After an extra-innings loss on a wild play on Saturday night that saw the Cincinnati Reds drop both ends of a doubleheader they’ll try to avoid losing four in a row and after taking the series opener in St. Louis this afternoon against the Cardinals. Luis Cessa will take the mound for the Reds and he’ll be countered by Cardinals lefty Jordan Montgomery. First pitch is set for 2:15pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Here’s the lineup for this afternoon’s series finale:
Cincinnati Reds
|
St. Louis Cardinals |
| Jonathan India – DH | Brendan Donovan – 3B |
| Spencer Steer – 1B | Corey Dickerson – LF |
| Kyle Farmer – 3B | Albert Pujols – 1B |
| Aristides Aquino – RF | Nolan Arenado – DH |
| Nick Senzel – CF | Alec Burleson – RF |
| Stuart Fairchild – LF | Lars Nootbaar – CF |
| Matt Reynolds – 2B | Yadier Molina – C |
| Jose Barrero – SS | Nolan Gorman – 2B |
| Chuckie Robinson – C | Paul DeJong – SS |
| Luis Cessa – SP | Jordan Montgomery – SP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Luis Cessa | 60.0 | 5.25 | 1.35 | 19 | 49 |
| Jordan Montgomery | 163.0 | 3.20 | 1.06 | 32 | 141 |
| Links: Luis Cessa’s Stats | Jordan Montgomery’s Stats |
|||||
Luis Cessa
After a few nice starts in a row, Luis Cessa struggled his last time out as he gave up three homers and five runs to Pittsburgh. He has worked his pitch count up at this point, though, and should be able to give the team 90-ish pitches again if asked.
Cessa has some stark splits, and they’re of the reverse kind. Right-handed hitters have hit well against him, posting a .916 OPS against him this season while making plenty of contact and hitting for a bunch of power. Lefties haven’t done nearly as much against him, hitting just .259 without many walks and only hitting for solid power.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 137 | 34 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 24 | .283 | .358 | .558 |
| LHH | 114 | 28 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 25 | .259 | .298 | .429 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 93.9 | 93.9 | 82.9 | 88.2 |
| Usage | 15.3% | 23.5% | 42.6% | 18.7% |
Jordan Montgomery
Acquired at the trade deadline from the Yankees, Jordan Montgomery has pitched very well for the Cardinals. In his eight starts he’s posted a 2.05 ERA and gone 5-1 for St. Louis with just nine walks and 44 strikeouts.
The lefty has been hilariously good against left-handed hitters this year. He’s walked just one and struck out 35 in 101 match ups against them. They don’t hit much against him in the rare chance that they do get the opportunity to face him. Right-handed hitters are doing better, but they still aren’t finding much success with a .236/.288/.388 line against him. They don’t walk much, don’t hit for average, and they aren’t hitting for much power, either.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 556 | 122 | 28 | 1 | 16 | 31 | 106 | .236 | .288 | .388 |
| LHH | 101 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 35 | .194 | .210 | .245 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Change | Curve | |
| Velo | 92.9 | 93.0 | 88.4 | 82.2 | 80.2 |
| Usage | 15.8% | 35.5% | 4.7% | 22.7% | 21.3% |
When and Where
- Game time: 2:15pm ET
- Where: Busch Stadium
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 88°, sunny, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Records…..
If Cincinnati can avoid a loss today they’ll finish the season series with St. Louis having gone 7-12. That would match the worst record they’ve had against the Cardinals in the last decade – they also went 7-12 in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019. In 2021 they had a winning record against St. Louis at 10-9, but the last time before that in which they had a winning record against the Cardinals was in 2011.
The slump of Donovan Solano is so big that he is not in the lineup against a lefty… Although India is also in a deep slump he is playing from the beginning…
Pujols is at carreer 698 home runs, let’s see if the Reds won’t be the team that receive the #699 and #700 homers…
Above anything else, I’m hoping to see a solid performance from Cessa on the mound. The rest is pretty much semantics to me at this point.
Just saw this post over at MLBTR … I remember when he was called up from Durham and used in the bullpen by the D-Rays with some pretty solid success. Wish him well as he moves on to the next phase of his life.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/09/david-price-to-retire-after-2022-season.html
Oh great … Diaz behind the plate. King of the HP Chumpires … SMH Xtra Hard Again.
Maybe second King behind Angel Hernandez
Makes him the Queen consort, right? Only one can be king.
Cessa making a pretty good case for serious 2023 rotation consideration.
Let’s go Reds. Some positive from this series. Let’s continue with positive
Great ab from India.
Worked him hard and ran up the pitch count a bit.
As expected HP Chumpire Diaz is using the Flex-o-Zone again today.
He is terrible. How do these guys keep their jobs
I’m baffled. I really am. Seems there is ZERO accountability and no actual improvement despite what their agreement and job description calls for. I can only imagine how it frustrates the players to have to deal with that crap.
Lance Diaz the home plate ump??
Yep – and his infamous Flex-o-Zone
Steer caught a bit of luck and we’re on the board.
Scored and ran up the pitch count. Those are both good things.
Someone said lastnight Steer doesn’t appear to be the answer. Some guys want instant 350 batting average and 3 hits per game lol
I think Steer COULD be a piece of the puzzle. Appears very versatile. Good command of the strike zone. He’ll face competition from others in our stable of prospect studs, but I’m not giving up on him at all.
Agree
Yeah, Steer may not have a huge batting average, but even in this small sample size he’s shown quite clearly he’s a major league hitter with elite command of the strike zone. A player like that is one you want to keep around because the hits will come and he’ll have a good on base percentage. No way in the world should it cross someone’s mind to give up on Steer.
Even though the Cards are clearly better than the Reds, in the grand scheme of things, they don’t seem all that impressive. It’s really showing how weak the Central Division actually is. Good to see the 3 young guys get the run in – luck or not.
