, Barrero is struggling mightly with a .599 OPS in 164 AB.
It seems to me they are reaching a decision point on Barrero. Presumably, at least some of his current issues relate to the hamate injury and subsequent surgery at the start of spring training. Put him on the IL, shut him both physically and mentally for a spell then get him busy with individual work on hitting technique Alternately drop him to a lower level and do the individual work as he continues to play.
His strikeout rate was 22% at AAA last year, and much higher this year, which explains almost all of the decrease in offensive production. A change like that is highly unusual, so his loss of production would seem to be related to the injury. He did have to put his comeback on hold for a couple of weeks in May, when he had problems after the surgery.
I think that you are probably right that a couple of weeks of rest and rehab would do him some good.
Fairchild’s composite AAA figures with all organizations in 2022 are OPS = .942 and wRC+ of 133 in 152PA.
His career (2021-22) OPS/wRC+ at AAA is .943/.132 with 340PA
I’d rather the Reds be getting a look at him at MLB ahead of the trade deadline than maybe end up getting a lesser player of a similar profile in a deal at the deadline. As they say in the preflight safety talk on airlines, “locate the nearest exit keeping in mind it may be behind you”.
It looks to me like Reiver Sanmartin has found his place as a late-game bullpen pitcher. I was also impressed by Dugger. Every young pitcher does not have to be a starter. And bullpens do not have to be only a collection of ‘old over the hill’ guys.
Reliever ERA is not a great measure of bullpen effectiveness, so that shiny 1.05 ERA for SanMartin doesn’t tell the whole story. However, he has clearly been better out of the bullpen than as a starter, and may yet be a nice left handed option for the weakest link on this inconsistent team. I’ll choose to be cautiously optimistic about SanMartin. The Reds have to find and build a better bullpen if they’re ever going to be competitive again. Baby steps – a nice game for the firemen. Go Reds!
I’ve always thought that if a reliever comes in with runners on base, 3b run goes to the pitcher he replaced since he can easily score on an out, they split the runner on 2nd, and the first base runner is all on the reliever. This would show a more accurate reflection of the effectiveness of the reliever
Lorenzen on the 15 day IL with shoulder sprain. I just don’t think being a starter is meant for him. Should be interesting though to see what happens though as Mahle has the same “diagnosis”.
I think he prefers to be a body builder which isn’t necessarily good for pitching muscles.