Justin Dunn was good for the first four innings, but didn’t return for the 5th inning. The Reds bullpen got the job done, though, tossing 5.0 shutout innings as the offense pounded out 11 hits and five runs to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in Cincinnati on Tuesday night.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals (75-55) | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (51-77) | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| W: Law (1-1) L: Hudson (7-7) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Cincinnati didn’t have a hit through the first two innings. All of that changed in the third. Trailing 1-0 the Reds got a single from Alejo Lopez on a liner up the middle to start the inning and Austin Romine followed up with a 2-run homer to give the home team the lead. Jonathan India then followed up with a single to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He would come around to score when Jake Fraley doubled to extend the lead and give the Reds their 4th straight hit to start the inning. Kyle Farmer then chopped a single by a diving Brendan Donovan to bring in Fraley and make it 4-1, and on the throw to the plate Farmer grabbed second base. That’s all they would get, but a big inning gave them plenty to work with.
In the 5th inning the Reds went back to it with three straight singles, including two infield hits from Jonathan India and Kyle Farmer before Donovan Solano grounded into a double play, but saw the play produce a run that gave Cincinnati a 5-1 lead. The Reds wouldn’t score again, but they didn’t need to as the bullpen did their job and held on for the victory.
The Pitching
Justin Dunn retired the Cardinals in order in the 1st, but he ran into some troubles in the 2nd after recording the first two outs. Albert Pujols was hit by a pitch and the Corey Dickerson followed up with a single to put two men on, but Dunn clamped down and got Yadier Molina to fly out to end the inning. In the top of the 3rd inning Dunn couldn’t get a 92 MPH fastball by Tommy Edman who hit the ball to Kentucky to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead. He worked around a leadoff single in the top of the 4th and held onto the Reds 4-1 lead, but it would be his final inning of the day despite just 63 pitches
Derek Law, who was just promoted to join the big league club on Tuesday afternoon, took over in the top of the 5th inning and fired a shutout frame on just 10 pitches. He needed 14 pitches to get through the 6th inning but held the lead at 5-1. Joel Kuhnel and Buck Farmer both tossed a perfect inning to follow. That led to Alexis Diaz coming out for the 9th with a 4-run lead against the heart of the Cardinals lineup. He had to work around a walk, but got the job accomplished and sealed the win.
Notes Worth Noting
Alejo Lopez went 3-3 to raise his average to .310 on the season in 92 plate appearances.
In his post-game interview Justin Dunn said that after the 4th inning his shoulder tightened up on him a bit. He also noted that he expects to make his next start.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds
Wednesday August 31st, 6:40pm ET
Jose Quintana (4-6, 3.45 ERA) vs Mike Minor (3-10, 6.10 ERA)
Amazing! Truly amazing! Five (5) Reds pitchers used by Bell tonight yielded only ONE walk! Amazing how that can result in a victory! Nice job by all of the Reds pitchers and kudos to Romaine (or is it Romine?) on the 2-run HR!
He is the catcher and has nothing to do with lettuce.
Lettuce be thankful for that! I was trying to be funny! Better not quit my day job!
Hahaha A little levity never hurts. Gotta have it in life.
“Everytime I think I’m out … they pull me back in.”
Absolutely! Being a Reds fan under the Bell regime is like being a drug addict! This game and the jewel by Lodolo & Diaz 2 weeks ago against the Phillies keep me going!
Yep.. lol
Lopez 3 for 3 tonight. Will he play tomorrow? We’ll see. Last year he went 5 for 5 and didn’t. 🙂
Bell will certainly put him back on the bench! Has Barrero had 3 hits all month? Has Senzel EVER had a 3-hit game? Give this kid a chance!
The kid consistently hits, and yet no one talks about him, no one mentions him in the Reds’ plans going forward. Guess it doesn’t matter if anyone is on base when someone else hits a HR. The kid reminds me of Altuve, and he still has time for the power stroke to develop.
Think Lopez is a 20th Century type player where base hits and bat control and a lack of big power had value. In addition the fact that he is 5 foot nothing has given him a reputation which doesn’t say modern analytic value.
Does scoring more runs and winning more often fit the modern analytical value of a player?
Lopez in the lineup batting 5th. 🙂
Winning is fun. Winning against the WLB Dirty Birds is more funner.
Can’t agree more
Any win this year is sweet! A win against the Dirty Birds is extra sweet!
A nice win over the Cards. I expected a series sweep as per the Phillies.
