After a thrilling series against the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park in which the Cincinnati Reds (29-34) won a series against a team that was tied for first place in their division at the beginning of the week, they now go on the road for a t10-game trip.
The Reds will start with a weekend series in St. Louis against the division rival Cardinals (26-37), who are currently in last place, eight games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, and three games behind the Reds. First pitch from Busch Stadium is at 8:15 EDT.
Lineups
Cincinnati Reds
|
St. Louis Cardinals |
| 3B Kevin Newman | 2B Brendan Donovan |
| 2B Matt McLain | 1B Paul Goldschmidt |
| DH Jonathan India | DH Nolan Gorman |
| SS Elly De La Cruz | 3B Nolan Arenado |
| 1B Spencer Steer | C Willson Contreras |
| C Tyler Stephenson | CF Tommy Edman |
| LF Stuart Fairchild | SS Paul DeJong |
| RF TJ Hopkins | LF Jordan Walker |
| CF Jose Barrero | RF Dylan Carlson |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Ben Lively | 29.2 | 3.03 | 1.01 | 8 | 29 |
| Jordan Montgomery | 66.0 | 4.23 | 1.39 | 18 | 60 |
| Links: Ben Lively’s Stats | Jordan Montgomery’s Stats |
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Ben Lively
Ben Lively started out his season on a high note, but ran into a bit of trouble in his last start. While he went seven innings against the Brewers on Sunday, he also allowed five runs on six hits, including two home runs, while walking three batters in a 5-1 loss.
At first glance, Lively has appeared to pitch better against left-handed hitters, but he has given up more home runs to lefty hitters and has also struck out more right-handed batters in less at-bats. He has also done a good job of limiting walks this season, but that is slightly skewed. He allowed no walks in his first two appearances of the season, but only pitched 2-3 innings. As he has gone deeper into games, he’s been walking more batters, culminating with three in seven innings against Milwaukee. His walk rate isn’t terrible, but he’s also doesn’t have the track record that would give you a lot of confidence he can pitch out of situations he gets himself into with untimely walks.
If you’re looking for a Cardinals player that has hit Lively well in the past, look no further than Paul Goldschmidt. He’s hitting .455 with a home run off Lively in 11 at-bats.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 50 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8% | 28% | .217 | .280 | .348 |
| LHH | 67 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6% | 22% | .191 | .239 | .365 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 91.1 | 92.0 | 89.2 | 76.3 | 80.4 | 84.9 |
| Usage | 32.5% | 17.2% | 6.8% | 8.8% | 24.1% | 10.6% |
Jordan Montgomery
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery is not having the best of seasons, though his high ERA has partly been driven by a few really bad starts. He allowed seven runs in 4.0 innings to the Diamondbacks in an April start, and six runs in 5.0 innings to the Cubs in May. However, in his last two starts, Montgomery has a 2.53 ERA in 10.2 innings, striking out eight and only allowing one home run. He’s allowed eight home runs on the year.
One thing Montgomery has been doing well throughout the entire season has been not walking hitters. His BB% is 6.2% overall, and when you look at his splits, it’s been all to right-handed hitters. He has not yet walked a lefty hitter this season.
Spencer Steer and Stuart Fairchild, both in the lineup tonight, each have hit a home run off Montgomery.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 244 | 60 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 7% | 21% | .270 | .329 | .482 |
| LHH | 45 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 18% | .311 | .311 | .333 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Change | |
| Velo | 93.7 | 93.5 | 89.0 | 80.8 | 84.1 |
| Usage | 12.5% | 41.9% | 1.0% | 21.9% | 22.6% |
Details:
- Time: 8:15 EDT
- Place: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
- Weather: 80°, mostly sunny, 0 percent chance of rain
- TV: Bally Sports Ohio
- Radio: 700 WLW
News and Notes
Roster Moves
The Reds made lots of roster moves this afternoon, and it started with the announcement that Wil Myers was sent to Triple-A on a rehab assignment. The Reds also sent down one reliever and called up another reliever after a taxing bullpen day yesterday.
