In a game that featured multiple baserunners thrown out at the plate, the game came down to the bottom of the 9th with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position before Alexis Diaz shut the door on the Cardinals as the Cincinnati Reds stopped their 6-game losing streak with a 3-2 win in St. Louis on Thursday night.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (57-86) | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| St. Louis Cardinals (84-60) |
2 | 3 | 0 |
| W: Anderson (1-3) L: Mikolas (11-12) SV: Diaz (7) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Nick Senzel kicked off the scoring in the game with a 421-foot home run in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd inning the Reds loaded the bases with no outs after two walks sandwiched a TJ Friedl double. But Cincinnati only managed one run out of it on a Jake Fraley sacrifice fly because the inning ended when a botched double steal led to Friedl being thrown out at the plate. The run did put the Reds ahead 2-0.
Cincinnati didn’t score again until the 6th inning. That’s when Aristides Aquino hit a 411-foot solo home run to extend the lead to 3-1. Two innings later the Reds were threatening again after a 1-out walk from Donovan Solano and a double from Aristides Aquino. Solano was pinch run for by Stuart Fairchild and was then thrown out at the plate trying to tag up and score on a line out into right field by Nick Senzel. The Reds went in order in the top of the 9th and had to rely on the bullpen to try and hold onto a 2-run lead.
The Pitching
Chase Anderon kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard in the first two innings but couldn’t do the same in the bottom of the 3rd. Anderson put two men on with one out with a walk and a hit batter, and then with two outs Paul Goldschmidt came through with an RBI double. His line drive down the left field line easily scored Lars Nootbaar from second, but the Reds defense made a perfect combination of throws from TJ Friedl to Kyle Farmer to Austin Romine who made a nice catch and tag to end the inning and keep Cincinnati in front 2-1. That would be the only hit and run that Anderson allowed in his 5.0 innings before turning the game over to the bullpen.
Ian Gibaut took over in the 6th inning and he fired a perfect inning with two strikeouts to hold onto what was then a 3-1 lead for the Reds. Buck Farmer entered the game for the 7th inning and he tossed two perfect innings with three strikeouts before giving way to Alexis Diaz in the 9th.
Diaz ran into some problems after giving up a leadoff single and then walking Tommy Edman to start the frame. Paul Goldschmidt had a lazy fly to center for the first out, but another lazy fly fell in for a single from Nolan Arenado to load the bases. That brought Albert Pujols to the plate and he would hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2, and on the play Tommy Edman advanced to third base just ahead of the throw from Aristides Aquino on a bang-bang play at the bag. St. Louis then brought on pinch hitter Corey Dickerson to face Diaz. During that at-bat Arenado took second base on defensive indifference to put the winning run in scoring position, but he was then pinch run for. It wouldn’t matter as Diaz induced a ground out to end the game in a 3-2 victory.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs St. Louis Cardinals
Friday September 16th, 8:15pm ET
TBA vs Jack Flaherty (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Game balls to Friedl for effort and toughness, Senzel for noise at the plate, AA for taking a low outside pitch into the seats, and Chase for an unexpected gem. Nice team win, Steer and Diaz as honorable mentions.
Yes…AA low outside and breaking ball. boy if we could get him going.
That’s a surprise
Nice job by Chase Anderson as well.
He’s probably player of the game.
The Punisher is putting down roots in right field.
Could not believe the nasty female Cardinals fan laughing when Friedl was hurt running into the could fence.
But the Reds got the last laugh before a full house of 44,901.
meh. I Would rather the reds lose the last 20 games and at least garner some national attention than to win 60 games and just plug along. i guess it is always good to beat the cardinals but the pirates series left a bad taste in my mouth, idk
What?
Really, what?
Sweeping the Cards late in the season and deflating them would be even sweeter considering the dismal season.
What? What?
Not much is better than beating the Turds on a Stick.
Aquino starts out 0-2 and everybody starts jumping off the bandwagon. The guy can’t get a hit everytime up people. Aquino has been the best player on the team in the last 15? games. Honestly it’s not even close.