Reds’ baseball has become mercurial and fickle, as have many of us. Earlier this year, a lot of folks here were critical of Lopez and his “soft” contact. Everyone was clamoring for Schrock’s return. Schrock takes out a kneecap and gets released while Lopez goes 3-3 today. It’s a funny game, and more resistant to numerical analysis than most of us think.
I am not sure fickle is the right word. I think frustrated is the best word to describe us reds fans now. We haven’t had a real offensive juggernaut team since the 1999 season. that is nearly a quarter of a century ago now. hopefully things will change but watching these players on the field now it just seems impossible
The 2005 Reds led the NL in runs scored and scored 99 runs more than the average NL team. The 2010 Reds led the league in scoring and scored 89 more runs than the average NL team. The 2011 Reds finished 2nd in the NL in runs scored. The 2013 Reds finished 3rd in the league in scoring. Heck, the 2021 Reds were 4th in the NL in runs scored. The offensive environment of the game has changed a lot since 1999 and that might be skewing your opinion some on what a real good offense is supposed to look like/score like.
With the Red’s on-again, off-again offense in the last month of this lost season, Manager Bell needs to play the offensive hot-hand bat until they are not offensively hot, such as Alejo Lopez. It doesn’t have to be a homerun. Singles can do a lot of offensive damage.
Why is Bell not playing Barrero?
Why would he? Oh, I forgot you were asking about Bell. Must have been a rhetorical question.
Nice
He needed some time off to try to find the holes in his bat.
They gave him two days off to clear his head. He’s expected to play on Wednesday.
Better yet why would he play a guy who can’t hit
When you are Jose Barrero, and you are 2 for your last 24, you get benched.
When you are Kyle Farmer, and you are in a 2 for 42 slump, you get to keep playing every day so you can have the chance to hit out of the slump.
Barrero hasn’t earned that “mediocre veteran” label yet, which is seemingly necessary to get on Bell’s good side.
Play Barrero this last month and see what happens offensively. The Reds have quite a pool of young shortstop prospects. Spring training should bring forth at least one who can hit and field at the ML level.
Farmer has proven he can hit major league where Barrero has proven he can’t
I know there are a few Barrero lovers out there but you need to face reality
He can’t hit
burtgummer01, I’m not sure I entirely agree.
As a 24 year old Barrero has proven he can’t hit major league pitching YET.
But as a 24 year old, neither could Farmer.
In fact, at age 24, Farmer was still toiling in the mid-minor, a couple years away from reaching the major leagues.
Your comparing apples and oranges. Bell is trying to help Barrero not hurt him. Giving him a couple of days off was a good thing. You do realize Bell played the game and may have a bit more insight that he draws on from real experiences..
Or, a veteran is presumably less likely than a young player to get crushed by a slump. And I’d bet that Bell would prefer good players to poor or even mediocre players.
Dunn with three good outings after his bad start. Four runs in 15 innings in those starts. Small sample size but the trade with the parent club is looking better with time. Hope Dunn was not injured.
Maybe it was fatigue, and Romine told Bell.
Maybe Dunn had a little trouble warming up.
The guy is recovering from shoulder problems, and they still need to watch out for him. But…in the four innings, Dunn did pitch pretty well. He didn’t regress, and the Cardinals are likely a better offensive team than the Phillies that he lost to last week (pitching 6 good innings).
I believe Dunn said there was some shoulder tightness and he was removed as a precautionary measure. Seemed like Dunn was pushing to stay in at first.
Pretty happy McGarry is promoted to AAA. His odds of making the Reds out of spring just went up. He maybe the Reds plan B if Votto isn’t ready to go.
Austin Romine’s home run put the Reds in the lead 2-1, a lead which they never relinquished.
There are few things better in life than a win over Satan’s team. A convincing win at that. The turds had 4 hits and an error. What a shame.
Bill Murray must be pleased.
Satan’s team is the New York Yankees.
Let’s not forget that. 🙂
10000000000000% I got tired of typing 0 or it would have been 100000000000000000000000000000% or more.
Satan has a team in both the AL and the NL.
My three favorite teams are the Reds, whom ever is playing the Cardinals, and whom ever is playing the Yankees. In that order.
Satan’s team is the Dodgers. No, the Cubs. No, the Brewers.
What was Dunn’s velocity like? I didn’t watch the game. From prior posts earlier this year, people were saying that his velocity was down from years past.
Looked like 92-93. Looking at Fangraphs’ velocity charts, that’s not markedly slower than his MLB top end which they show as just under 94 in 2021.