One day after Graham Ashcraft got hit in the leg by a line drive, he goes on the IL with a left calf contusion and called up Ricky Karcher to replace him. How will this affect the Reds rotation going forward and how was Karcher doing in Louisville before he received his first MLB call-up? Redleg Nation has you covered.
Learn all about the 17-year-old international signee by the Reds who’s dominating the Dominican Summer League and the dynamic duo of catchers at Triple-A Louisville right now.
Stat of the Day
Alexis Díaz since April 10:
? 21.1 IP
? 0.42 ERA
? 40 K
? .100 OPP AVG
? 1.22 FIP pic.twitter.com/ylIdN9DUce— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 9, 2023
Greetings fellow RLN fans!
I’m sitting here in a hotel in “Reds Country” located in NW Georgia. Maybe it’s because we’re so close to Chattanooga? The local A-ball team is a Braves franchise.
Oh well, a quick trip to Canada (through all the smoke, no doubt) and I’m i for the ride.
Let’s kick some WLB feathers tonight and start this road trip with a W.
As I assume with many of you, selection of Kuhnel is puzzling, but let’s hope he doesn’t get the chance unless we’re pounding them so hard they can’t catch up.
I’m with you on the Kuhnel call up. Was he the best available at Louisville?
He was about the only one available in L-ville.
Busenitz and Duarte to me are the best avaible.
Understanding that we are a little over 1/3rd of the way thru this 2023 MLB season, the next 6 road games for the Reds will be an indicator of how the rest of the season goes in my opinion! Winning 2 of 3 against the Cards and also against the Royals on the road would accomplish 2 things! Hopefully move the Reds closer to 1st in the NL Central Division AND widen the separation between the Reds from the Cards and the Cubs! A lot riding on how the decimated SP staff performs. Let’s face it, the bullpen has been overused out of necessity and adding marginal AAA pitchers is likely not gonna help!
I’m just hoping Arenado goes 0-fer again and Lively let’s one or two slip at Edman.
Goldschmidt is the one hitter in the Cards lineup that always seems to feast on Reds pitching!
That’s a given. My two wishes more tied to general Curd-Hatability.
1/3 of the time the leadoff hitter gets an extra PA compared to the cleanup hitter. Drives me nuts that Newman is getting those extra opportunities over Elly.
De La Cruz, McClain, and India should be the top 3 hitters. I’d love to see Elly bat in the first inning of every game.
Maybe Friedl up there when he’s healthy against RHP too and drop India to 4th
Another of the maddening things about Bell.
He dances to his own Ouija Board tune on some things but is absolutely predictable in many others.
That said, Hello Newman is at his best against LH.
Definitely at his best. Doesn’t mean he belongs at the top of the lineup.
It’s like the other night against the Dodgers. It worked out with Benson hitting a walkoff, but I hated that he was up in that situation instead of one of the other guys because Bell hit him leadoff.
Put your best hitters in the spots that get the most at bats. Notice the Dodgers have Betts and Freeman batting 1st and 2nd?
EDLC should be batting 3rd and Stevenson 4th in my opinion! And, Newman at the bottom somewhere! Despite going 1 for 3 last night, Newman has had only 4 hits in his last 25+ ABs I believe.
And of course he gets a double on his first AB. Maybe Bell knows what he’s doing.
You all seem disappointed that Newman is doing so well, smacks a strong double, and he is on our team. Strange.
First commercial was in French 😀
Like Mark Twain said: “The French are a wonderful people. But they have a different word for everything.”
HDTBell openly defending Kuhnel 😮
Beyond ridiculous
:O
😛
This begins to explain some things.
Bell also actively promo-ed The Chad and Strickland.
Also blew off CES at the end of ST.
Newman with a Double
Figures! Now let’s get him home!
That works for both ABs.
Newman obliterates Lefties. It’s why he bats first, period.
Except he’s been leading off against righties a bunch as well. They are obviously trying to showcase him for a trade.
Now that I can agree with.
Nuts
Wait for it Mark, it is coming just wait for it.
😛
Ugly
And, another Reds runner orphaned at 3rd! All runs, especially early in the game matter! This has been a glaring problem with this Reds team this season!