I’m assuming you mean position player, because in Lodolo’s last 4 starts he has 29.1 innings, 8R, 36K, 2 BB.
Yes. Since 8/23 he is hitting 280 with 7 doubles and 5 homers.
Aquino numbers have improved significantly over the past +100 AB to the tune of .768 OPS, that will do. I wonder if they’d do something to help Barrero as well, the guy looks really lost at the plate. Also, Senzel’s swing is just too compact, no body weight use at all.
Well, Aquino’s numbers couldn’t have gotten much worse. 🙂
I think the guy does have a world of talent, but I don’t know if he can consistently make good contact. It would be great if this thing lasts, and he has improved his hitting mechanics, but only time will tell.
Aquino is a big guy (6’4″, 220 or 230). Big sluggers are streaky, because they tend to take long swings and get their timing and hitting mechanics off of kilter pretty easily.
I honestly think the most disappointing player this year has been Nick Senzel. He has actually not had too many hurts this year, and has had a lot of at bats. His hitting has not been very good, and his power is pretty low. He might very well be overtaken by the coming youth movement wave out of the Reds’ minor leagues.
Yes his batting average has moved from 180 to 211. That is hard to do this late in the season. He is walking more to.
At 235-240, he can add value. Very interesting for 2023, but with the adjustments he is making they need to see him more.
100% correct, and like someone said above, get him going? Come on, he’s been going good. He is the best player on this team right now outside of maybe Lodolo.
Senzel has changed his stance to hit with more power. He just missed on two long flyouts the game before and tonight hit one out. Let’s see if this new found stance and power continues. Sorting continues.
What’s happening? Senzel and Aquino both seem to have altered their hitting technique.
Obviously everyone connected to the Reds organization needs to alter everything they do because business as usual isn’t working. Atleast AA and Senzel are trying. Senzel has hit like Jose Peraza this year
I had to look at the stats to see if Senzel was hitting like Peraza. I will have to disagree with you. He hit like Peraza in previous years. This year Peraza has been better. Which is really disappointing. When Peraza came up we all expected him to be a contact hitter with little power. Senzel was supposed to be a polished hitter with a little bit of power
Since Jake Fraley came back in late July:
35-123 (.285) with 6 doubles, 9 HRs, 21 rbis, 18 walks, 2 hbp, and 26 Ks. They also shift the hades out of him so he might do some real damage next year! I’d keep him at cleanup vs righties. If Albert Pujols can hit 6th then so can Joey. I’m tired of the protected status with the Reds. Results matter to everyone else in pro sports
Indy I don’t know if it’s protected status. The Cardinals have much better options to force that change.
That’s baseball… They were swept in a home 4-game series vs last place Pirates but win the away opening vs first place STL… I thinking if there will be a bullpen day in the game tonight considering tomorrow double header…This series is very tough for the Reds relievers…At least, Anderson could throw 5 innings even of a good baseball… Watch Anderson out for the next starts, he has been getting better…
I think Buck Farmer deserves be considered to the Reds bullpen ahead of 2023 season…
Looks to me like Anderson may be someone to consider for the rotation in 2023 but certainly far from certain. Overton is still a possibility to join Greene, Ashcraft, andLodolo. Roa and Stoudt and Phillips may fight for the last spot. If healthy this would be an interesting rotation.
The bull pen is of course another story. Start with Diaz and San Martin and hope for a healthy Santillan and Antone. Maybe Sims makes it back? The rest is really up in the air. Just hopeful that it does not include Strickland or Kuhnel or Warren unless they are there to pitch batting practice.
On the other hand Friedl , Fraley, and Aquino have shown enough to be included in the 2023 roster. Steer still seems like he may need some more time in AAA as he has sacrificed his power for contact at this point.
2023 may also include EDLC and Christian – Strand depending on how they look in Arizona.
Should have also included Buck Farmer as a possibility for the 2023 Bull Pen. His breaking ball seems to have improved over the course of the year.
Agree on Farmer. We signed him as a free agent, but he only has ~4 years ML experience. Does that mean he’s arbitration eligible?