These last several outings, Dunn has been truly pitching. If he can consistently throw in the 92-93 range and spot/ command his stuff as he has been of late, he should be fine,
Barrero has not impressed me with his bat. Hope he turns things around. My patience will run out with him in 2024. This is a chance for him to prove himself to Reds fans. Lopez hits MLB pitching, but not with much power. I have to see more of both of them. I am not convinced of either one for 2025. If I had to choose one right now, it would be Lopez. I do not like a player on the field at any position that cannot hit MLB pitching, even a shortstop. This is 2022, not 1970. There are plenty of shortstops who can hit.
Isn’t tomorrow Wednesday? Doug is working so hard but still has time to get me confused. That’s DB job! Reds won so it doesn’t really matter. (August 31)
Time isn’t even real!
Definitely a human construct to keep things organized. What is real Neo?
I have been doing a lot of driving recently for work so I have been listening to the reds on the radio over the past few games and I got to tell you, I think Jeff Brantley would be a heck of coach for this young reds team. At least he would demand hustle and smart baserunning and defense from the team. I like Bell but I Think we need somebody more fiery for a young team
This team isn’t young. Jonathan India is was the youngest starter on the team in tonight’s game and he’s 25. Everyone else was 26 or older. Barrero is 24, but once you get past him and India in the “regular” lineup right now the next youngest guys are Jake Fraley and Nick Senzel, who are both 27.
Sigh,that is depressing. It is one thing to be bad. It is another thing to be old. To be bad and old is not a good combination…
I remember when 27 was young. Hahaha
Seriously thank you Doug for all you do!!
In real life 27 is young. In sports? Not so much.
McGarry at 24 and his .887 OPS and lefty bat promoted to AAA and doubled last night. Some guy with a web site on Reds minor leagues has a link to that box score as well as Christian Encarnacion Stroud age 22 mashing in AA with his 30th home HR and .917 OPS
Reds actually have might some young thumpers for the future at corner infield/DH from both sides working their way up in the high minors.
How different a line up might look next year with Fraley/Steer/McGarry/CES adding to India and Stephenson.
And that Elly guy. How ‘bout this young lineup after the AS break next year
India 2b
EDLC SS
Stephenson C
McGarry 1b
CES DH
Steer 3b
Fraley LF
TBD CF
TBD RF
A healthy Votto in the mix regularly as well.
Actually, this is quite a young team when comparing to the rest of MLB. The Reds sit in the middle of the pack with an average age of 28.79, but if you took out the journeymen relievers and Votto and Romine, this team would be amongst the youngest, which is where Cleveland is, at 26.42. Cleveland is the only team in the 26 range too, so they are certainly an outlier.
If you took the old guys off of other rosters they’d also get younger.
Not sold on Fraley they really need 3 outfielders for the future. I thing they need to move EDLC to center with Mclain or Barrero at short.
Call it homegrown bias if you will; but, I like Friedl all around over Fraley even though they are the same player in many facets.
I suspect Friedl has slightly less power on a consistent basis but is going to hit better versus LH pitching while Fraley is always going to require a platoon partner on a team seriously looking to compete for the postseason.
Friedl also looks to be head and shoulders the better defender of the duo; especially he looks comfortable and competent in CF.
I think it’s a little concerning Dunn has his shoulder tightened up. After the shoulder injury that kept him out of baseball for a year, this could be considered as a little setback. Maybe the Reds medical staff likely plan a surgery at the end of the season to fix the problem origin so Dunn could be ready to 2023 spring training…
Romine homered to his former team in the same season didn’t wait so much to punish them…
Derek Law had a good job, let’s see him how will perform in the next games
Baseball is a young man’s game.Reds hold on to players way too long at the major league level and want them to walk on water in the minors before bringing them up.Add long term contracts to non producing vets and an owner and a manager that will play them over younger players you get the Reds.Data shows when most big leaguers decline and minor leaguers rarely walk on water.Other teams get it but Reds still trying to figure it out because ownership isn’t about winning.Krall seems to have a plan but when I look at the box score each night and see players that will not be here in 2023 and look at Steer and others in the minors well what are we doing.
Agreed. Moran’s presence on the roster tells you all you need to know about what their priorities are.
If the Reds operate per their organizational chart, Krall is the person responsible for Moran being on the MLB roster, not Bell. Just saying.
Moran was on the 40 man, the others not. That would mean they would have to cut somebody loose or designate for assignment to make room for Steer, or anyone else NOT on the 40 man.
I know everyone knows this, I am not trying to sound condescending. But Krall also has to worry about actually finishing out the 2022 year, as bad as it may seem. And with the plethora of people that have gotten hurt (especially pitchers), he is holding on to his marbles here.
