The Cincinnati Reds will begin a weekend series tonight in Milwaukee as they face off against the second place Brewers. Cincinnati will turn to Nick Lodolo to try and get the series off on the correct foot. The Brew Crew will counter by sending former Yankees assistant to the traveling secretary Jason Alexander to the hill. First pitch is set for 8:10pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Here are the lineups for tonight’s series opener:
Cincinnati Reds
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Milwaukee Brewers
|
| TJ Friedl – LF | Andrew McCutchen – DH |
| Jonathan India – 2B | Willy Adames – SS |
| Kyle Farmer – 3B | Christian Yelich – LF |
| Jake Fraley – DH | Hunter Renfroe – RF |
| Donovan Solano – 1B | Mike Brosseau – 3B |
| Aristides Aquino – RF | Keston Hiura – 1B |
| Nick Senzel – CF | Luis Urias – 2B |
| Jose Barrero – SS | Victor Caratini – C |
| Austin Romine – C | Tyrone Taylor – CF |
| Nick Lodolo – SP | Jason Alexander – SP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Nick Lodolo | 73.0 | 3.95 | 1.37 | 30 | 91 |
| Jason Alexander | 62.2 | 5.03 | 1.58 | 26 | 37 |
| Links: Nick Lodolo’s Stats | Jason Alexander’s Stats |
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Nick Lodolo
Coming off of one of the best starts of his career, a 6-inning shutout performance, Nick Lodolo returns to the mound tonight to take on the Milwaukee Brewers. He’ll be looking to improve upon his 3-run, 4.2 innings performance in Milwaukee from a month ago in his only matchup with the division foe.
Teams don’t send many lefties to the plate against Lodolo. He’s pitched in four games this season when he didn’t face a single lefty, and the ones who do get the chance to face him haven’t done much of anything against him this season. Righties had more success early on in the season, but their numbers have been on a steady decline against him over the last month and a half. They are still doing far better than lefties, but they haven’t found a ton of success lately.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 283 | 65 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 26 | 78 | .263 | .357 | .417 |
| LHH | 38 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13 | .161 | .316 | .194 |
Pitch Usage
| 2-Seam | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 94.3 | 88.3 | 81.8 |
| Usage | 58.0% | 12.7% | 29.3% |
Jason Alexander
The Brewers have had Jason Alexander working in both the rotation and bullpen this year, with his last two appearances coming out of the rotation. He faced the Reds back on June 18th as a starter and allowed two earned runs in 5.2 innings on eight hits and a walk while picking up his first career win.
The splits for Jason Alexander are significant. Left-handed hitters are putting up MVP-ish numbers against him, posting a .322 average and slugging .565 while making tons of contact. Right-handed hitters are also making tons of contact, and his for a solid .281 average, but they are hitting for no power to speak of against him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 143 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 17 | .281 | .350 | .375 |
| LHH | 136 | 37 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 20 | .322 | .382 | .565 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 93.2 | 92.4 | 81.1 | 81.5 |
| Usage | 4.0% | 56.6% | 23.0% | 16.4% |
When and Where
- Game time: 8:10pm ET
- Where: American Family Field
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: They play in a dome
News and Notes
Reds pick up Luke Farrell
Early this afternoon the Cincinnati Reds claimed Luke Farrell off of waivers from the Cubs. Farrell pitched for the Reds back in 2017 before he was designated for assignment after the season. Now he’s coming back to join the club.
Matt Reynolds is back, Albert Almora Jr. is out
Cincinnati activated Matt Reynolds from the injured list this afternoon and he’ll be taking the roster spot of Albert Almora Jr., who was designated for assignment.
Lodolo has pitched better than his record shows! He has had little, if any, help from the bullpen! Hopefully the offense shows up early and often tonight! Go Reds! Beat the Bernies!
The offense did indeed show up early tonight. I’m not long for this evening.
GO REDS.
I raised this issue on Labor Day that a roster crunch is coming with the rule 5 draft and 40 man in December. Krall is on it. Moran isnt part of the present or future and Almora cant hit and isnt part of 2024. Both DFA’d in a matter of days.
Does Friedl ever play CF again regularly after yesterdays debacle? Cowboy called him out. Aquino is getting his shot in RF for the 8th time. Fairchild is clearly filler rest of the year. Reds are gonna need to do some soul searching on who is CF1 in 2024/25/26 this off-season.
It’s Siani or EDLC. With Barrero’s hitting struggles, I suspect EDLC isnt moving off SS this off-season. Siani’s stock is rising.
Neither Siani nor EDLC will be Reds CF in 2023. Arroyo will be Reds SS eventually.
For service time control issues, that’s likely true about Siani and EDLC. However, I think one or both may be the 27/28th man next September. Probably Siani to see if he can stick. For EDLC they will rigidly control his service time clock.
Arroyo is still too far away to determine.
Please trade Lopez in the off season to give the kid a chance somewhere else. This experiment with Barrero is really bad for the team and Barrero. I can’t imagine playing and striking out almost 50% of the time. Must be filling the kid with all kinds of confidence.
There does seem to be a move towards clearing the roster. gives the players time to catch on somewhere….. really hope Lodolo gets some help from the bats today
You mean that kind of help, BoR?
Reds spanking this guy.
Another day, another lead off HR by Friedl.
