After a rare off day on a Friday, the Cincinnati Reds get back on the field tonight as they take on the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park. The Reds are sending rookie Graham Ashcraft to the mound and the Cubs will counter with Adrian Sampson. First pitch is set for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for tonight’s contest:
Chicago Cubs
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Nick Madrigal – 2B | Jake Fraley – LF |
| Willson Contreras – C | Nick Senzel – CF |
| Ian Happ – LF | Kyle Farmer – 3B |
| Seiya Suzuki – RF | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Franmil Reyes – DH | Donovan Solano – DH |
| Nico Hoerner – SS | Matt Reynolds – 2B |
| Patrick Wisdom – 1B | Aristides Aquino – RF |
| Nelson Velazquez – CF | Jose Barrero – SS |
| Zach McKinstry – 3B | Michael Papierski – C |
| Adrian Sampson – SP | Graham Ashcraft – SP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Graham Ashcraft | 80.0 | 3.94 | 1.31 | 19 | 52 |
| Adrian Sampson | 49.1 | 3.83 | 1.20 | 11 | 36 |
| Links: Graham Ashcraft’s Stats | Adrian Sampson’s Stats |
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Graham Ashcraft
Great American Ball Park has bee kind to Graham Ashcraft this season as his ERA is a full run lower at home (3.46) than it is on the road.
Managers are still sending left-handed hitters to the plate frequently against Ashcraft without look at the splits for some reason. Lefties have done next to nothing against him this season, while right-handed hitters have put up MVP caliber rates against him.
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 177 | 56 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 25 | .335 | .367 | .527 |
| LHH | 170 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 27 | .195 | .265 | .234 |
Pitch Usage
| 2-Seam | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 96.8 | 97.2 | 85.6 | 89.8 |
| Usage | 19.1% | 51.3% | 28.6% | 0.9% |
Adrian Sampson
Like Ashcraft, Sampson is facing a lot more lefties than he should be right now. Left-handed hitters have a .618 OPS against him on the season, while right-handed hitters have a .761 OPS against him. Despite those numbers, he’s faced more lefties this season than righties. Sampson has only made three road starts, but his ERA away from Wrigley is 4.30 (3.63 at home).
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 95 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 22 | .267 | .305 | .456 |
| LHH | 109 | 24 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 14 | .235 | .284 | .333 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 92.7 | 92.2 | 85.2 | 83.3 | 85.6 |
| Usage | 34.3% | 25.6% | 6.6% | 17.6% | 16.0% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv (out of market)
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 79°, cloudy, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Hunter Greene moving in the right direction
Hunter Greene, currently on the IL for the Reds with a shoulder strain, is currently playing catch out in right field.
He continues to make positive progress.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) August 13, 2022
Chris Okey released
The Cincinnati Reds have released catcher Chris Okey. The 2016 2nd round pick by the Reds got a 2 week stint in the big leagues in June this year before he was sent back to Triple-A. A week later he was designated for assignment, cleared waivers, and sent back to Triple-A where he’s been ever since.
With the Field of Dreams game over, it feels like we (team and fans) are just going through the motions now.
just need to get through NFL preseason
Yeah, the Reds need to get better at blocking and tackling.
Wait, what? 🙂
I was hoping we would see some of the new OLs last night?
not going to risk the Starters for a pre season, Joey Vott…. er Burrow not even recovered from his appendix being taken out if i am right
College football and then College basketball for me. I stopped watching NFL games years ago with any kind of regularity. I’ll watch the Big Game for the commercials.
Gorgeous day over on my side of the area. Humidity dropped into the mid-30’s.
Careful guys/ gals. You’ll get me going full speed on hockey 😉
Bobby Nightengale has a nice article up on 7 storylines for the rest of the season. It’s a Good read. 100 losses, young pitchers, OF and Senzel’s below league OPS, Barrero, Diaz, Dunn and Votto milestones. Pretty spot on.
Votto will pass Larry walker in all time games played by a Canadian.
Ashcraft is pitching. We have a chance to win tonight.
