The Phillies had 18 hits, Rhys Hoskins hit two home runs, and Nick Castellanos had three hits as Philadelphia pounded the Reds 11-4 on Tuesday night to guarantee themselves a series win and an opportunity to sweep Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Phillies (65-51) |
11 | 18 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (45-70) |
4 | 9 | 1 |
| W: Gibson (8-5) L: Zeuch (0-2) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Cincinnati didn’t do much of anything in the first two innings, but they got things rolling in the 3rd inning after the Phillies put up a 2-spot in the top of the frame. TJ Friedl singled to lead off the inning and scored on a Jake Fraley homer that tied the game up. Jonathan India followed up with a homer of his own that put the Reds up 3-2. Cincinnati wouldn’t threaten again offensively until the bottom of the 9th inning when they were down 11-3 and had singles from Kyle Farmer and Albert Almora Jr. put two men on. TJ Friedl came up with two outs and after fouling off six pitches he blooped an RBI single into right field and keep the team alive. Jose Barrero would follow up with a fly out to center to end the game with the Reds only losing by a touchdown.
The Pitching
After working around a single in the 1st inning, T.J. Zeuch really had to clamp down in the 2nd inning after loading the bases with one out, but Derek Johnson made a visit to the mound and whatever he and Zeuch spoke about worked as he picked up a strikeout and a ground out to strand all three runners. He wasn’t as lucky in the 3rd inning as Darick Hall and Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back homers to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
Cincinnati plated three runs to grab a lead in the bottom of the 3rd, but it was short lived. Two singles were followed by a 3-run homer by Rhys Hoskins to give the Phillies a lead that they never relinquished. They would add a run in the 5th, two more on another home run by Hoskins in the 8th, and three more on a Garrett Stubbs homer in the 9th as they jumped ahead 11-3.
But that’s when the fun began as Alejo Lopez came off of the bench to take over for Reiver Sanmartin. He needed just three pitches to retire Bryson Stott and Rhys Hoskins and end the inning.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Philadelphia Phillies vs Cincinnati Reds
Wednesday August 17th, 12:35pm
Ranger Suarez (8-5, 3.52 ERA) vs Nick Lodolo (3-4, 4.72 ERA)
Friedl, Fraley and Farmer – those 3 should be the top of the order. India is lost this year. Our pitching is absolutely horrible unless Hunter Greene or Graham Ashcraft are on the mound for rest of year. I think I’d trade a couple of those shortstops we got in trades for some pitching for 2023. We’re gonna need it.
Why? Next year doesn’t matter.
Friedl, Fraley and Farmer. It sounds like the Red’s ownership’s favorite law firm.
Maybe give Friedl a few more successful games before anointing him a top of the order hitter? He hasn’t hit much in MLB when he’s been up in the past.
It was the MLB Phillies vs the AAA Reds/AAAA Reds/Some or Most of these Reds Players & Pitchers should not be on a major league team at all/Also Some or Most of these Reds Players & Pitchers should not be on a baseball diamond at all, whether it be A or AA or AAA or Major League Levels!
1000%. My Durham Bulls would be a better opponent than my Cincinnati Reds. Or at least the equal of
Clipped from Enquirer today: … “All the guys we have here, they’re here for a reason,” Reds manager David Bell said. “They earned the opportunity, and we’re with them all the way. We’ll keep finding ways to get better.” … Yes. He really said that, I guess.
Would a better manager have said “these guys stink. They aren’t MLB players. The situation is hopeless”?
A better manager would call it like it is. The Reds have had better managers who did just that.
This team cant hit or pitch.
Look at the box score. Fraley leading off has the only OPS over .800.
India scraping .700 and Farmer doing what farmer does which is compete. Then its 2 guys in the .600’s and a bunch in the .500’s or less
Pitching is worse. So much for San Martin. ERA now 7.55
Sorting aint working out so well.
Fangraphs now projects Reds at 64-98.
Historic losing is possible for the oldest franchise in baseball.
no way this team wins 19 more games. No way.
.243, .259, and .271 3 player’s batting averages for the players who played tonight. After that the batting averages drop to .227 or lower for the rest of the players who played tonight.
I know batting average is not everything. but seriously there is very little worth spending time watching these players play. The Pitching was just as bad. Pitcher of the game Alejo Lopez!!! This team is a train wreck and I know injuries have not helped but seriously with these players I’d rather watch A or AA. Even when the Reds score these days, I’m skeptical of a potential win. Sigh. I think I done watching this team at all this year. Maybe, I’ll check in in September to see if any injured players have returned. Really stinks after watching teams that at least had a decent chance to win in 20 and 21.
