The Cincinnati Reds scored four runs in the 1st inning and they never looked back. On what essentially turned into a bullpen day, four pitchers combined to shutout the New York Mets in a 5-0 win that gave Cincinnati a series victory.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Mets (18-20) |
0 | 6 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (16-21) | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| W: Lively (1-0) L: Senga (4-2) SV: Herget (1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Derek Law went through the top of the Mets lineup with ease in the top of the 1st inning. Kodai Senga almost got to face the top of the Reds lineup twice in the bottom of the inning. Jonathan India led off with his 12th double of the season. TJ Friedl and Spencer Steer both made outs, but then Cincinnati got back-to-back singles from Jake Fraley and Tyler Stephenson before a Nick Senzel double, Henry Ramos walk, and an RBI single by Kevin Newman to cap off a 4-run inning.
Law returned to the mound for the top of the 2nd inning and walked Pete Alonso to begin the frame before getting Brett Baty to fly out. That’s when Cincinnati went to the bullpen and brought Ben Lively into the game. He’s get a ground out and a strikeout to get out of the inning. Lively ran into some trouble in the 3rd when the Mets put together back-to-back 1-out singles before the right-hander was able to get Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil to line out and hold onto a 4-0 Reds lead.
Lively would pitch into the 5th inning, giving up a single and getting a force out in the inning before Lucas Sims took over with one out in the inning. Sims would walk a batter before retiring the next two hitters to put an end on Lively’s line at 3.0 shutout innings with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the 5th inning Jonathan India picked up his second hit of a day when he lined a single into center. He was thrown out trying to steal second base when he took off too early and Kodai Senga fired to the bag to get him. That would come back to haunt the Reds as two batters later Spencer Steer hit a 427-foot home run to make it 5-0.
When the top of the 6th inning began Stuart Fairchild took over in center for TJ Friedl. Lucas Sims remained on the mound and tossed a shutout inning. Kevin Herget came out to pitch in the top of the 7th. He would get through the inning unscathed, but he got some help to end things as Francisco Lindor lined a single into right field and Henry Ramos came up firing to the plate. Curt Casali made a short-hop snag of the throw and turned to tag Francisco Alvarez just before he slid into the plate to hold onto a 5-0 lead.
Cannon courtesy of @HRamos14_
Pick and tag courtesy of @Curtcasali pic.twitter.com/YpN2qBmUds
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 11, 2023
After Kevin Herget returned and tossed a shutout top of the 8th, Stuart Fairchild led off the bottom of the 8th with a double and moved over to third when Jake Fraley lined a single into right with one out. That led to a pitching change for the Mets, who brought in Dominic Leone to face Tyler Stephenson. The move worked to perfection as Stephenson grounded into a double play to end the inning and send the game to the 9th. Coming back for his third inning of work was Kevin Herget and he got the job done, retiring the side in order and picking up his first career save in the process. The victory also gave the Reds the series win as they improved to 16-21 on the year.
Key Moment of the Game
Kevin Newman’s 2-run single in the 1st inning. That made it 4-0 and put the Reds up by a relatively comfortable margin as far as early game leads go.
Notes Worth Noting
Ben Lively made his first appearance in the big leagues since April 28th of 2019. That was his only game in the big leagues that year and he threw just one inning that day. The two pitchers that started the game that day? Homer Bailey for the Royals and Matt Harvey for the Angels.
Jonathan India remained hot. His two hits extended his hitting streak to eight games. He’s hitting .311/.396/.467 on the year.
Jake Fraley remained hot, picking up two more hits. Since April 24th he’s hitting .343/.410/.514.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Miami Marlins
Friday May 12th, 6:40pm ET
Graham Ashcraft (2-1, 3.82 ERA) vs Eury Perez (MLB debut)
Winning is fun. Beating a team like the Metropolitans who can definitely hit a bit is funner.
I bet they’re kicking themselves. lol
Solid win on getaway day. Struck early on a good pitcher and Reds bottom of the bullpen did great. Baty and Senga will get the ROY attention but Steer has had a nice bounce-back week with 3 bombs and an OPS .963
Steer .755 OPS through his first 34 games of the season and team leader in HR with 5. Not a bad start.
But Steer is not doing enough! BRING UP CES!
Yeah, Spencer Steer is developing. And will get better. In my opinion, and by golly, I’m wrong a lot! And I would bring up CES anyways and let him DH.
I think that perhaps Lively gets “paired” with Herget, and next time around, Lively pitches 4-5 innings and Herget finishes up. That might make that spot in the rotation a bit better than Luis Cessa.