Buck Farmer had 5 years and 18 days of service time at the end of the 2021 season when he was arbitration eligible but non tendered then signed as a free agent by the Reds.
This offseason he will be either arbitration eligible or over 6 years of service time and thus automatically a free agent, depending how his service time counts out.
A quick and dirty estimate based on his game appearance logs suggests to me he is going to come up short by virtue of being in the minors for most of May, all of June, and a week of July.
Thanks Jim!
You are very welcome.
I’d guess Farmer is going to be looking for (at least) a 2 year fully guaranteed deal and could go as far as backing the Reds into a corner of meeting his terms or making an arbitration/ non tender decision.
It all depends on what the Reds offer and what Farmer thinks his prospects are if he were to end up non tendered again.
I really think we need to sign a closer, and a setup man. You add those 2 to your list, and all of a sudden the pen could be a strength of the team. $25M fixes the pen. Payroll is going to be 50M to 55M less in 23, so there is room to add.
Closer, Setup, Diaz, Antone, SanMartin, Farmer, Santillan, Moreta
For as bad a record as this team has, they have shown they can play ball with the best teams in both leagues. I know, I know, they just lost four to the Pirates, but there is some talent here. And, I know Bell is not popular on this site (probably no manager of a losing team would be), and we can certainly debate his tactical skills, and I know some of you are going to roll your eyes, but I see him on video clips being the first to meet players coming off the field back to the dugout…with sincere looking congrats or encouragement. I think the players appreciate him and that’s important. The team played a gutsy game and they were all in, as we should expect from pros, but I do think Bell should get some credit for keeping the team together.
@still a red. I agree. The players seem to like playing for him. While I enjoy reading the comments I take criticism of his managing ability with a grain of salt. In many cases we are second guessing and we certainly don’t have all the details as to why he made that decision.
For me the jury is still out on Bell. This was a salary dump season from start to finish. Ownership has done little to provide him with a roster that could contend. They hand a chance last year but refused to add a bull pen piece or two that may of helped us make the post season. If and when they give him a team capable of wining then I’ll judge him on his win/lost record. Right now that doesn’t exist.
I’ll judge him on how he handled what he had. Namely using the absolutely worst pitcher in the bullpen in the biggest situations. Once? OK….twice?? Ok… maybe we shouldn’t. 3rd time??? Fine…we tried him…but never again. But then you got the 4th, 5th, 6th, and seventh time.
We all know who I’m talking about. Hunter Strickland.
It’s not the first time either. He did it last year with Doolittle, When they were still competing for a playoff spot.
2019 he did the same thing with Jared Hughes.
It’s fine to give people a shot to figure it out, but after 3 tries you can’t keep running a guy out there in those situations. But Bell did.
You might ask me “well who else could he use, because everybody had their warts?” The answer is ANYBODY but Strickland.
@Still – Was he keeping the team together when they dropped 4 to the Pirates? And what does that mean “keep the team together”? Are guys going to stop trying if there was a lesser manager leading them? No, they are trying their hardest for their next contract, to make next years team, or to prove themselves for another team. Guys don’t quit no matter who the manager is. Trying and failing is not the same as quitting.
Perhaps the like Bell because there is no accountability for failing.
It was a good win. Always fun to beat the WLB’s, especially when it’s close at the bitter end.
Great to see some progress across the board last evening. They’ve sucked me in again for at least a little while 😀
New photo I see Mark! Can’t quite make out which Red bobblehead it is?
Think it is Davey Concepcion. Looks like a pic I saw of it on Twitter.
Number 13 himself. Davey C.
Aquino since he was recalled from AAA on May 22:
183PAs; AVG/OBP/SLG= .250/.295/.453; wRC+=101; K Rate=32.8%
He has been a league average offensive player in a world no longer skewed by pitchers’ offensive numbers.
Even including his disastrous 1st month, thanks to his defense, AA’s 2022 seasonal bWAR stands at 2.0. If he finishes the season strongly, his bWAR will push past “substitute” to “starter” level.
What’s working in Aquino’s favor is we have zero proven outfield options for 2023.