Would love for the Reds to get the offense going a little tonight.Way to many punch outs of late for players who are not home run threats.Reds will have to go the other way and put the ball in play.Just watch Solano would be a good start cause he truly is a professional hitter
Forget getting the Offense going…. lets get the ERs going
+1,000
A moment of silence for Contreras taking that fouled bunt in the wrong place.
Please bow your head for the man’s prayer …
Evening all. Great first inning by Ashcraft. Now for some Stupid Cubs Pig Kicking Crooked Numbers.
BTW, from the thread the other night:
1 – I didn’t ever visit the Civil War POW camp in Elmira. I realized there was one from the movie “Summersby” where it was mentioned.
2 – There’s a Revolutionary War memorial park there named for General Sullivan. Battle nearby. Visited that multiple times.
3 – To “Clete” is to drop out of a game early. Clete was MaryBeth Ellis’ grandfather(?) and she gave us that action on this forum quite a while ago.
So how many players are going to get dinged up in this game? My wife says they need to be bubble wrapped for their own protection.
Hellmira prison camp. Lot of Confederate soldiers died there. It’s long gone.
I read the stats saying it was overcrowded by 3x by the end.
Contreras probably preferred armor to bubble wrap.
Terrible job right there by Senzel.Can’t get a bunt down and looks at strike 3.
Strike 3 basically down the middle.
It was interesting the other day that C. Trent did not have Senzel in his Opening Day lineup for 2025.
I think he can be a serviceable player if they can get him to have better plate discipline. Similar thing for India, though I’ll cut him more slack at this point.
2025 is a long way off. A whole lot of prospects in the minors at the moment who would vie for similar positions. Something will have to give.
Always supported Senzel and thought all he need to do was play.Thought it was a good idea for him to hit second cause he goes the other way and usually puts the ball in play.Not sure now cause lately he ain’t getting it done and that at bat was again just awful.
I would run Senzel out in CF in the 2 hole every day the rest of the year. This is sorting. Hes stayed healthy but hes being sorted out as of now as an every day CF. That gives the Reds clarity going into the off-season and my guy Elly in AA could be the next Eric Davis.
+1,000
Nice AB by the Farm Dawg.
Farmer comes through.Somebody talk to Senzel just to ask what he was doing.
Joey Votto with that old man hustle
Don’t understand the love for Papierski. I think Okey is better than him. Papierski basically can’t hit out of the infield. Now I know it’s apples and oranges here but Papierski must be related to somebody upstairs.
Anyone else see that BHam was DFA’d? Wonder if he’ll go the FA route and hope somebody picks him up as a late-inning PR and sold D player.
Well…bases loaded for Aquino. This seems like a time he might confuse everyone like he does
But..needed sorting.
He laid off the breaking junk but couldn’t hold back on the high cheese. Sorting indeed.
Aquino’s sorting is long overdue.
No confusion. Aquino K’s.
Aquino frustrates the crap out of me.
C. Trent with the WLW guys talking about his cornfield experience.
He’s also talking about RoY’s injury and what India said. Swelled up to the size of a baseball.
His article in The Athletic was great. Very moving.
Reds bat for what seemed like forever and get 2 walks,2 hits and score once.Guy throws 32 pitches.At times its just hard to understand.
We do seem to be able to get that GIDP when we need it more often than not. Nice job all the way around the horn on that one.
18 K’s for Jose since getting to The Show. Is Zintner just asleep at the switch? I realize he had a significant injury to start the season, but this is a LOT of whiffs.
I wonder how many are down and away. I mean him and Aquino can’t lay off.
Oddly enough, AA laid off the down and away then whiffed on the high cheese his first AB. Jose … it was more of the same.
Why does Sadek have to describe every guy coming around 3rd to the plate as “the windmill is on”….,gets old…,and as the lead (not color) on a tv broadcast, you don’t have to describe every detail of every play….we can see it…sometimes I think he talks just to hear himself talk
It’s his chronic case of oral diarrhea … he just can’t bear to hear silence, so he fills the space with whatever crosses his mind at the moment. It’s one of a dozen reasons I won’t listen to him unless there is no other option.
Maybe Senzel needs a little break? Again, is Zintner completely asleep at the switch with these guys? Or maybe they are all to bull headed to take coaching? Things were going well for a while and then … this stuff we’re seeing lately.