If the young 3 can perform, they just need Weaver to get thru 5, then Lively/Herget for 6ip, in whatever order, with ERAs below 4.50. It’s doubtful, and May last a while unless Abbott arrives before mid-July.
Steer is actually a defensive liability at every position he plays in the infield. He’s a prime candidate to move to left field and/or be the primary DH.
Strange that they tried to turn Senzel and Barrero into outfielders, but haven’t done it with Steer. He could be a nice platoon partner with Fraley and still get plenty of ABs as a DH.
CES is much more valuable with a defensive position, so just cutting that development short because you happen to wanna see him DH more than someone else is ridiculous IMO, but to each his own. Why anyone would bring him up here to fight for playing time with other young guys that also need playing time is beyond me. He’ll be on the team soon, he’ll eventually force their hand.
How do you know CES is better defensively? He was horrible at first in spring training.
That’s my point?
Must be getting old! Completely forgot about today’s Reds game being an early afternoon affair! Maybe I should run for Congress! Plus, today was a busy day at work which contributed to my brain fade!
Anyway, glad the Reds finally won the back end of a 3-game series!
Another awesome job by the Reds bullpen!
On to Miami to play the fish! Wish I was still working in South Florida, less than an hour from Marlins loanDepot Park, and not Central Florida!
Nice game. Good job by all pitchers today. Bell, also, taking them out at the right time. Not pulling them after just 1 inning (well, maybe Law), but not leaving them in too long, either.
Glad to see that Bell has apparently abandoned his 1 inning per RP approach! Law was a slight exception today!
Not that anyone would care, but if you look at previous seasons Bell’s always used guys for more than one inning.
Always? You are watching the Cincinnati Reds, right?
Yeah, who are you watching? I clearly dont watch the games the same as most of you here, maybe that’s what you mean. I prefer not to let the popular gloomy opinions drive my judgement.
No opinions. Only facts. Everyone knows it.
“Everybody knows it” and “facts” rarely belong in the same sentence. My impression–and that’s what we’re dealing in–is that Bell has usually used relievers one inning a piece with exceptions on occasion. He’s mostly had bad bullpens to work with, so my assumption (we know about those) was that he didn’t want to make guys unavailable for the next game because of starters only going 5 innings or so and the effectiveness of the pen being so much in doubt.
“Everybody knows it” and “facts” rarely belong in the same sentence.
Actually, a vast majority of time, they do belong in the same sentence.
That’s right, pulling them after one inning when they can go more is frustrating.
Cessa DFA making more sense
Lively > Cessa in the rotation
Herget > Cessa in the bullpen
Maybe he’ll find his groove again in Louisville if he goes unclaimed
Hopefully Friedl isn’t too bad. Ramos is 1 for his last 25 or 26 but if TJ misses time then he’ll be needed as a left handed bat. Likely won’t happen but if he goes on the 15 day I would like to have Benson and Hopkins both up with Ramos getting sent down
I missed what happened to Friedl….
He headed to the trainer’s room holding his side. We should all hope it’s not a strained oblique: 15 days wouldn’t likely be enough.
Let’s hope not…especially after all that rest he’s been getting. 🙂 Seriously he’s turned in to a very good ball player.
Friedl got hurt?
Why in the world would you want Benson back up here? He’s not even hitting .200 in AAA.
If Friedl is headed to the IL then a left handed bat is needed to replace him.
Benson has been killing it since the start of May
(.280/.539/.600 (1.139)) with almost twice as many walks as k’s and 5 stolen bases.
BA…. smdh
Hopkins would need a 40 spot, and the most obvious to me is Ramos’
Elly can bat left-handed. And he is on the 40 man roster. Just sayin….
Lively got hit fairly hard but induced a lot of at-’em balls. He kinda reminded me of late-stage Tim Belcher with his stuff. Who had a Reds’ shutout from the bullpen on their Bingo card?
The Mets have a payroll about 5 times that of the Reds, and they aren’t really very good. Lindor has an OPS of about .750 over the past 4 seasons, but is making $32mm plus luxury tax. Scherzer is close to finished. Marte has a .563 OPS and a $19.5mm salary. Edwin Diaz is out for the season at $17.5mm. Carlos Carrasco is getting paid $14mm and is on the IL with a 8.56 ERA. Jose Quintana ($13mm) is on the 60-day IL and not expected to make his first appearance until perhaps August. Mark Canha has a .652 OPS and is making $10.5mm, which I did not make up. Eduardo Escobar is making $9.5mm and is hitting .159. Backup catcher Omar Narvaez has 14 ABs and sits on the 60-IL while making $8mm. They are even paying Tommy Pham $6mm. And Bobby Bonilla still gets paid. That’s close to $175 million for maybe 2 WAR.