India and McClain both hit it hard. Just at the RF. Elly has to be more patient.
Not a good AB by EDLC! Steady diet of off-speed pitches or curve balls! I think most of the other teams know he can hit fastballs!
He’s going to get a steady diet of junk.
Why would anyone think different?
MLB junk is seriously better than MiLB junk.
That was a bad AB from Elly.
Hope he’s learning.
He’s struggled at first at every level.
And then…
This simply is not true. He put up an OPS over 1.200 in the only 11 games he played in the Arizona Complex League. His first five games in Daytona he put up an OPS over 1.000. His first 9 games in Dayton he put up a .947 OPS. His first 8 games in Chattanooga he hit .250 and slugged .500, though did put up a .270 OBP in that stretch.
Ugly at bat by EDLC. Major league pitchers are really good at scouting reports. He can crush the fastball but I don’t think he’ll see many more.
How about Reds pitchers?
Unfortunately it looks like Arenado is not going to have a series like he did last time against the Reds!
I know it was a line drive, but is there any reason Newman didn’t tag up? It was plenty deep enough.
His coach said no tag.
See how De La Cruz adjust in his second ab before having a opinion. 11 ab’s into his rookie season
He needs to just not swing the bat. They aren’t throwing him fastballs and the breaking stuff is usually out of the zone. Wait them out.
Its easier said than done, as they only have less than a second to make up their mind in regards to swinging or not. Pitch recognition will come in time. Lets see if he makes the adjustment his second ab
Let me make it simpler- Don’t Swing The Bat. First pitches are junk in the ground.
Of course.
No one said it is easy.
Or that I can do it.
Elly can’t do my job either.
MLB pitching and MiLB pitching are worlds apart.
Monty is hitting his marks and changing speeds well.
Going to be a tough night for Reds youngsters until he’s out.
Not opinions….observations.
Look like opinion’s to me, however I won’t discuss anything with you.
As all you want to do is ridicule what I say to make yourself feel big and I for one am done with your crap
Deal.
I think the “pot calling the kettle black” is more than apropos.
Reds pitchers have let the opponent score in the first inning 5 of the last 7 games. They need to change that.
Is your air clearing?
Rained so it has cleared.
Need to chase Montgomery early via doing damage. His home splits are terrible.
And quit offering at his first pitch
Agree Mark! Let’s make him earn every out!
I was hoping Fairchild would show a bit more power. Think he can make it as a 5th OF if he can get his slugging percentage up.
Maybe next year when he’s 15
Three men LOB thru the first 2 innings! Not a good trend! Keep swinging guys and put pressure on Montgomery!
Jose Barrero did not have an intelligent AB. After struggling with his control, he chased the first pitch. Sometimes, you have to wait for it.
Kuhnel? He made me leave the Reds last year. He’s complete garbage so why do they keep bringing him back?
St Louis strategy is definitely to throw the young ones off speed early and often. They will have to be patient.
Boy, Lively set that one on a tee.
In a tee to Arenado too.
Tried to watch the Cardinals announcers. I’ll take Sadak.
Did I mention Stink. Fish. Pot!!!
Drat! Drat! And double Drat! Facing another uphill climb again tonight!
Well, this could get ugly early. It seems to be getting out of hand already.
So who do we see tonight?
Ricky Karcher or Joel Kuhnel? OR BOTH!!!
If that happens, that will be my cue to Clete!
We hang’em, they bang ’em
Just checking in after missing all of yesterday’s action. I see the Lively illusion has been totally dispelled.
Your right about the announcers the Cardinal announcers act they are the best team ever.
I’m not sure who the main guy is, but wow. Settle down buddy.
Chip Carey.
Yes never cared for him with the Braves either.
Votto just homered to dead center.
+10000000
CES with a 2 run Homer to follow.
McLain is awesome. 🙂
By the way Ramos and Votto homered back to back just now.
That’s two HR for Ramos recently.
Yes he is!
Montgomery has 3 K’s tonight already! Bet he hasn’t had 3 SO’s in any other start this season!
Make that 4 SO’s!
Correction! Make that 5 SO’s!