Anyone who thinks Votto or 3M should play any part of 2023 are dreamers or deluded. Pay them to go away. That hurts just typing that about Votto. But how can you have a bat first position such as first base being manned by a guy who can’t even hit his weight?
100%
If only all the people who threatened to stop watching the Reds this year on this board actually did. There would sure be a lot less whining here.
Boy, that Castellanos guy is pretty good. Wonder what it would take to get him?
New owners with big wallets.
Speaking of PTBNL… Any word on who Boston is sending us yet?
$18.4MM wasn’t enough. Glad he left. We’d still be awful even with him. One high priced free agent would not make this, or most any, a winning team.
How were Dunn and Zeuch at the top of the heap for promotion to the bigs? Their results coming in don’t appear to scream, “Pick me! Pick me!”
If those are the top two of our next crop of pitching prospects then it will be a long decade of the 2020s.
I’m not complaining because they lost. Wins and losses don’t matter this year. I also don’t agree with trading a handful of SS for pitching. That speaks to me of winning is important this year. I’m just wondering at the decision-making process, as I’ve seen many others wonder. Is this the Dunn and Zeuch trial period? With Teuch I can understand a quick, brief trial since he hasn’t shown much and even the Cardinals let him walk. Dunn, though, was a part of the WinkerSuarez trade but after missing the better part of two seasons he was brought up after a few poor rehab starts. Is there a reason he could not have spent more time, like the rest of 2022, at AAA learning how to pitch again and developing stamina? Guys with hangnails get more time to recover strength and stamina!
Everyone should probably stop acting like Zeuch was a legitimate prospect with any chance of sticking in the rotation. He was never expected to be good, he wasn’t even doing well in AAA. He was a local player who was released, the Reds picked him up to fill the void left by half the roster being on the IL and Castillo and Mahle being traded. There is no one else to pitch. Zeuch probably never sees a MLB roster again.
As for Dunn I have no clue the extent of his injuries, or why the Reds thought it was a good idea to trade for an injured player, but he at least has pitched decent at the major league level in the past.
He’s getting booed at Philly every game.
The boo-birds have a long tradition in Philadelphia. Until 40 years ago or so, the Phillies had the record for the total # of losses of any pro sports franchise in the U.S.
$20 million a year for five years through his age 35 season.
Castellanos was great in ’21. The Phillies are disappointed with him this year.
Not exactly inspiring play on our side tonight huh?
Bengals went from worst team in football to a Super Bowl runner up. How? Spending huge in FA on defense and drafting elite on offense.
Reds need to borrow the playbook. they’ve done a nice job acquiring young talent. Next step. Buy a bullpen.
1.) sign Edwin Diaz and pay big front loaded money to join his brother thru 2026.
2.) sign Andrew Chafin FA or similar lefty thru 2025 as a lefty bullpen arm
3.) trade young assets for AJ PuK Oakland A’s …big lefty emerging dominant bullpen arm entering arbitration controlled thru 2025 or similar profile… A’s arent winning and Puk is controlled. Trade some young Prospects.
Reds build a bullpen with Edwin Diaz, Alexis Diaz, Andrew Chafin Lefty, AJ Puk Lefty thru 2026. Fill in with young arms.
Build a bullpen. It’s the weakest link and the highest value Fix. See Orioles . No way the Reds have internal fixes or go the way of Hunter Strickland or Doolittle or David Hernandez to fix this yearly problem. Go big and be bold.
Edwin Diaz is great in theory, but it looks like he’s going to get something like 5×20. Ryan Pressly, an adequate but aged closer for the Astros, just signed a 15 AAV extension this April through 2025ish. Chafin is making about 6.5m right now, so we can presume his peers make about the same.
Buying a bullpen is expensive!
I love the idea of the Diaz brothers to, but the length of the contract needed to get Edwin is what would keep me away. I’d rather go after Chapman, or Jansen. Both would command a substantial paycheck (15M – 17M a year), but probably would sign a 1 or 2 year deal.
Do you remember Doug Jones? He managed to be an adequate closer for years using his changeup and 85 mph fastball. I wonder if the Reds could manufacture someone like that, find a guy the other teams ignore b/c he doesn’t throw 100mph…
@ MadMike – Lopez 😉
Melvin, haha!
I know “after the fact” as well as we were being blown out, which only means one has to consider other factors when making a decision.
But, what I’ve been saying about Bell’s use of the relievers. . .Sanmartin doesn’t have a clean 8th, so don’t put him out there for the 9th. Go through relievers too quickly, we’re left with doing things like Lopez pitching in a game that could matter. Just like how I’ve seen Bell go through regular players so quickly that he’s had to have pitchers pinch hit at the end of close games.