The Mets are also old. They aren’t really any better than the Marlins, and they are only a game and half ahead of the Nationals. I’m all in favor of smart payroll expenditures. But spending money wildly is the baseball version of “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
Thanks for doing this research.
Ditto. Research and analysis is spot on. Marte in particular really looks bad. Some of those really fall off the cliff after 30.
Verlander does not come cheap either.
Bonilla still getting paid? Hes gotta be 60 years old
Good post @OBE
Phillies huge payroll and underperforming as well. Carlos correa getting booed in Minnesota as Tyler Mahle heads to surgery ( godspeed to him) . Smart spending to fill holes and value spending are important. Reds cant risk 9 figure contracts or over age 32 contracts.
Bonilla still getting paid but so is Griffey.
Lively kept the team in the game. If people don’t expect too much, he might be a very good #5 pitcher which is a valuable roster spot. To me that guy is 10W-10L with a 4.50 ERA with 150 IP. Hope he gets a shot to see if he can be that pitcher.
Thought it was a good move to bring in in out of the pen today, too. I agree he’s a guy that can eat five innings out of the 5th spot. It sure wasn’t Cessa, who I hold both Cowboy and Larkin partially responsible for with the on air promo last season.
I believe this is finally JR’S last year on the payroll.
Would have been better had the Carlos Correa signing went through. His .273 OBP would have fit right in.
So, what have we learned from this? Does not matter how much you spend. It matters who you spend it on.
When and If Krall gets to spend money ever, I hope he does it smartly.
IMO better be WHEN he gets to spend the money next year not if. I think augmenting the good young talent that will be coming up with some decent above average pitchers and a power hitting outfielder would take what might be a .500 team into a playoff contending team. That is of course IF the young talent is as good as advertised and IF the team can stay basically healthy.
What a great post. Thanks OBE!!
Big win. The Reds first series win at home against the Mets since 2018. A chance to pickup some ground in the NLC with 13 games against Mia., Col., NYY and St.L.
It seems like every time it looks like the Reds are in a spot to pick up ground, they play down to the level of the competition and tread water or even lose ground. A hallmark of a team that is growing and moving in a positive direction is that the team sets its own standard of play and does NOT play up or down to the competition. Fingers crossed the Reds are arriving at that point.
Nice win! Maybe reading too much into it, but it could be telling that Lively didn’t start and wasn’t used all that long to boot. Methinks Abbott could be up sooner than later?
With the Marlins, Rockies, and Cardinals in 3 of the next 4 series it certainly wouldn’t appear the Reds are in danger of falling out of contention anytime soon. It’s not difficult to see them at .500 or just below that mark by the end of the month. For them to do more than tread water though we’re gonna need Steer, Stephenson, and Fraley to get it going and the big 3 to go deeper into games.
The Marlins actually (as usual) have a powerhouse pitching staff. And unlike GABP, their field is really hard to hit HR’s in.
The Rockies started out really awful, but are starting to play better, as are the Cardinals.
Both of these teams may be in the “bounce back mode” and the Reds may actually run into two teams that are “heating up”.
Baseball is a funny game…..it’s sometimes “when” you play a team, if they are hot or cold, and not just how good they are. A team that is “hot” just seems to make all the breaks go their way.
Over a season, the teams are about what they are, based on their talent. But good teams have long “hot” streaks, while even bad teams will have short “hot streaks”.
Abbott has the clearest path to the big leagues of the prospects everyone is going bonkers over. CES and McClain are mostly blocked, but will eventually force the Reds hand. EDLC is beginning to look like the obvious best SS in the organization. Everyone is whining about Barrero but he’s getting playing time and still isnt outplaying Newman, who is doing literally nothing to stand in his way.
I dont see any urgency to call up any of them right now, but if they do then the team better have a clear plan for playing time for them whomever that may be.
Plans? Plans? The Reds actually have plans?
I thought they were just making it up as they went. It all looks so haphazard to me.
If you think theyre doing everything haphazardly, then I dont what to say. Same old stuff from the same old typical doom and gloom Reds fan.
Doom and gloom?
I am the very epitome of sunshine and optimism, with a dash of sarcasm tossed in. Sometimes, it DOES seem as if the Reds are just making it up as they go along, though.
Barrero actually isn’t getting much playing time. He’s 8th on the team in at bats, barely ahead of Newman, and rarely starts two let alone three days in a row. His upside is so much higher than Newman, it baffles me that Newman plays as much as Barrero. And we know that Newman is not and will never be a big offensive threat. His career OPS+ is 77. This year it’s 55. If he were tearing it up, even if he’s not part of the Reds long term plans, then I’d be fine with Newman. He’s not and he won’t. But Jose Barrero might. In my opinion it’s a huge mistake to play Barrero only sporadically. I’d start him at SS six days a week, give him 300 consistent at bats and find out if he can improve his pitch recognition or not. There’s literally no downside relative to Kevin Newman, in the short or long term.