No starters. Hit .036 with risp. Might want to put a hold on playoff tickets
Gotta have the worst BA with RISP in the majors! Lots of room for improvement!
Milwaukee losing to Oakland. But they have the starting pitching you said?
CES just homered. 🙂
Just saw that, I mean come on, why not bring him up too? 4 EDLC 5 CES would put some thunder in the middle of the lineup.
EDLC getting schooled tonight.
I hope he’s taking notes.
Reds hitters are very selective for such young hitters. Now they need to find a pitch and drive it. Leaving these guys on base is killing them.
Again, been a glaring problem all season. especially in one (1) run games when trailing!
India is 13-57 (.228) with RISP.
He was thriving in the 1 hole.
Still not a fan of putting him the RBI spot.
Part of the sorting with Freidl leading off in mind. I’m thinking India, Freidl, McLain
I concur.
That makes two of us. The leadoff spot just seemed to match his attitude.
India is adjusting his approach, give him a minute. He’s got 3 HR in the leadoff in 184 AB’s with a .413 SLG, in the 3 hole also 3 HR in 56 AB’s with a .429 SLG.
Also where do you plan on putting McLain and Friedl? I can’t think of a better 1, 2 combo.
I personally like MMC @2, Friedl @ 3
It’s a good problem to have, as they say. These 3 are all legitimate leadoff candidates.
Yep
C’mon time to score some runs here
They really lack power and CES just sits in AAA.
Unless CES can pitch it’s not going to much matter.
One thing I say about Lively is walks seem to be off the table unless he’s pitching around someone, but you just can’t put them on a tee. Still though I can see him eating innings if he’s hitting his spots
What a night for Montgomery to be on. Course, we ain’t helping ourselves much.
The Cards are a desperate team right now and see an opportunity against the inconsistent Reds!
Can’t nibble to th #9
Walker stepping in the bucket. So why aren’t we pitching to the outside corner? He won’t reach those or will hit off the end of the bat.
You just can’t keep throwing it down the middle
Ok I’ve had enough of Lively. You just can’t split the plate with men on base
But that’s your boy!?
I have got to stop getting my hopes up about this team every time they win a few games in a row. It’s still a rebuilding year. Maybe one of these days that will finally sink in with me.
I may call Clete. I’m pretty tired and it feels way later than it is.
Nice job by MattyMc
Is it just me or does it seem like every walk in an inning leads to a run scored by the opposition?
If you post about it every time it happens, but don’t post when it doesn’t, I think you’ll have your answer.
To me it feels like every time an opposing player is able to reach base he’s eventually going to score, while the Reds could have a hundred guys on third base with no outs and find a way to strand all of them.
Idk where they go unless they spend some real money next year. You don’t have the vets to trade anymore. India wouldn’t even bring that much. Atleast not a solid starter
Need to score this inning and keep on scoring!
CES with a 1.143 ops. I mean what are they waiting for? Redicilous.
Are you implying he might be capable of helping a team that’s struggling to score runs? Kidding of course! Can’t hurt to try! Just frustrating to see all the wasted scoring opportunities!
Never been a fan of losing, especially to the Dirty Birds!
Lively has to shut down this fifth inning and reds have to score this sixth or its looking bleak for the redlegs.
Lively did his part. 2-3-4 now has to produce.
You just can’t get any momentum when you have terrible starting pitching. It doesn’t matter how good your offense is, you just can’t keep coming back from big deficits every, single night. I mean the Reds were very lucky to win the 2 games against the Dodgers this week.
You are absolutely correct Sir!
Reds will have money to spend. Think they need three things: a middle of the rotation starter (doesn’t need to be an ace, just a solid pitcher), a long-man that could also give some spot starts if needed, and a starting OF that can play every day. The first two might be Gutierrez and Santillan, but I wouldn’t count on them and consider them luxury if they come back. If they can get those three things to go with further development of the youngsters, then I’d feel good about them competing for a playoff spot and division title.
They need 2 middle of the rotation starting pitchers, 2 LH relievers and a dependable LH bat. They have enough RH bats now for sure.
Ironic isn’t it? Lively has a low pitch count (69 pitches thru 5 innings) but, except for the 5th inning, struggled to close out the previous innings, often after getting 2 outs!