I’m asking honestly. It’s just baffling that we see guys who appear to be very talented regress like this.
From what I see Senzel and Aqiuno are just filling spots for younger and hopefully better players, Fraley may be a decent 4th outfielder.
Senzel 7 for 38 .184BA in August.
Exactly. And I believe he was trending pretty well in July. Then … this
Ran numbers on Senzel the other day. His surge was mostly from the middle of June to the All Star break. For all of July, he was .754 OPS/ 107 wRC+. However, after the break, the same metrics were .541/49
I just looked at Senzel’s splits. He hasn’t had an RBI for over a month.
Cowboy is expressing his amazement that Farm Dawg to it, let alone made the throw to nail him.
Davey looking good! His companion ever better 🙂
Nice to see 13 Davey Concepcion in the ballpark. My favorite from the BRM.
I have a Davey bobblehead on my window ledge. Got it in 2006 at a game I attended at GABP. I do believe it was the one where I paid the $5 general admission, walked the concourse, and watched our then David Ross chase the WLB’s with a 9th inning dinger to LF.
Maybe Donnie Barrels can help Barrero and Aquino. I mean the guy can hit. Zinger? Not so much.
Lmao Zinger. Autocorrect I just love
He may be our only hitter.Dude has a plan when he goes up there.Two of our guys that inning swung at the first pitch and made outs.Maybe that was the plan to swing at the first good one but it didn’t work that inning.Helped a guy out that threw 32 pitches the first inning for sure.
Now he is getting throwing errors….. SMH….SS of the future I think not. Thankfully we have 500 more replacements
and then Reyes puts it over to score that runner…. why did Cleveland get rid of him?
Not sure but Cubs picked him up and are playing him
Strikes out 37% of the time and Cleveland is trying to win.
Too many maple bats these days?
Asking for some friends …
Game is getting out of hand after the error.Homer walk and single and its pretty much over.
3b suits Farmer just fine
Agreed. I’m thinking he’ll have a longer career over there. Happy to have him man 3B for the Reds for 1-2 years at this point.
I am hoping that Farmer hits the bench soon in favor of Steer. I like the Farm Dawg but he’s the best position player on the awful team and that is not saying much.
Aquino getting strikeouts on 93.5 MPH fastballs … the thing is going worse now
Terrible swing.
Another should be error on Berrero
Clearly the Reds are too infatuated with strikeouts, both batting and pitching. You’d think they’d realize that Ashcraft’s pitch efficiency is a good thing. If only they had a hitter that made contact regularly and didn’t strike out too much – like Joey before he decided to adjust and swing for the fences.
Feels like the wheels are falling off here in the 5th.
GIDP stops the bleeding again.
I’m giving them the 5th to score something. If not, I’ll probably switch to the small screen so the wife and I can watch something else. It’s just getting painful. Feels like a continuation of Dyersville to me.
I was out and saw video of barrero to Votto.
A good 10 year old travel ball first baseman catches that.
C’mon. Look at the replay. It was a 3 inch short hop. I could catch that.
Every first baseman makes that play. Criticize barrero all you want on his plate discipline but Joey Votto is a putrid first baseman and that error was charged to Barrero because Joey votto is Joey votto.
Watch the play.
Agreed
Nice hustle by Jake
Nick stared him down and won. Time for a little Farm Dawg action here.
Just like that!
Feels like they heard me 😀
Miami Valley Gaming’s decision to finally change commercials came too late to save this season
AWESOME!!
Farmer however comes through with a run… getting this back even will be great
Don’t like the K, but it beats a GIDP given how hot Donnie Barrels has been of late.
OK, I’m in for another inning on the big screen.
Votto should not be in the 4 hole.
There are alot of guys who shouldn’t be in the holes they are. 7-9 are strikeout prone. Senzel is in a slump. Papuetsku isn’t a major league player. This is not a good team.
Boy that sequence was depressing
There’s that SO thing again. 3 in a row, including Solano. Get a new batting coach.
+5,000
Two on and none out and 3 straight punch outs by a pitcher that has a 9 ERA.Joey doesn’t even make contact.10 punch outs in 5 innings.Are you kidding me?Against the Cubs staff.No team can be this bad or can they?