If his potential is so much higher than a guy he can’t obviously outplay, then it sounds like he should be working on it in the minors and not the MLB. Everyone is clamoring for McClain, I’d personally be fine with them swapping places. This is the major leagues, I’m not awarding anyone playing time on hopes and prayers.
Newman is a backup. Barrero, in his mind, is a regular. If Newman is the better player and they want him to be THE SS for at least now then fine. Tell them both what’s going to happen. Tell Barrero he’s going to be a backup utility guy. At least he’ll know and they’ll stop messing with his mind. He has to be feeling a lot of pressure. I’m sure he doesn’t feel like anyone is in his corner sharing lots of time with Newman and the young guys breathing down his neck. Hard for a young player to have confidence in a situation like that. I look for him to be traded. Might be best for him. He has LOTS of talent.
“in his mind”? I dont see why that would ever matter, he’s not done anything to think he’s a regular in any lineup. I seriously doubt the coaching staff is hiding anything from him. The job’s right there for him, its up to him to earn it. There’s no weird mental games at play here that are preventing that, he’s simply not performing.
Doom and gloom Reds fans? I seem to recall this team losing 100 games last season. Wonder where we get the doom and gloom from?
His AAA stats show Lively had more pitches in him.
and not only that but his pitches were lively.
It’s a good feeling, especially for me, to see some excitement back in Reds baseball. And India, whether he remains with the team long term or not, is the leader.
The Reds would be crazy reckless to let India go or trade him away on the cheap.
Sure, there’s guys lining up in AAA due to the crazed stockpiling of infielders, but India is a true baseballer.
His kind of hustle and leadership is a rarer commodity.
He’s been fun and impressive to watch.
Think of the recent 2b legacy on the club: Rose, Morgan, Phillips.
India is stepping into some big shoes and they seem to fit him well.
Winning clubs build teams around guys like this.
Will he net some more “prospects” in a trade?
Likely, but not the kind of haul that RLN fans have been used to seeing with the great pitching unload.
I’d be daxxed sure McLain was ROY material before even thinking of trading India.
I( agree, Harry.
I agree Harry. India is a very good leadoff hitter. He hits for average, gets on base, has some pop, scores a ton of runs and has those intangibles as a competitive hard nosed guy Reds fans love. Most of the chatter I have heard around McLain is while he can play SS, his best position is 2b. Reds arent going to move India off 2b during the season so perhaps McLain gets 3-4 days a week at SS when he comes up and and gets some sporadic starts at 2b with India DH and resting. India is having a strong season and does hit arbitration next season and should post some nice salary numbers for himself in A1,A2,A3 so Reds are going to have to decide this off-season what to do- trade him or extend him.
I am in the extend him camp unless he would draw a good controlled MLB pitcher, ala the Twins/Marlins trade with Pablo Sanchez where the Twins then extended him for 4/73 or Brewers/Rays trade where rays landed a top of the rotation guy for Wily Adames( Drew Rasmussen)
David Bell threw a complete game shutout today, masterful pitching by Bell.
DB gets a rare kuko from the Red’s faithful.
Was just thinking about Bell. Reds make playoffs, Bell gets manager of year, signs contract extension. All other managers start copying Bell ball. Pretty scary stuff.
Be careful it’s not legal in Ohio yet))
Seriously though I like his handling of the pitching this year even if his lineups are weird. Fairchild 3rd-4th last week and now he can’t beat out Ramos or Newman for DH
Was glad to see Fairchild hit the ball hard off of a right hander today. That doesn’t happen a lot.
That made me a chuckle. I don’t think so.
The Reds making the playoffs is scary stuff? whut?
You have to respect a pro like Lively that battled so long to get back up. It’s like a Rudy story or something.
Anyone see Friedl side/rib/oblique injury? Was it on a swing??? Winker 2021 season cancelled in August after a bad swing
Smaller guys have to play so hard to keep up with the bigger bodies they are prone to muscle pull injuries.
Could see Siani getting the call if Friedl misses any time. Him or Benson.
Siani? Because we need another guy in the lineup that can’t hit but hey, to each his own.
Last I checked most of the guys play defense too, plus I didnt even say if I supported it or not. Most likely we see more Senzel in CF. You got any predictions of interest to go with that snark?
