Joey Votto hit a 2-run home run in the 1st inning, but the Reds offense failed to score again after that. But it was Cincinnati’s bullpen allowing four runs in the top of the 9th inning that helped seal the fate in the game in a 6-2 loss that dropped the Reds to 38-61 on the season.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles (51-49) |
6 | 9 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (38-61) |
2 | 7 | 0 |
| W: Tate (2-3) L: Farmer (0-1) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Jonathan India led off the 1st inning with a double and he moved up to third base later in the inning on a wild pitch. Joey Votto came through with a 2-run homer into the first row of seats in right field to put Cincinnati on top 2-0. There was not much going for the offense until 6th when Tommy Pham walked and Kyle Farmer was hit by a pitch to put two men on with two outs. The Orioles made a pitching change to bring in former Red Cionel Perez to face lefty Mike Moustakas, but David Bell countered by bringing Donovan Solano off of the bench as a pinch hitter. Perez still got the job done, striking out Solano to end the threat.
In the 7th inning the Reds tried to get a 2-out rally going when Michael Papierski walked and Jonathan India singled. With Brandon Drury at the plate a wild pitch led to the runners taking off for the next base and the throw to third beat Papierski by a mile, but he did a swim move at third and was called safe. The Orioles challenged the call and won, ending the inning and keeping the game tied up at 2-2.
Baltimore grabbed the lead in the top of the 9th inning with a 4-run inning, leaving the Cincinnati offense with some work to do if they wanted to come out of this one with a victory. They couldn’t get anything going as they went down in order.
The Pitching
After retiring the batters in order in the 1st, Mike Minor ran into some trouble in the 2nd. Two singles had runners on the corners with one out, but the lefty induced a pop up and a fly out to strand both runners and hold a 2-0 lead. He’d only allow two walks over the next three innings as he was in control of the Orioles hitters. But it was a walk in the 6th inning that would come back to haunt him as Anthony Santander followed that walk with a game-tying 2-run homer. That pitch would be his last, exiting after 5.1 innings with four strikeouts and those two earned runs.
Joel Kuhnel came out and retired the final two batters of the 6th, and he returned to get out the first hitter of the 7th inning. Reiver Sanmartin entered the game there and got out the first batter he faced, but Jorge Mateo tripled with two outs to put the go-ahead run just 90 feet away. A mound visit followed and whatever was said worked as Sanmartin got Cedric Mullins to fly out to end the inning. Ian Gibaut came out for the 8th and he allowed a single and walk to begin the inning. Another mound visit seemed to do the trick because he got a strikeout before back-to-back fly outs to end the inning and keep the game tied at 2-2.
Buck Farmer entered the game for the 9th inning and he walked the first batter and then allowed a double to Rougned Odor to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Farmer got a fly out to shallow center that kept the runners where they were. The next pitch didn’t work as well as Cedric Mullens single up the middle past a drawn in infield to plate both runners and put the Orioles up 4-2. Mullens stole second, and then Adley Rutschman walked. Trey Mancini then hit a ball back up the middle and as Jonathan India reached down for the ball on the move, the ball hit the second base bag and trickled into the outfield to bring in another run for Baltimore.
Dauri Moreta came into the game at that point with runners on the corners and one out. His first pitch hit Anthony Santander and he took exception to it and chirped to Moreta, who chirped back. Catcher Michael Papierski got in front of Santander and both benches and bullpens got onto the field, but nothing more took place and the game got back to normal with the bases loaded. A sacrifice fly made it 6-2. That was all they’d get, but it was more than enough to get the job done as the Orioles took the first game of the weekend series.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Baltimore Orioles vs Cincinnati Reds
Saturday July 30th, 6:40pm ET
Dean Kremer (3-2, 3.06 ERA) vs Tyler Mahle (4-7, 4.48 ERA)
Losing stinks.
That’s all.
Two straight games where Reds get depantsed in the 9th inning. BP gave up 3 runs yesterday and 4 today in the 9th.
Looks like Reds trading Castillo to the Mariners
Mariners best prospects
https://www.mlb.com/prospects/mariners/
I’m seeing that too. Top prospect plus three others.
3 of their top 5 plus a reliever in A ball
Who are the other 3?
Yep just saw that. Time to see how Krall does his Job
Marte seems to be the highlight. Only one of the 4 named is at AA. Looks like numbers 1,3,5, and un ranked
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/07/mariners-finalizing-acquisition-of-luis-castillo-from-reds.html
Is it Marte and Arroyo?
Yes, both (not officially announced).
The announcers said Moreta has not been scored upon in his last five starts. In a tie game, why not use him in the 9th? Go with the hot hand. Instead he went with a guy in B Farmer that doesn’t belong in the majors!
A hand is hot until the next hit.
Question to Bell and Johnson:
“What specifically are you doing to prevent 9th innings like last night and tonight from happening?”
If they start to shamble, ask the question again.
If they answer: “We’re not doing anything.”