I don’t necessarily agree with this philosophy, but I think that is part of Krall’s thinking.
I disagree that Moran was on the 40 man when was recently called up. He had been moved off of it after he was optioned to AAA. If the Reds transaction list on their website (under the Roster tab) is to be believed:
“06/29/22 Cincinnati Reds sent 3B Colin Moran outright to Louisville Bats.”
And here is the transaction for his recent return:
“08/27/22 Cincinnati Reds selected the contract of 3B Colin Moran from Louisville Bats”.
“outright” in the June transaction means off the 40 man roster.
“contract selected” in the August transaction means added to the 40 man roster.
This is the reason a number of us have been so frustrated about Moran’s return to the Reds. By all appearances, they had an open 40 man slot and could have picked literally anyone in the organization to elevate to the 40 man and activate to the 26 man roster. Their choice was Moran.
Yankee’s have a older lineup, Cardinals have a older lineup or older guys producing. I don’t buy the whole Baseball is a young man’s game. That to me is not true. When you see teams like the Yankee’s and Cardinals and Dodgers have guys 27 and over and winning. That to me throws the theory of a young’s mans game out the window.
Older players like Goldschmidt and Arenado cost a lot of money, too. I have no idea (although someone probably does know this) how much Pujols is costing the Cardinals this year.
If you are a team like Cincy with their “limited” budget, signing on expensive “mature” players is probably breaking the Castellini piggy bank.
Arenado is making $35m this year but can opt out at the end of the year. If he stays in he makes $35m in 2023,24; drops to $32m in ’25; $27m in ’26 and $15m in 2027. He has substantial amounts of this (and his 2021 salary) deferred into the future looking to total at least $50m in present value, some at 2% interest but most at 0% interest. Cardinals will be paying this down until 2041 if he does not opt out after this year.
Goldschmidt is making $22M+ another $4.5m in paydown of a signing bonus in 2022.
Pujols is making just $2.5m in base salary but has some award bonuses he could tag on.
If anyone wants to wrestle with the fine print on Arenado (in particular) or Goldschmidt to see if I got it at least mostly right, the link is below. And Yes the site at the link has all MLB teams, including the Reds.
https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/national-league-central/st-louis-cardinals/
@ Jim
From what I’ve read arrenado has an opt out and $144 mil. He can probably get another $20-30 mil tacked on in the open
Market but wants to stay so cards will likely make it right for him
OS,
Yeah the $50M is just the deferred amount ! $20m from 2021 plus $6m a year from 2022-26 if he does not opt out. They would pay him $3m a year for a decade starting in 2032. They already had tacked on 2027 at $15m as near as I could tell to get him to push back the opt out date from 2021 to after this season.
The Yankees, though, stink. Since June 29, the Reds are 25-29, and the Yanks are 23-31. The main reason that they stink is that they are old and injury prone.
But the Yanks made hay while the sun was shining 😉
So does that make the Reds young and injury prone? And if it’s because of age, explain the Dodgers and the Mets. Injuries are part of the game, and they happen to all ages.
Yep, Mets and Yankees are the two oldest teams, with the Dodgers 4th. Consider also that the Dodgers have one of the top minor league programs as well. They are here to stay for a long time.
Mentioned this weeks ago: Lopez puts the bat on the ball. He deserves PT the rest of the way. Don’t think he figures in the long term plans but I enjoy watching him hit. Even some of his outs are loud!
As for last night’s winning pitcher: In your best Rob Halford: Breaking The Law, Breaking the Law!
Jose Altuve (Astros All-Star 2nd baseman) is 5′ 6″ tall, 166 lb., and hit two HR in his first 221 AB’s in 2011. In the next three seasons, he never hit more than 7 HR.
Then, he got a lot better, power-wise. Although, he always hit for average.
I don’t know how good or bad Alejo will ever be, but it might be a little early to designate him for “not good enough”.
And @ Jim: Thank you for the information on the salary structure of the Cardinals’ star players. Food for thought for Reds’ fans.
Just saw this Reds Tuesday lineup on Fangraphs. Why the drama over 2B? when a man who got 3 hits Monday plays 2B and is a switch hitter? At least good to his word Bell lets Barrero back on the horse tonight.
1. Jonathan India (DH)
2. Nick Senzel (CF)
3. Kyle Farmer (3B)
4. Donovan Solano (1B)
5. (2B)
6. Stuart Fairchild (LF)
7. Aristides Aquino (RF)
8. Jose Barrero (SS)
9. Chuckie Robinson (C)
Reds site says Lopez.
mlb gmeday also says Lopez