The Cincinnati Reds (4-5) look to avoid a sweep to an NL East team tonight when they take on the Atlanta Braves (8-4) for the final game of this three game series in Atlanta.
Details:
- Game Time: 7:20 pm EDT
- Where: Truist Park, Atlanta
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW
- Weather: 75 degrees, sunny, 0 percent chance of rain
Lineups
Cincinnati Reds
|
Atlanta Braves |
| 2B Jonathan India | RF Ronald Acuña Jr |
| CF TJ Friedl | 1B Matt Olson |
| RF Jake Fraley | 3B Austin Riley |
| DH Tyler Stephenson | C Sean Murphy |
| 1B Wil Myers | LF Eddie Rosario |
| 3B Jason Vosler | 2B Ozzie Albies |
| SS Jose Barrero | SS Orlando Arcia |
| C Luke Maile | DH Marcell Ozuna |
| LF Will Benson | CF Sam Hilliard |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Hunter Greene | 8.0 | 5.63 | 2.00 | 6 | 13 |
| Spencer Strider | 11.0 | 2.45 | 1.182 | 6 | 18 |
| Links: Hunter Greene’s Stats | Spencer Strider’s Stats |
|||||
Hunter Greene
Hunter Greene has had an interesting start to the season through two starts. He’s experienced brilliance and suffered frustration. His primary problem has been pitch efficiency. In all of the innings in which he has had trouble, he’s ended up throwing a lot of pitches to try to get out of it. It’s a small sample size, but in eight innings, Greene’s walk rate is at 15 percent, compared to only nine percent a year ago.
Greene is still throwing a majority of fastballs and sliders despite revamping his change up in the off-season.
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 100.0 | 89.0 | 91.2 |
| Usage | 63.4% | 33.1% | 0.6% |
Spencer Strider
Spencer Strider emerged as one of the top pitchers in the National League in 2022. Drafted in 2020, he catapulted through the minors and was called up to pitch consistently for the Braves last season and had a 2.67 ERA with 202 strikeouts in 131.2 innings.
Strider has made two starts thus far in 2023, pitching a shutout through six innings with nine strikeouts against the Nationals and giving up three runs in five innings while striking out nine against the Padres.
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 97.8 | 85.4 | 88.7 |
| Usage | 62.4% | 32.0% | 5.6% |
News and Notes
Injury news from the minor leagues:
Another one:
-Edwin Arroyo to the injured list in Dayton (strained left hip)
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) April 12, 2023
In the latest news around the NL Central, Ian Happ will continue to terrorize Reds pitchers for another three years.
.@Cubs, Ian Happ agree to three-year extension. pic.twitter.com/bN3xOrgbGk
— MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2023
Pregame Reading
Find out if TJ Friedl can be a breakout star and get all the updates on the rehabbing Reds.
Redleg Nation writer Mary Beth Ellis has a new Baseball is Life column out today.
And if you have an Athletic subscription, here’s the latest news about Bally Sports and the Diamond Sports Group troubles. It seems the Reds are safe for now and games will continue to be aired on Bally Sports Ohio.
From @KaplanSportsBiz: Bally Sports’ parent company files court docs to cut payments to Guardians, Twins, Diamondbacks https://t.co/M6Mbwc9Aum
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) April 12, 2023
What other NL East team swept us?
Steer not playing because he’s hitting too well? I’m just trying to think along with Bell, since The Ice Cold Trio are batting 4-6 in the order.
Additionally, Luke Maile and Will Benson are in the lineup against Strider. Who knows if Benson could be the offense hero tonight but since 5th thru 9th seems to be a piece of cake to Strider. Let’s see how many Ks will be made in this game from both starters
Can a pitcher strike out 40? Because that feels like the right number.
Probably a lifetime .167 hitter against pitchers with mustaches
I’d like to see Bell have a good game.
Bell is putting himself in hot water again by not playing a hot Steer especially if it’s a close game in a losing cause with Vosler having a bad night. Not that he’s worried about losing his job. Sometimes I think he enjoys the attention good or bad. Myers plays 1B tonight and Fairchild still doesn’t get a chance. The good old lefty righty thing. …again.