At least they’re being honest.
The honest, if impolitic, answer would be: Wishing we had good relief pitchers to work with.
I would’ve preferred Peraza from the Yankees system over marte. Hopefully the other 3 prospects can match what else the Yankees could’ve gave.
Interesting, I was the opposite and didn’t want Peraza at all. I believe this came down to the Reds telling the Yankees it had to be Volpe. I like Marte, but I really like Arroyo.
Yankees would have either had to give up Volpe or both of Peraza and Dominguez to match this deal I think.
Peraza has been lighting up AAA the last month+.
I would prefer him to marte but I absolutely love this package overall. Got to Give Krall credit on the two trades the last 24 hours
Being a numbers enthusiast and baseball fan very early on, I might have been afraid in my boyhood of getting sick after seeing the box score of the pitchers today. 20 years later, I would then be very happy with a full house consisting of 3-6s, 2-5s and an odd 7 (i.e. the Red’s pitcher ERA’s tonight)…plus a kicker to follow. Somebody tell David Bell that his goal the rest of this year needs to be next year and not the “making the playoffs” fantasy.
Krall is trying to send him the message loud and clear. 😉
https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2022/7/29/23284700/breaking-seattle-mariners-get-their-man-acquire-rhp-luis-castillo-from-the-cincinnati-reds
Castillo to Seattle for Marte, Arroyo, Moore and Stoudt. 2 lower level middle IFs top prospects, a pitching prospect and a utility IF/OF. Would’ve preffered Dollard or Hancock instead of Stoudt. Can’t believe the Castillo trade didn’t go closer to the deadline on 8/2. There must’ve been other teams involved with a chance to upgrade their return packages. Oh well, it’s done. Won’t be for a few years until we know if this trade panned out or not.
Who is the utility IF/OF. I thought the trade was for 2 SS and 2 P’s
Some reports erroneously had it as Dylan Moore (who is a utility IF/OF) instead of Andrew Moore, who is a pitcher.
My mistake, thought Dylan Moore a U player, but it’s Andrew Moore, a low A reliever. So, 2 middle IFs, a SP in AA and reliever in low A.
WOW. Loaded at SS with Barrero, McCain, EDLC, Marte and Arroyo. I personally think Arroyo was the steal of the trade.
I had heard Stoudt was considered with Phillips for the PTBNL for Suarez/Winker.
Now I hope Mahle goes for an OF prospect.
I’ve read Marte will probably have to move off of SS, which is just as well since so many of the Reds top prospects play there. I like targeting top tier younger talent to align with a window starting in 2024. One of these guys may even be India’s replacement in the long-term. Hancock would have been great, but I think Mariners probably view him as their top piece in reality.
Hoping they can move a few other pieces (Drury, Solano, maybe Mahle) and get back some OF talent with the same timeframe.
You have to expect India only has 3 more years with the Reds. Stephenson too for that matter.
Funny, how this team wins a series and you get to thinking “ Well, maybe, they are really not that bad. Maybe with a the right player or two, they could be pretty good, maybe even win next season”.
Then they play awful for a couple of games and you realize they are not very good at all.
So what is the answer? I tend to believe that we are fans and want to believe this team can win with just a few adjustments. A free agent, a trade and we will be right on top.
I think the truth is the team needs much more than that. Not only do they need a decent starting line up, more than anything, the need depth.
As we have seen this season, injuries can devastate a team over the course of a season. You need players available who can fill in without a dramatic drop off in production.
You also need a professional bullpen. Your bullpen can’t be made up of whatever left over pitchers you have hanging around.
Relievers are just like any other position, you have to plan to fill your bullpen carefully, with pitchers who are good in those role.
Ownership seems willing to pay to put a solid line up on the field. But they also need to add a solid bench. Ownswership seems to focus on putting a solid rotation together, but they need to bring that same energy to make the bullpen a top priority.
The Reds also need to boost the roster in Louisville, so when a player is needed, they will be major league ready options to turn to.
The Reds rosters tend to be a mile long, but only an inch deep. At least, that’s how I see it.
Excellent synopsis, Votto4life.
Excellent synopsis, Votto4life.
Another rough edge on Senzel popped through in that 9th inning fiasco.
The “rookie” outfielder Reynolds understood that he was best positioned to make a throw to the plate on the borderline ball which turned into a sac fly.
However, Senzel ran Reynolds off the ball then had to turn his body to throw and got off only an arching rainbow throw because his body was not behind it.
The Reds need to prioritize in spring training the makeup of a good bullpen in the same way they have prioritized the importance of starting pitching in the last few years. A bullpen is not going to get the job done in a long season by being a grab bag of pitchers who are not considered possible starters. There’s a certain talent for a good reliever that has to be recognized by the coaching staff. The Reds lose too many games in late innings that should be wins.
+500. Starts with being able to locate a quality fastball, not how outstanding their breaking pitch might be if a batter is lured into swinging at it.