Good challenge … going to be overturned. Nice play by Barrero.
1st base ump stinks.
Elly another shortstop error in AA
Christian encarnacion Stroud hitting over .300 with a .977 OPS and just hit his 26th home run.
Can we just move Elly to Cf and promote our next first baseman to AAA?
From what little I’ve seen and read, if EDLC is to be the next “Eric Davis” he needs to move to CF now, muddle through the change at AA level, move up to AAA when the season ends, and be brough to camp for the CF position, playing there in 2023 at AAA.
We have other SS candidates. Just sees CF is the best use of his talent.
Elly to CF would be fine with me. I have been slow to give up on Nick Senzel but I am there now. Senzel reminds me of Austin Kearns. I’m not sure he even enjoys playing baseball. Nick Senzel may put it all together someday, but I don’t think it will be in Cincinnati.
If they are really high on Arroyo, transition
EDLC and Marte to the outfield next season.
Its one thing to have home run hitters that strike out but its another thing for players that don’t hit homers to strike out.
+5,000
Ashcraft is a bull out there. When it’s said and done he might have the better career over Greene and Ladolo.
Definitely possible. He could easily slot in the #2 position in the rotation. Regardless, he’s what you want as part of the 1-3 slots.
Is AA’s bat slowing down? This guy isn’t throwing THAT fast.
Jose not showing any plate discipline at all on this AB. And when he finally stands pat, he goes and sits down.
Ashcraft kinda reminds me of a modern day Tom Browning
I’d be perfectly fine with him being a 2nd coming of Tom Browning.
Barrero is lost.
He swings at balls and takes strikes. He needs to go to AAA
Plate discipline is the #1 key to being a good hitter and he has nothing. its not on the hitting coach. Coaches and parents cant tell hitters what to swing at in 0.47 seconds. Thats who you are and barrero is looking like Aquino. Toolsy without strike zone recognition.
I thinking he’s pressing too hard trying to prove himself. Zinter needs to step up
I’m afraid you are right, but I won’t let Zintner off the hook. It’s literally his job to get Barrero to listen to him and act on it. This goes way beyond what the non-pro coaches or parents do. At least that’s how I see it.
Zinter has been a terrible hitting coach wherever he’s been. The fact that he was hired to begin with and is still here is one of the most frustrating parts of this season and should be another reason to can Bell.
The first rule of pitching is throw strikes.
The first rule of hitting is dont swing at balls.
We got way too many pitchers who dont command the strike zone and way too many hitters that dont understand the strike zone.
Baseball is a hard game and this team is really bad. If your $50 mil veterans are being paid 25 mil and 18 mil to hit .217 and .190 + exit fees….….thats hopeless. and if the front office just traded your best pitchers…that tells you all you need to know about 2023.
And if senzel as a #2 overall pick is a below average player…..and Aquino is a .185 hitter 3 years running….and Barrero doesnt understand the strike zone…..the OF is dead in 2023 and the infield is too.
REBUILD mode.
Sorting is needed, but that doesnt mean the outcome is good
Again, let’s remember that Zinter got credit for Barrero’s 2 hrs. Collectively, the Reds have struck out 11 times in 6 innings and that’s out of 7 guys, since Fraley and Farmer haven’t yet. That’s a system/coaching issue, not a talent issue. Barrero isn’t the problem. He has a lot to learn but he isn’t a major concern. This is how you waste a strong development pipeline – a bad system, and bad management.
+5,000
20 Ks in 32 PAs , no walks… A lot Ks on just 3 pitches… But now he is making errors defensively… He should be benched for some games before lose his confident completly…
There are 4 paper bats on the Reds lineup in Senzel, Aquino, Barrero and the catcher… I think this going to be so during august at least to the end of the month when there will be calls up and DFA’ds or releases…
I like Ashcraft getting his shot at the 7th, but DTBell had better have somebody stretching and getting ready to warm up in a hurry.
OK, Cowboy says there is somebody up.
Thrall and Cowboy talking “weak contact”. Cowboy says some has been so weak the Reds haven’t been able to make a play on it defensively. Interesting perspective.