Does anyone know who our long man is out there right now? I don’t know if I’ve been able to tell for weeks if not longer.
Does it matter who the designated long man is? Other than Diaz, they’re all terrible. I’m not sure bullpen roles are worth analyzing when the entire bullpen should be pitching in the minors.
The Reds pitching coach staff needs to spend a little more time building the bullpen. It should not be an afterthought and just place anyone there. A good bullpen pitcher should have a certain makeup, it can be called talent, although the goal of most pitchers is to be a starter. The Reds have the makings of a reliable bullpen in Diaz and Sanmartin plus a couple relivers currently on the IL. At the last minute don’t just stick any non-starter in the bullpen since it won’t work for a very important part of the game.
Victor Carantini with the walk-off hit for Milw. He turns 29 today and I think he’s a FA next year. He gets alot of big hits. Thats a hard .725 ops of whatever imo.
Bigger question is are they really expecting Stephenson to catch 120+ games/year? I just don’t see it working out and they really need his bat!
went to the game. big crowds today. I don’t envy reds ownership at all. We reds fans are hard to budget for. I think our attendance for these weekday games in august has been higher than last year when we were still in the playoff hunt. of course the weather has been perfect so far this month. I remember it was oppressively hot last August. also you had the delta covid variant circulating which I am sure was a factor as well.
i still think the reds would be wise to build an indoor stadium. it would take the variable of weather out of the equation when budgeting for payroll. look at how much the brewers have improved since moving indoors.
The box scores say attendance was 14.5K Monday and 17K plus small change Tuesday. These are much better than some of the weeknight crowds early on in the season. The bump from Monday to Tuesday was probably the Bark In The Park folks and their dogs. It will be telling how low the weeknights go after Labor Day.
Did anyone see the Braves 8 year deal to a guy with 71 games who was called up from AA this year? That seems to be the model the Reds should follow. It’s probably risky and you might pay more up front, but it immediately extends the six year window to be good or trade the guy away.
It’s amazing that people still attend in person.
When Solano comes back, slot him 4th. Votto is lost. No more Acquino. I’ve seen enough and so has Eric Davis. He’ll never hit unless he makes adjustments. Fraley, India, Friedl, Solano, Farmer should be 1 through 5. Never happen with Bell but that’s what I’d roll out.
I’m also in favor of making changes with the Manager and Pitching Coach. I just don’t see it going forward unless wholesale changes are made. Another long season looms next year. No real change until 2024 when Votto & Moose contracts come off the books.
I’d like to see India move to the middle of the lineup. 1 Fraley 2 Farmer 3 Solano 4 India, and after that it drops off significantly.
This team really lacks LHB’s, Votto has regressed after a great year last year, Moustakas never was for us, and Naquin is gone. Fraley might be the lone LHB we got with a real potential to impact a game.
Yep. Friedl could have a huge opportunity if they keep him on the MLB roster beyond Solano’s return. Hoping here that for once the Reds will bring up a position player who has been on an extended tear at AAA and play him every day to see what happens.
kinda like Aquino…..
Not sure what fans expected after the trades. You trades your top two pitchers and best offensive player. Plus injuries to Greene and Stephenson. This was bound to happen. Half of bullpen is injured. So I mean where you gonna go
Reds went from potential playoff team after last year to what we have now.
Not really sure why people are upset.
People are upset because of the decision to tear down the potential playoff team after the 2021 season instead of trying to build upon it for 2022.
Moving Miley, Gray and Barnhart was painful but necessary. There was also the $18m not spent on Castellano which the team had committed to; but, the player walked away from. By my quick math, this represents $27.5m in dumped hard commitments plus $18.4 in the soft commitment to Castellanos. So, we are talking between $45m and $50m that could have been spent on 2022 without any significant increase to the 2021 payroll.
Instead, Winker and Suárez were also traded in a salary dump rendered senseless by subsequently spending more on Minor and Pham than Winker and Suárez would have cost.
Both Castillo and Mahle were under team control through the 2023 season. They could have been held and then traded after this season quite possibly for as much or even better return than the Reds got for them.
The “saved” money could have been spent on enriching the 2022 core which would have also included Winker, Suárez, Castillo and Mahle.
Instead, we followers of the team are asked to buy into another pie in the sky in the sweet by and by “rebuild”
Aquino sets up to take long powerful swings. He can’t adjust from his stance quickly enough. When he gets one it’s hit hard but he rarely does. I can’t figure out why no one has made him change his stance and starting hand positions. With his size he could still hit for power but he’d be better positioned for adjusting.