Not too shabby.
anyone having problems with the sound… had silence for a while and think i have the brewers broadcasters
No issues for me…Brewer broadcast
yea, but i am on the reds broadcast with the brewer announcers
Middle/oppo approach strikes again for a huge crooked number
Who in the heck are these guys wearing the red uniforms tonight? The Bernie’s have to be asking that exact same question.
Nice first by Lodolo to follow that action up.
Even the outs are hard hit. Could be a long night for Bernie’s Boys. Hope Lodolo doesn’t get too cooled down between innings tonight.
2 more missiles by Freidl and India…outs unfortunately
107 and 101 mph.
got our announcers back…..
My WLW audio is a few seconds ahead of the video feed tonight. I don’t want to switch to Sadak, but that may be what happens. I’ll try and reset at the turn of the inning.
A lot of opposite field hitting, even some of the outs.
Reds must have had a clubhouse agreement “everybody go opposite field tonight”, ala movie Major League “I guess there is only one thing left to do—win the whole blanking thing”
+500
At least we pressed him up to 60 pitches through 2 innings.
Say what u want about Castellini and the Reds…but Pittsburgh is horrific and the Brewers literally quit while in first place.
The Cubs suck.
This is a 1 team division with that team being old
Would have been a good spot for Senzel to get out of his slump. Alas. And AA is up to .200. Break out the winter coats in Hades.
Nice to see Aquino get his batting average back up to .200. Hope he can keep moving it North but he is close to Votto and Moose now. Speaking of Votto, I have to believe MLB banning the shift next year will really help him.
How many at bats since Aquino has struck out?
Is Votto the new hitting instructor? Ever since he’s been out the Reds of been hitting better game to game.
Listening to the Brewers announcers is fun. No continuous rambling. No incessant statistics. Nice even tempo. Makes the game the centerpiece.
OK, limited damages. And we’re still ahead. Let’s add on some more crooked numbers.
Friedl batted balls tonight
98 (HR)
107
104
Unfortunately, Friedl and fraley are LF lefties competing against each other.
Friedl over Fraley, a few months younger, faster, better fielder, but more importantly far better L/R splits. Friedl can play everyday. Fraley can’t.
I don’t see how they are competing with each other any more than any other OF’s on the roster. Heck right now they are the only 2 I’d want to keep around.
@MBS
Pretty Simple. Neither one has the arm or bat for RF or the talent for CF. Both hit lefty and throw Lefty. Are u suggesting either one can play anything other than LF?
Jeff Brantley said Friedl cant play CF.
Right now I’d be tempted to keep Friedl and Aquino and look for a CF. Fraley can join Almora & Moran. Fairchild, who knows?
It is incredible how the Reds couldn’t finish a pitcher totally crushed and having lack of control in the first inning. Now he is cy young Alexander… Meanwhile the Brewers begin to trim distance….
Nice 4 innings by Lodolo. One mistake is all I seek. 6 K’s and ZERO BB’s.
Im not so sure entering the off-season the Reds arent the 2nd best team entering the off-season in the NL Central forecasting 2024..NOT 2023…. Brewers are in retreat. Doesnt mean the Reds are good. they stink. But Brewers have some bad contracts and some great pitchers entering FA soon and they literally quit mid-season.. They are soon to be double digits behind the Cards..who are getting old.
It’s a pathetically low bar in the NLC.
The Cardinals have some really good young players coming up. Their development is a machine. I’m afraid we will be playing for Wild Card until Goldshmidt and Arrenado move on.
I do agree the Brewers seem to have lost their window of opportunity. They have some pitchers who are going to become very expensive, very fast.
Senzel should never be given a green light on 3-0
Very few young hitters should have the green light. VERY few. In fact, more than a fair share of veterans shouldn’t.
Nice 6 innings from Lodolo. Wish we had converted on a couple runs that last inning. At least we didn’t completely roll over for the new pitcher.
So close to breaking that inning open … 😮
7 Strong!!!
Nicely done, Nick. Now let’s finish this for him.
Great stuff by Lodolo tonight.
Now we need Diaz to get back to dominating for the 9th
Another barrel for TJ.
103.5 mph
INDIA….got alll of it!!!
110.5 mph
Wow!!!
8 stellar innings by Lodolo and then Friedl and RoY play add-on.
Followed by Fraley as I’m typing.
The Bernie’s look ready to mail in the rest of this season tonight.
Left on Left crime
3 doubles for Aquino.
Dare we get our hopes up with him again?
He is so talented! Man if he’s found a new approach…I’m waiting another week or so, but it’s intriguing.
If this is AA figuring things out finally, I’m all for it. Wonder if he realizes he’s playing for a slot somewhere in 2023 …
Huge insurance runs in case Bell has a brain fart and decides to use Strickland in the bottom of the 9th!
Now that was what an actual quality start looks like. The question now is whether Law walks someone.
Nope. Absolutely clean inning. And the jogging to first by both Cutch and Yelich tells quite a tale.
Yeah, 1 BB in the last 18 IP by the Reds is almost unimaginable. But, I’ll take it. Aquino & Barrero went 5-8 with only 2 SOs is nearly as unimaginable. Embarrassing for the Brewers at home.
Just tuned in. Wow. You guys are doing a good job. 🙂
Lodolo absolutely cruised. Gave the BP basically a night off. And the offense had great “bookend” innings (that was Welsh or Sadak saying that word, I agree).
This is how you start a trip into a reeling MKE Bernie team’s park.
Catch you all tomorrow.