Siani – no way. I wouldn’t be surprised for him to be outright off the 40 man list and no-one pick him up. He is not a major league player at this point in his career. He is still young though.
I wouldnt be surprised by that either. I guess I brought it up because I dont see him as anything more than an injury fill-in, similar to Reynolds.
Siiani well below the Mendoza line dropped in the lineup. Glad to see Bell use an opener finally. I thought the lefty we got from the white Sox would have made a nice opener for the fourth and fifth spots. Last year we had three wins when we had twenty one losses
Kudos to Law, Lively, Sims, and Herget today. Not only for the win but for saving the rest of the bullpen for the next series.
Agree with others, Lively and Herget competed much more than Cessa did in his 7 starts. Now we need Ashcraft and Lodolo to get back on track and give the team a chance to win in their starts. This team is so close to contending in NL Central.
Surprisingly so with the recent sinking of the Cardinals, for the time being.
Any word on TJ? I sure hope he is OK and doesn’t have to miss a month or longer.
De La Cruz just hit another HR when he was mad that he thought he didn’t get all of it. haha
McLain with another three hits including a double and homer. Added in a walk too. The man just keeps on pounding (.349 now). CES also with a homer.
EDLC also walked three times. McClain
And CES also homered.
CES hit one 471 feet today, right after McClain’s, which was no slouch either. I am becoming quite skilled at toggling between minor league games to time it up with our best prospects batting or pitching.
Kind of fun huh? 🙂
Well crap … stink fish pot!!!
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/tj-friedl-headed-for-mri-with-side-soreness.html
That stinks, because they won’t bring up the young guns and they also don’t have enough offense without Freidl. McLain should be at SS/DH already and Ramos will go 2-for-May before they do anything about him. Evidently his tests came back positive for heavy duty grit.
Happy to see Lively play for the team that drafted him. Remember following his career through the minors.
I just looked at something. I couldn’t believe my eyes. In terms of pure ERA, our bullpen is tied for the best in the NL. Alright!!!
Now, I always thought since the beginning of the season, any success this team has is going to have to come from Greene, Lodolo, and Ashcraft. Awful young to put that kind of pressure on them. Hopefully they can step up.
Hopefully that last outing was the outlier for Ashcraft. Before that, he was the ace of this rotation.
I’m not sure why all of aren’t standing up and singing the Doxology with the performance of this bullpen after a couple of miserable years of terrible pitching. Some really nice performances from them so far.
Maybe we just want to hold our breath and not “jinx” it. 🙂
I know the Doxology,,,,,,, 😉 We used to sing that at Gandma’s before a meal.
Same here
Seems like the Reds bullpen is actually decent this year surprisingly. The Mets don’t look very good for all the big names, stars, and big contracts. Reds are feisty. If they had a couple more established everyday players and another solid starter they could be tough and getting more towards at least a .500 team. The talent at Triple A is pretty exciting, will be interesting to see how they go about who they promote, where, when they play, etc. It doesn’t look like Barrero is probably going to be everyday guy.
It’s easy to forget guys like Josh VanMeter or Aquino had AAA stretches like these kids, but when I see McLain blast a 99 mph heater the other way for a bomb or the raw power of EDLC or CES. Wow!
McLain looks like Jeff Bagwell lite and EDLC like some kind of Strawberry/Eric Davis/Mantle combo. Those kind of guys make me feel like the Reds are wasting HRs when they hit them for Lville. Especially EDLC! With his bat speed every 3rd ball he gets in the air might leave GABP.
Where is Aquino?
Probably hitting monster homeruns in Japan.
Great game, kind of shocking. I did not like the Reds chances on a bullpen day facing off against Senga. Baseball! The hits by Newman and Senzel in the first inning were huge.
On another note, I just saw that Tyler Mahle is having Tommy Jon surgery. I do feel for the guy, but it seems like the Reds traded him at the perfect time. He was super durable in Cincy but has had constant injury problems since being traded.
He was hurt a few times before being traded.
If Friedl is out could or should the reds move Senzel to CF, Steer back to third and bring up CES to play first base?
CES is a 3rd basemen. Some say he has only started learning 1st base this year. I have looked at Louisville’s box scores and seen Vosler at 1B and CES at DH.
We can let him play 3rd and leave Steer at 1st.
He’s played 3B, 1B and some DH @ AAA
Senzel seems to be in a grove at third base. Leave well enough alone for the time being.
TR I am not one who believes changing a player’s position is tied to his performance at the plate.
Agree Jim T
I think some can and some have a hard time with it. Ideally everyone would be like Pete Rose who started in the all-star game at 5 different positions but some guys just need that stability of one position if possible to be at their best.
also agree