Better yet since revising his stance and approach on August 31:
.354/.404/.771, wRC+ = “215”
Laying off those off the plate breaking balls is really helping him. I get the hee-bee jeebees when he is at bat because IMO he could mean more to this team than any other player not named de la Cruz and in many ways they are carbon copies of each other. It’s why I believe so many hear cut him slack. Potential!
I like the comp with EDLC coming of age.
I chose when AA came back from AAA as my starting point because I felt it was a clear line of demarcation.
Just about everyone, including most of us who tended to give AA slack, realized things could not continue as they were when he was sent down. He went to AAA and did his usual number on pitching there (OPS>1.000). Now here was back for what was almost certainly his last shot. What would he do with it?
And for 3-4 weeks he was rolling. His OPS+ out of the chute had settled in at 110-115. He was impacting outcomes on defense. Then he got hurt and had to go through the entire rehab and start anew.
He still isn’t quite back to where he was statistically when he got hurt but looks like he may have raised his attainable and sustainable ceiling. Only time will tell.
The Little League double steal strikes again. Bell has tried this at least four times and has been successful once. This is the major leagues, this play should never work and should be left to Little League coaches who want to embarrass a weaker team which I never would do when I coached Little League and I certainly wouldn’t try if I was a big league manager. It’s just not major league.
Those were my thoughts exactly when I saw this, little league, and it doesnt work, more likely not to work against Molina. Dumb move.
Anybody can miss a given tag. It was only high school but I had a rep as a catcher not to be messed with on tag plays; and, I got some out calls when all I tagged was air or the ball was wedged against my body and not in the glove.
I also hate the double steal. I hate giving away outs, especially with multiple runs on base.
I agree but the more replays they showed, the more I started to believe Molina was late with or entirely missed the tag on Friedl’s body.
The only way Friedl was truly out was if Molina inadvertently hit Friedl on his extended wrist as he reached down to tag him.
I’d guess everything the replay guy saw was as inconclusive as what we were shown; and, given it was early in the game, the Reds decided to hold onto their challenge.
When teams don’t hit and we haven’t lots of things also go wrong.Just heard Bob Melvin talk about the Padres and if you get a chance listen to it.He basically said he didn’t like what he saw and it wasn’t all abut the hitting.This is a manager that is held accountable by his boss and so he called out his team.I am sure he will not lose his his clubhouse because he spoke the truth.I would also imagine and I could be wrong most players like him.I said all of that to say this.It AIN’T that way for the Reds.No where in big league sports does a manager survive a 3-22 start regardless of the reasons.No where do we see the same things being done on the field over and over by multiple players including the so called best players and leaders without something happening.Playing time reduced or players being sent down or even benched come to mind.Bell does what he wants and so do the players because they have no fear of job loss or demotion.Its a losing culture and nobody expects to win so however they lose its OK.Everybody loves Bell and why not but its because nobody is held accountable.Bell will always say the right things and never throw anybody under the bus because he is also throwing himself under the bus when he does that.If he calls out his team for lack of basic fundamentals then it falls to him to fix it but its easier to not do anything.Its an organization that just says dont’ rock the boat and lets just all play nice.Great team win last night with some very good defense.
It can’t be much fun playing for a team that loses….a lot, and frankly, expects to lose. And yes, a lot of these guys get a lot of money to play a game, because they have a lot of God-given talent for hitting or throwing a baseball. But that alone does not make them “win”. Winning takes talent, the right kind of talent.
David Bell is the manager because that’s who Top Management (ie, Bob Castellini) wanted in there….you know, the Bells and the Reds….family. Et cetera….
Castellini knew that Bell would do as he was told, as manager. Because he’s “family”.
Whether the players like Bell or not is frankly irrelevant. The name of the game is winning, and playing to win. He may be a nice guy, but he has not gotten the most out of his team, as talent limited as they are.
The Reds don’t play to win, because the ownership, despite all their public protestations to the contrary, doesn’t care THAT much about winning. They care about the cashflow and making money for the ownership group. Winning would be nice, but is not a necessity. I mean, where ELSE are you going to go for sports entertainment in the summer, in Cincinnati?