Nope. They certainly don’t seem to be the kind of team that will get out of the first round. They won’t get a bye, so that makes the degree of difficulty that much harder.
This is the 2nd comment mentioning luck. Where is that coming from? Steer hit a ball hard up the middle. It wasn’t luck or misplayed at all. I’m genuinely interested why people are calling it luck.
What I saw was the ball tip the glove of the fielder. But, to your point, Steer put it in play in order for that to happen. We also benefitted from the missed strike call on India.
I mean, even if it ticked off the fielder’s glove, it was around 100 mph up the middle. No luck involved in that hit either way.
I’m beginning to wonder if Cowboy is drinking just a wee bit up in the booth (shades of Harry Carey). Or perhaps his view of the strike zone is less than optimal?
He’s still my favorite of the current broadcasters to listen to.
He drinks “diet coke” if I remember right.. lol
Back in the day, Harry didn’t even try and hide it. When the Stupid Cubs were on a roll, he’d be hammered by the 7th inning.
Cowboy commenting on Diaz’ zone varying significantly from batter to batter. For me, that’s the very definition of the Flex-o-Zone and the trademark of a Chumpire.
That’s what we call a missed opportunity. It’s baseball, Jose, not Jai Lai.
Looks like Noelve MArte is going to Arizona to play some 3b. Reds dont know yet where he profiles. EDLC got most of the SS reps at AA so McClain is going to Arizona to get more SS reps.
I think the Reds are moving Steer around so they can buy more time and see what they have in Barrero, EDLC, McClain and Marte
Agreed. I do believe I’m reading EDLC’s defense at SS can be brutal at times. I’m still thinking he slots in CF in the end.
Yes, his Minor League fielding metrics are nothing to write home about.
He can “play” short stop, but I don’t know if he would be Major League good.
A few years ago, EDLC was about 5’11” tall, and had been preparing himself to play SS all his life. That was his goal (he has been very ML oriented since he was 12 years old). And then he grew, now about 6’5″ tall. He is still learning to play in his bigger body. A tremendous athlete and talent, and he seems to be both very intelligent and have a good baseball IQ.
But playing shortstop well is very hard for tall players. Davey Concepcion was about 6’2″ tall, and to me, that seems about the limit. I think Cal Ripken was a little taller, but Cal was actually kind of a mediocre (ML) fielding shortstop.
Ive favored that but with Barrero’s struggles you cant take him off SS yet. Plus Siani is apparently an elite defensive cf which we dont have. I guess we have to watch 2023.
Bottom line is we’ve got options. That’s always a good thing. We may be able to catch lightening in a bottle for a couple years in a row before our window slams shut once again.
Cessa has got to be thinking what more can he do to get some outs.
His pitch count was trending positive until this fiasco.
At least it only took one more pitch to get that GIDP.
So does Cesa deserve a shot next season to start? Not sure if he is under contract next season. I think he is a up grade over Minor
He’s a HUGE upgrade over Minor unless you need a batting practice arm. I’m thinking he comes to Arizona as a potential starter.
Haha, and I’m willing to bet a number of folks on RLN would be an upgrade over Minor. For $10 million, I’ll drag my retired bones out to the mound. I’d be perfectly happy to lose every game for that kind of money. And yes, I could get it to home plate though I suspect the velocity might be well short of the MLB minimum. Come to think of it, it might confuse a lot of guys. Maybe a little Rip Sewell action.
I did not realize this until reading on his history but he was drafted as an infielder and converted later to pitching so he has little mileage on his arm. So heck yeah, let him be the #5 starter. That being said, it looks like the team only has 1 yr of control left so my bet is that he is getting showcased now to get flipped in the offseason for more prospects, because that is where the Reds rebuild is right now.
Montgomery is gassed … we need to be a whole lot more patient and make him throw more than a couple pitches per AB.
Way to go Chuckie!
For a 12-year-old, Stuart can show some power.
And with that swing, Montgomery’s “Quality Start” is blown.
Woooo Fairchild!!
Please release Diaz the umpire
It’s kind of like a tenured professor … or next in line for the British throne. Really not much can be done aside from somebody choosing to step aside or dying … 😀
Well stepping aside would be cool. LOL
Reds pitching has allowed 1 run in 17 innings.
Kind of surreal.
And here we go again … our Jekyll and Hyde bullpen at it’s best. Never know what we’re gonna get with any of them.
Lol
Textbook bunt by Chuckie … rare to see happen these days, let alone by somebody wearing a Reds uniform.
+1000
Ill-advised tag up by Reynolds. Far too shallow and the Lars Nootbaar, for all his nutty goodness, has a great arm.
We’re so sorry, Uncle Albert … somebody else will have to serve up 699 and 700 to you. Have a great life after baseball.
So we bookended the 5-game series. And we stayed in the second game yesterday. Yes, I’m stretching for positives, but I’ll certainly take a win against the WLB’s in their own house.
Catch you all Tuesday.
Excellent job coaching staff of the reds. Bell pulled all the right punches today. 1 run allowed in 20 innings!!
Really can’t fault them today. Sending Reynolds was a marginal shot, but still, 1 run over 20 innings is amazing.
Up three runs I dont mind the send, you bunted to create that type of play so youre somewhat committed to it at that point.
Lol, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Just a black swan.
rofl, that youre never willing to give credit where credits due tells us a lot about whats broken
That he didn’t do something to overtly criticize doesn’t make him good.
actually, it probably does
2-3 against StL in StL but 0-4 against the Pirates at home. What an incredibly inconsistent team.
+50,000
They have been consistently hitting poorly.
The pitching has been the make or break on any given day.
Agree 100000%
Given their roster, I’m extremely unsurprised