Expect more from Senzel.
Won’t matter what Ash does or anybody else after him does.Reds can’t hit and unless the Cubs throw it all over the yard or walk a bunch and they have already walked 5 this game is over.Reds have suddenly turned in to a bunch of all or nothing hitters which amazes me in the fact thats not who they are or have been this year.Fraley has 3 hits Farmer 2 and Solano 1 and thats it against the Cubs pitching.That is just awful.
I have to think that last year’s team would be running away with the division title this year. We were so close
I think the rest of the year will be the “produce or cut bait” time for Senzel, Aquino and possibly Barrero. I would love to see them all meet our expectations, but do the Reds have the coaches to get them there
And that, my friends, is a Clete for me.
Back at it for the afternoon game tomorrow. The mystery of Ian Happ owning our sorry butts continues.
Understandable. Have great evening Mark
You could see it coming a mile away.Bell has fell in love with Gibault and well thats the ball game.Games on the line right there and Bell may have believed we weren’t going to score anyway so good night.
The Reds have to find a way to get Ian Happ to become a Red. That guy kills us every year.
If Veggie Bob opens his dusty checkbook
Slider down and in to a righty.
Our first round pick with his first home run down in AZ.
Looks like we won’t be seeing 3rd place again anytime soon
This will be the Reds 5th straight loss….1/4 of the way to 20 L’s in a row…then maybe someone will be fired
I get folks are Cleting out. But why?
Because this team is struggling to put a professional MLB product on the field. I’m all for play the young guys, but when they cant meet the professional standard and no veteran other than Solano and maybe farmer can either….and then injuries……this is a 100 loss team.
This roster at the MLB and AAA level is a mess. It’s not getting better in 2023.
Where you gonna go? 🙁
Paycor Stadium
I am going no where, I will watch the Reds on TV or listen to the games on radio, when convenient, but I am not going to GABP. I may go to “Joey Votto Day” but that will be about it.
I am just not going to pay major league prices to see minor league talent.
Last season, I attended my usual 25 games or so. This year, I have attended a grand total of three games.
When the Reds decide to put a major league team on the field, then I may return, but games are too expensive now (along with everything else) to attend meaningless baseball games watching AAAA players.
But foolishly, I probably would have attended more games this year and next, had it not been for Phil Castellini’s comments. I still haven’t gotten over it. I doubt I ever will as long as the Castellinis are involved with this team.
Fifty years of strikes, lock outs, PEDS, dumb rule changes and mostly bad baseball never turned me away from this team, but those comments, this past Spring, almost did the trick.
JB, me too. I am attending 6 games this fall and I am really looking forward to it.
Or Nippert 🙂
There is just nobody on this team that is fun to watch….the young guys don’t get any better under this coaching staff….the whole thing is a debacle
Farmer is a very good defensive third baseman
Funny how things work out
Lots of reasons why for sure Old School.This team was bad from the get go but right now its worse.Bell is told to play Barrero and some what Aquino and work Fraley in as well.Joey and Farmer are playing period.Moose will as well when he returns.The rest Reynolds,Almora,Solano and others are playing for a job next year here or on another team.Nothing will get accomplished because there are to many balls to juggle,too many players to try and make happy.I forgot the catcher but I have no clue there.The best thing Bell and Krall can do is settle on what they think is best for the team going forward and play those players.If they don’t Bell will do the best he can to make very player happy with playing time.If it were my team and my money I cut or release guys that I know will not be here next year and call up more guys and see what they can do.Sure we lose 100 and what does it matter.
My youngest son was born in 1994. We were discussing the sports situation here in Cincy I told him that in my lifetime, the Reds had made the WS 6 times and the Bengals had made the SB twice he was shocked (now 3 times for the Bengals)
Seems like Senzel hit better at 9.
In the order, not inning 🙂
Let’s face folks, this is bad team with a bad manager! Countless games lost this season and last year because Bell is clueless when it comes to managing relief pitchers! Any other sports team would have made a change long before now!
Reds score in the last 5 games: 1, 2, 2, 2, 2. Just 9 runs in 5 games. That is not getting it done.