Ian happ extension is terrible
Reds need to start an extension plan
Braves do
Rays do
I guess we should be giving Bell credit for not hitting Myers third even though he’s the highest paid player in the lineup. He’s starting to experiment with new strategies.
Re Happ, over 20 million a year for a lifetime .250 hitter?
I’m worried about Hunter Greene. He’s the new Reds’ spokesman for Jake Sweeney.
The last guy was Moustakas. And I remember a while ago it was Encarnacion–who got traded by the Reds later that season
Reds need to win tonight or they are in last in the central.
I’m taking the reverse fan psychology approach tonight. We went out for dinner (37th anniversary deserves something) and I wore my Rome (Georgia) Braves polo shirt. Let’s see if that works …
Pig Kicking and all that … 😀
Greene needs to be light out for Reds to have a chance. Let’s go Reds!!!!
Rake just missed that. Nice job to have TJ move up.
Better just get him out now before the braves bring in a lefty
Gutsy call from House. Just glad we don’t have to criticize it.
starting hard early we are
At some point someone… maybe the manager…. Acknowledges some guys are playing winning baseball and some arent- looking at you 1-18 vosler and 0- nothing myers
Any accountability?
Hasn’t been in a long time. Why start now?
That’s progress … didn’t throw 30 pitches or walk anybody
Anyone still want to
Move India off leadoff or 2b?
Not me
I like india and friedl at 2 is growing
Cowboy just pulled a demented nuxhall .
He knows Steer should be playing 3B tonight. 🙂
Very nice play by Vosler!
Welp … he ran the count up. Too bad he chased that last one because he was down 2 strikes.
While they didn’t get hits two very nice at bats by Vosler and Benson. Strider has almost 50 pitches through 2 innings.
Leadoff Doubles R Us … how can we help you this evening?
At what point does greene and his catcher and DJ stop throwing fastballs over and over and over
This is insanity
On a positive note, force at any base …
On the other hand, OUCH!!!
Greene hits arcia
He has zero command and not even remotely a pitcher
Nice thrower tho
Who was that pitching to Hilliard?
Apparently Not Greene, as apparently he is not a pitcher.
Dang. Seeing eye single.
Why u cant take 5 mins off and let Acuna beat u
Tough way to give up the lead. TV booth was saying earlier that the field plays VERY fast and hard. Maybe that’s what we saw on that RBI single.
Pitches mounting up again for Greene.
Greene 43 pitches and 2 runs in 2 innings. No progress
Okay, I can see it already in your commenting. You don’t like Hunter Greene. Okay we get it
Old school he has grow a bunch more off speed pitches tonight.
Rooting for him !!!
Tough break for Greene. Seeing eye hits after battling back to get 2 K’s.
Reds have played the braves well this series. Greene using more off speed pitches according to gameday. So far no walks from Greene. Also way to battle in the second inning.
I have the audio off … what in the heck happened there?
Balk
Questionable
Thanks. Explains why they panned to the 2B umpire.
OK, Wil Myers … time to earn your paycheck
Not exactly what I wanted to see, but we’ll take it.
Need your help RLN
Im offline
Wife hijacked the TV for Survivor
I like our hitting approach top 5
If Steer were hitting 5th it would be good. That would also mean Vosler or Myers is sitting.
Naw. He needs a rest after three hits last night. Poor guy.
He didn’t start doesn’t mean he still can’t have a effect on the outcome of the game
Glad to have the lead but was hoping for a few more runs that inning
My gameday froze, did Volser make a out?
Brantley seems to know more about hitting than the Reds’ #6 hitter. Maybe some of these guys should watch replays of the games to find out what they’re doing wrong.
And then that happens
what happend lol
Riley happened and we’re tied again
“If you’re late on every swing, wouldn’t you think just a little bit (of choking up) would help ya?” -Jeff Brantley, explaining the art of hitting to the Reds’ #4-6 hitters.
Sometimes you need the high pitch count when the bases were juiced…He got 2 huge K’s, before the All Star snuck one through. Pitching to contact when bases empty is preferable
Unless it results in single and double….lol
Didn’t realize Arcia was pulled.
