Mike Minor walked five batters in the first three innings and gave up five runs before exiting the game. Cincinnati’s offense never really got going, either, as the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 5-1 victory in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader. Game two will begin at 7:15pm ET.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (57-88) | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| St. Louis Cardinals (86-60) |
5 | 9 | 2 |
| W: Hudson (8-7) L: Minor (4-12) |
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| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Cincinnati’s offense did very little in the first six innings of the game, picking up three singles in that span. In the 7th inning they got a little bit going with an infield single from Matt Reynolds that saw him advance to second when pitcher Dakota Hudson threw the ball past Albert Pujols on the play. Later in the inning TJ Friedl doubled in the first run of the game for Cincinnati to cut into the Cardinals lead, making it a 5-1 ballgame. In the bottom of the 9th inning Matt Reynolds lined a 2-out double to the wall in left-center and David Bell sent Donovan Solano to the plate to pinch hit for Chuckie Robinson, who was zero for his last 24. It made no difference as Solano struck out to end game one of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Pitching
Mike Minor had to work around two walks in the 1st inning, but the lefty was able to do so. The next inning was a different story. The inning began with a walk and then a 1-out single put two runners on. Tommy Edman singled in the first run of the game before Minor walked Albert Pujols to load the bases and then Paul Goldschmidt to make it a 2-0 game. On a day when the Reds need someone to eat innings, Minor had thrown 58 pitches in the first two frames and walked five batters.
Things didn’t get better in the 3rd inning. A leadoff double from Dylan Carlson led to him scoring on a single from Brendan Donovan on a play where Aristides Aquino’s throw got to the plate in time but on the tag Chuckie Robinson dropped the ball to make it 3-0. Five pitches later Yadier Molina hit a 2-run homer and it was 5-0 Cardinals.
Kyle Dowdy took over to begin the 4th inning and he didn’t give up a run over the next four innings, giving up just three hits and a walk. Not a bad showing for the 29th man on the roster for today’s doubleheader. Hunter Strickland entered the game to begin the 8th inning with the Reds still trailing 5-1 and that was the score when the inning was over as Strickland worked around a Tommy Edman single to send the game to the 9th inning. Cincinnati’s offense couldn’t make the comeback and the Reds dropped game one.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs St. Louis Cardinals
Saturday September 17th, 7:15pm ET (Game 2)
Hunter Greene (4-12, 5.26 ERA) vs Jose Quintana (5-6, 3.34 ERA)
Had a chance to win last night. Not today it seems.
Was perusing the post game from yesterday, and someone said Bell didnt leave in Espinal long enough even though he gave up the most runs. Baffling how most of y’all think.
It must be wonderful living with you. Nitpicking every pathletic little thing. It’s amazing you can get your head in the door when you go home.
Sad Mr. Red … again.
Typical Minor outing! 5 runs, 5 walks and 89 pitches in only 3 innings! Pathetic!
Minor should retire after this season but as always happens the next year with another team would have a good performance and even gets a win against Reds for sure…
Just one question ……
WHEN WILL THE GREAT MIKE MINOR EXPERIMENT FINALLY BE OVER ?
For crying out loud, cut ties with the guy, bite the bullet, eat the contract and be done with it.
Send the young guys out there. Let them get whatever big league experience they can possibly get for the rest of this year.
What are they trying to prove by sacrificing Minor every 4 or 5 days?
Mr. Minor’s act has grown old and needs to gracefully be shown the door.
Sorry Reds’ fans, the frustration and aggravations of this pitiful, pitiful, “Rebuild 5.0” season have boiled over and obviously from the lack of actual rear ends in the seats at GABP games I’m not alone in those sentiments.
But hey, after all, “where else are you gonna go?”
It will end by the first week of October. Especially since we really have no other options at this point. He’s completely sunk cost and he can pitch well at times. We’ll continue to see him every 5 days through the bitter end against the Stupid Cubs.
Exactly. We have no one at this point who can even pitch 5 innings. Not enough bullpen pitchers to have 3 bullpen games a week. The mike minor experiment will be over in a couple weeks. Just practice deep breathing until then.
Hard game to watch or follow once they dug the hole that deep.
Looking at the line-ups for the nightcap game, this looks like our best chance to win. Still, we are us and the WLB’s are headed to the post-season, so I’ll temper my expectations just a tiny bit.
When will Krall be held responsible for absorbing Minor’s huge contract when the team was crying poor?
Correct me if you can prove I’m wrong, but I don’t believe there has ever been a GM in the history of the game whose every move worked out to be the right move or a good move. Judge Krall on the body of his work, not one move that didn’t work.
A good point there. In my lifetime (born 1951) three of the Reds best GMs were Gabe Paul, Bill DeWitt, and Bob Howsam. Each made some good trades. Each made some bad ones.
Paul traded Hoak, Haddix & Burgess for Frank Thomas (the older one). He traded Johnny Temple for Cal McLish.
Bill DeWitt traded Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. He traded Jerry Lynch for Bob Skinner. He traded Mike Cuellar for (literally) nothing. He traded Claude Osteen for Dave Sisler.
Bob Howsam traded Tony Perez for Woodie Fryman. He traded Hal McRae for Roger Nelson. He traded Ross Grimsley for Merv Rettenmund.
Each of them made many successful trades and other moves that made the Reds good in the 1960s and great in the 1970s.
Even the best GMs make mistakes or bad decisions.
Doc,
The Mike Minor disaster was foreseeable. Many here in this forum criticized it from the very beginning.
When acquired, Mike Minor, was an aging fly ball pitcher who had a 5.00+ era the two previous seasons. He is, who we thought he was.
It was not a case of win some, lose some.
We don’t have enough starters as it is. The seasons been over for awhile keep running out Minor and hope for a good showing