Dick Williams (the younger) was given the GM position because he was “Family”…that word again… to a minority ownership member. He actually tried to build a winning team, and then 2020 came and was a bust of a year. I imagine the Reds lost a ton of money (well….millions for sure) in 2020, and that really ticked off Castellini and the non-Williams members of the ownership group. So the “plan” by Dick Williams got discarded, as was Dick. Bye, Dick.
The team sat on it’s hands, so to speak, in 2021, and while winning 83 games, could have been better with some key (bullpen….ahem) player acquisitions and better field management.
2022 was going to be a bust, which is easy to see in retrospect. The roster had to be reconciled to the financial resources at hand…that was the buzz word phrase last Spring. And then the big sell off and trades this summer….and here we are.
I, frankly, have no idea where the team is going. They have some real talent down in the minors. They actually could be good…soon. Or not. Whether those young players get developed well or not, is the question for the future. So I think, that the Reds are currently poorly managed, not on purpose, but because ownership (ahem….Castellini) wants things done HIS way, and is not going to let some guy like Dick Williams and his dangerous ideas of buying talent, making expensive trades, etc. to win, mess with his cash flow.
Cash flow > making money > following orders > winning
Changing ownership is really not going to change the economic fundamentals of the Reds, but it might instill a different attitude in the clubhouse, and team management. Because, as Roger said, a 3-22 start was just….well, ho-hum to management. And firing Bell and his coaches would have cost them money, just like DFA-ing Moustakas will “cost them money”. They paid Moustakas and Management wants him playing. Paying off Bell and his coaches (fired) and then hiring a new coaching staff would have cost a lot of money.
Generally, from the observation of this team over the last 10 years, winning only matters in a kind of abstract way, when Bob Castellini or Phil Castellini say something in public. Not in a concrete way that would entail actual thinking and planning.
Management is fully cognizant that DFA-ing Moustakas will not “cost them money.”
Moustakas won’t be back. Some team like the Royals might agree to take on $1mm of his contract, but the Reds know full well that Moustakas is in the way and that they need to DFA him.
OBE> Wish I shared your certainty Moose was a goner from the Reds ahead of 2023.
My dentist has a motto on the wall at the check in/ checkout area>>
“Knowledge is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it”.
Think that fits here.
Roger, Melvin has a ownership interested in winning. A manager survives a 3-22 start because ownership is not invested in the performance of the team. They know they have provided him little in the way of talent. This was a salary purge.
Also if they fire Bell because of the performance of the team which they d helped diminish they still have to pay his contract.
I think there were 2 reasons why Bell wasn’t fired after the 3-22 start. #1 is that they just signed him to a 2 year deal in September 2021, so it would be egg on their face as a bad decision. And #2 is that after Phil C’s comments on opening day, fans were (appropriately) enraged at the correct problem – ownership – not the manager or roster. It would have increased the already hot pressure on ownership/front office at that time to fire the manager that you just extended, before trading away many of the major pieces of the past couple winning years over the offseason, and then flipped off the fanbase for being ticked about it. I’ve personally never rooted against them, but found myself hoping that losing streak would continue just because I imagined it was intensifying the pressure on the ownership.
I’ve not watched a game on TV nor in person this year, for the first time in decades until the ownership treats its customers (us fans) with a bit more respect. Sorry, there are other things to do. Yes, I’m still bitter but probably would’ve (and will) cave if/when the product is better or ownership puts actions behind their words.
For those of you focused on the manager, I would encourage you to redirect your attention up the chain until ownership feels the pressure again.
Great game by Bell and his coaching staff. They are amazing
@reds has tweeted a list of 7 guys going to the Arizona Fall League. EDLC does NOT appear to be one of them. The position guys are Marte, Hinds, and McLain.
Pitchers are Roa, Gozzo, Timpanelli, Benschoter.
And here is Doug’s full write up on the AFL guys over on RedsMinorLeagues
https://www.redsminorleagues.com/2022/09/16/noelvi-marte-matt-mclain-headline-cincinnati-reds-afl-prospects/