Now to see if the lower half of the order can do something productive.
Hunter needs more weapons to get to the next level. Pretty hard to get MLB hitters out when they are looking for one of two pitches. Velocity counts for something, but not enough. He’s in pitch count purgatory with only two pitches.
It’s disappointing that he didn’t refine his changeup in the offseason to the point where he can trust throwing it.
Exactly…changing speeds is key to keeping hitters off balance…weak contact…less pitches…it all ties together.
He is throwing his slider and change up in this game according to gameday.
Two bad changeups to Olsen in the 5th. Not sure I saw any others.
Recall Tom Seaver who could bring it with the best of his generation saying that in order of importance, pitching was about Location, then Movement, and finally Velocity.
Yeah and since his day, ML have gotten much better against velo. It’s definitely nice to have, IF you have other pitches they have to defend. But if they know it is velo or slider, nothing else, they have a 50/50 chance of guessing right. Therefore he has to nibble to keep them off balance. If he just had a third, average pitch they had to defend, then the fastball velo would play up.
Often guys really struggle to develop a good changeup. I wouldn’t mind seeing him try to develop a cutter or splitter. Often guys develop a cutter over one off-season. Definitely needs a third pitch though.
Cutter seems like it would fit better for him. He can get it in on the hands of LHBs and possible throw it mid 90s. Split is hard to command and he already nibbles.
He needs to add or refine something. He threw a couple changeups to Olson in the 5th, 92 mph with a little bit of vertical movement but almost no horizontal. Missed the zone with both, looks scared to throw it in zone. 92 is meatball velo for ML hitters.
Greene still operating at 25 pitches per inning! 4 or 5 innings at best at that rate!
Not taking anything away from Atlanta hitters, but man, Greene has not learned the art of pitching. No progress made so far.
He’s had about 140 MLB innings so far….patience
It’s brutal to watch Benson and Maile.
Pretty much two names that should never be found in the same starting lineup at this point.
I wonder if the Reds’ third catcher will have a hit this season for the Reds. I wouldn’t bet on it.
Getting a bit obvious why Cleveland was willing to give up on Benson.
Former Red Kyle Farmer was hit in the face by a pitch
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-kyle-farmer-hit-in-face-by-pitch-white-sox-lucas-giolito-la-velle-e-neal/600266626/
That’s terrible….Speedy recovery Kyle
So far, all the guys Bell has inserted in the lineup for reasons that only Bell can understand have looked quite bad. But at least Fairchild and Steer are getting some good rest.
But the players love him. We’ve heard that multiple times. So that counts for something, right?
Much better inning, Hunter. And much needed.
Back to the big guys on our side. Can they keep doing what they have been doing?
74 pitches through 4. That’s at least better.
90 thru 5.
He should be good to go for 1 more inning.
Will Benson is this year’s reminder that Spring Training stats are meaningless. Man, he looked so good in Arizona.
Until the minor leaguers went to minor league camp….then he plummeted back down to earth when mostly MLB’ers were left
They need to give out a trophy every year. Garcia should have won it last year.
Lefty in. Bell is happy. He can now pinch hit everybody.
Oh Boy! 🙂
Whoa!!! Vosler batted against a LH pitcher with Newman and Steer both available to hit for him and stay in at 3B.
Hate to be a Debbie Downer but if the Reds lose tonight they will fall to last place in the NL Central as the Cards won their game earlier today!
And Vosler gets to hit. So much for the analytics
Steer is still resting. It takes a lot out of a guy to get three hits in one night. lol
Strider is one of the Braves best starters and he only lasted 5 innings! Let’s go Reds! A crooked number please!
Ok… so that is a good start…. lets get some bats going
No walks for Greene. Progress .made in my book. Threw more sliders and change ups this outing.
Yep! Strikeouts are nice but no walks is a definite sign of improvement!
101 through 6.
And a fist pump on his last K! Very nice effort.
Greene makes it through six. I see Progress.
Maile got a hit! 🙂
Nice game from Greene tonight. DW, I like your idea about Greene learning a cutter. I would not go the splitter route, too hard on the elbow. He definitely needs a third pitch if he wants to be a dominant starter. Even a slower breaking pitch like an overhand curve like Doc Gooden would be super effective. He definitely took a positive step tonight. Hopefully that continues.
Overall solid from Greene. Struggled at times, but managed to get through 6 without too much damage. Nice progress and goes out on a high note.
Much better Hunter! Much better!
Good AB from Fairchild.
Rln lets pull together for kyle farmer
Awful
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/04/12/sport/mlb-twins-kyle-farmer-surgery-spt-intl/index.html
Yes…it was noted above.
Prayers for Kyle
What? A lefty got a hit against a lefty!
Inconceivable!!!
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Yes TJ!!!
Maile gets a hit and actually lumbers home to put us back in the lead.
Nice night for TJ.
WHAT IS HAPPENING
Hold it a second. Did Friedl get a hit against a LH? That’s not possible is it according to the David Bell handbook?
And Fraley put one 15 rows deep but foul
Just a total joke. Pinch hits for Freidl and Fraley last night but not tonight. Bell has no idea.
Bell reads RLN every night before bed. He is just trying to please us.
No idea what so ever
Bell comments continued to get more ridiculous… sigh
Freidl, turning into a legit MLB player. I like what I’m seeing.
Need the pen to step up.
T.J. T.J
Greene can now get the win. If bullpen holds
If. If and the Reds go hand in hand.
Ray 11-0…and barely anybody in the stands
Rays
Obligatory Reds bullpen lead off walk
You beat me too it. LOL
And you both beat me to it!
Can someone point me to a Sportsbook that will let me put every cent to my name on the reds bullpen walking the first batter
BB the first batter AGAIN. SMH UNBELIEVABLE!
Can we just start intentionally walking the leadoff man each inning we have a new bullpen arm out there? It will speed up the game even more and save our pitch count!
Squeezed him, but if you can’t find the plate with both hands and a map, what do you expect?
How about those first batter walks, eh?
Sigh
Reds bullpen – “Hey we are winning ”
Gibaut- ” Yeah? Well watch this.”
This bullpen is sus
And there goes the lead. Leadoff walk scores again! Amazing!
Don’t know what the success rate is for leadoff walks by Reds pitchers scoring but it’s got to be close to 90%
Looked to me like AcunaJuna bounced his hand a little bit.
This would have been a good time to use Alex Young with 2 LHH in bottom of 7th. Nothing against Gibault. Other than his walk. I just don’t understand what Youngs roll is on this team.
OK, you need a break if you are starting to use solid logic like that, my friend … 😀
I will say this about Maile, it’s tough to get in any kind of rhythm when you only play in 2 games out of 10. Oh and his arm is the best out of the three. Three catcher thingy isn’t good for the two backups.
I was thinking the same thing. You can’t find any rhythm at all.
He is miles ahead of the other two in the framing dept….from my untrained eyes.
I’d rather see more of him than Casali. But 3 catchers only with if more than one is good enough to DH or play first occasionally as well.
Good News!! Wil Myers did not strikeout tonight. Progress is being made.
Keep the faith JB! I, for one, have faith that Myers will break out of his early season funk!
The Tampa Bay Rays … go figure
Why is it when the Red’s leadoff hitter walks they seldom score?
That may just be the tipping point tonight. If it is, I apologize my reverse logic shirt thing didn’t work.
Votto 1-1 tonight with 3 walks. Sims 1 inning 1 walk 2 ks.
Good signs. 🙂
Why can’t we have nice bullpens?
Nice? I would settle for nasty & effective! Longing for the 1990 Nasty Boys!
I’d settle for just one Nasty Boy. It would at least give us two guys in the bullpen. It would give us three but Young is on the witness protection program. Who knows when he comes back.
Well, at least Farmer didn’t walk the leadoff batter!
Not what I had in mind. lol
Buck Farmer does not mess around!
Anybody else here want DTBell to show a little emotion at some point … anybody?
He might be taking anti-depressants … and who could blame him?
First batter walks look good in comparison to first batter taters.
Why are Reds relievers continuously unprepared to enter a game?
No one has the huevos to ask Bell or Johnson the question straight up,
“Well, it’s still early in the season. Everybody out there knows they could be the next man up. Several of the guys are battling right now, but we’ll get there.”
How’s that for a response, Harry?
Surreal.
I know those are words, and they are strung along as if to be sentences.
Too many syllables for haiku.
Unintelligible.
Because they’re hacks, journeymen, hangers-on, wash-outs, retreads, never-were’s, bottom-of-the-barrel, Kmart blue-light specials. (Is there still Kmart?)
Aaaaaannd we are in last. Right where they should be with that bullpen.
Another one (1) run loss and a blown lead by the Reds bullpen! Can’t blame Bell for this loss tonight! Welcome to last place Reds fans!
Lineup construction is on Bell. Vosler ahead of Steer?
Lol, I’ve said it before, I guess I’ll keep saying it – Bell must have the ML record for losses, because all the Reds’ losses are apparently 100% on him. Just dumb.
It was a day off. Steer has played a ton lately. The Bell criticisms are beyond ridiculous. Bell has done many things worthy of criticizing, but what you all focus on makes no sense to me.
To be fair, a lead was twice blown by Greene, once by the BP, which then gave up the winning run. I think that moves Farmer to 0-3, nudging him ahead of his fellow BP guys for the worst showing so far this year. Position players showed a lot of competitiveness in this series. Greene had a decent start after struggling early.
Night friends. Y’all are about the only thing that makes this bearable for me.
Decent to good team but poor bullpen. It’s a bit painful but this team is fun. FO needs to show some enthusiasm by moving pieces to try something new with the bullpen.
The question is will they ever get out of last place the rest of the year. The positive vibes of spring training are long gone. It is going to be a long year, hopefully bad enough to get rid of Bell.
Three times they had the lead. Three times they almost immediately gave it up. I don’t think Bell’s pitching moves make a difference. They all take turns sucking.
Yep
With a decent bullpen the Reds could easily be 7-4 and NOT 4-7
Bob is getting what he paid for with that bullpen. Sickening
I wonder if Burrow can pitch?
Can’t be much worse than some of these guys! lol
The bullpen is at least better than last year. And with better BP management, the Reds likely have a couple of more wins. But, they’ve reached the cellar now and that’s likely where they end up, barring significant changes. How do Bell and DJ keep their jobs?
Overall good start by H Greene tonight. Just like G Ashcraft last night, and a great start by N Lobolo. However, someone needs to sit down with Bob C and Nick K, (I wish I could) and carefully and specifically explain to both of them in great detail that it doesn’t matter how good the starting pitching is and does, if you don’t have a decent bullpen…the Reds are going to blow leads and end up losing. You cannot just get relief pitchers off the scrap heap and on the cheap, and expect to win! One problem the relief pitchers do….is walk too many batters, usually they walk the first one they face. Also, I don’t think this thing with Wil Myers will work out, I have a buddy that follows the Padres, and Wil Myers strikes out way too much….always has! I don’t think that changes with the Reds!
Doug is going to run out of bullpen failure headlines very early this season.
I sincerely admire the hope many of you regular posters display on the board every night when the reds lose another tough one.
Even though I think almost all avid reds fans pretty much knew most games would be losses this year you guys continue to pull hard and lean into the resulting disappointment. Y’all are true fans!
Too bad ownership doesn’t care about winning.
A lot of fans but enjoy saying the owners don’t want to win but casually forget that the GM’s are the ones that have the team in a financial bind at the moment paying Joey, Moose, and Griffey a ton of money. Combine that with the Bally Sports financial issues and you can’t blame them for not wanting a payroll over 80 million. Cleveland’s owners are much much worse. They won a division last season and payroll is still less than 50 million. Now if the Reds owners don’t spend significantly this off-season when those 3 contracts are off the books then fans can go ballistic. I would much rather see extensions for our good young players rather than big splash free agent signings. If Hader is available, I will change my mind on that.
Actually Cleveland’s payroll is up to 90 million, just ahead of the Reds at 87 million. According to spotrac