I’m sticking through this AB from ELDC. Then I think I’m done for the night. They boys seem gassed tonight for the most part.
Might catch some of the game tomorrow. Drive time for the Sunday game.
Yep … with that swing I’m out for the night.
Going to watch Castillo vs Ohtani. Should be a classic. See you tomorrow
The call of the NBA playoffs gets louder …
Seems like they’re really short vs lefties. Fraley and Benson have been huge lately and these other guys aren’t picking them up. CES…where is this kid?
Ohtani vs Castillo game on Apple. Smh
Why not Fraley for Newman?
If Fraley is okay and available good point.
Nah man, Bell is waiting for the NEXT time there are guys on to put Fraley in (unless they put a LHP in). He’s good man. He’s got it.
He knows. He always knows.
Bell blew that inning. Barrero hits RHers better than Hopkins or Newman. PH for Hopkins. Let Barrero bat. And decide on Newman based on the situation. If bases are loaded, go to Fraley instead of Newman. That’s what the analytics say. And how long before EDLC needs a “rest”?
Home cookin. Umps are afraid to over turn it.
Per the usual, the call will stand and go against the reds…. we have seen so many of these happen this year.
Even the Cardinals knew he was safe
Contarass is a hot dog.
I really like that call by Bell to steal first pitch. Didn’t work out. But now we start an inning with mclain. If it did, mclain had two in scoring position.
Stupid, you can’t make that attempt with McClain up and down 3
Why have replay if you don’t apply it?
Why would you postion like that?! He is a leadoff and hits the ball to all fields…
Whether he was out or not, you still have to get more than 1 run with the bases loaded and 1 out.
Not the first time its happened this year! Need hits, not sac flies when trailing by multiple runs!
I wouldn’t have started this inning with lively, despite the low pitch count. But Goldy should be his last batter for sure.
Well, called that unfortunately.
OK gents! That’s it for me!
A bit of luster off the EDLC statue with six strikeouts in the last seven ABs.
I heard that!!!
Contreras is such a punk! Taken right up after the thug molina! That was clearly not intentional.
While I don’t normally condone this type of thing, I would 100% throw at him next at bat. Right at the hands.
Take your base, and shut your mouth.
He is without a doubt a punk big time.
7 runs in 6 innings and still pitching. Save that bullpen. You might need them somewhere down the line. I saw a review of ML managers the other day. They actually pegged two current managers as worse than Bell: Oakland and Pittsburgh, though Pittsburgh will likely leapfrog him this year, leaving only Kotsay will a lower ranking.
Not a bell fan at all. But it isn’t a coincidence those three managers have has the worst players for the past couple years as well.
Largely true but the Reds team with Castellanos should have been competitive. But, Bell has no sense of the numbers or simply ignores them. And he really doesn’t handle pitching staffs well. But, as certain as sunrise, he’ll be back next year.
You won’t get any arguments from me about 2020 or 2021. I’ve been on the front of the fire Bell bus for a long while now.
Very good play with range there by mclain. Let’s see a couple more runs by the young ones to make it interesting.
Wish Lively had walked three particular hitters rather than given up HR!
I’d like to see bell move India back to leadoff tomorrow. Friedl 2 hole, mclain 3 and edlc 4.
Side note, I hate the wave. The fact sadak mentions it with such joy each time makes me hate it more.
hahaha That was hilarious. Had no chance to get De La Cruz.
Sure would be nice to have CES coming up in this situation right about now. 🙂
Fairchild going to pull me back in.
“Nah, I’ll wait for the next time we have guys on to use Fraley.”
-D. Bell
If he lead off next inning it wouldn’t shock me at all. That’s the kind of unpredictability Bell thrives on lol
I guess Fraley is hurt. Or he should be hitting for Hopkins.
Did not like Hopkins there in that spot.
Where the hell was Fraley. I hope for Bell’s sake he is injured.
Hopkins seems pretty overmatched by MLB pitching. He could benefit from more time in AAA just like Benson did.
I agree and he will be sent down when Freidl comes back.
I would guess he will be demoted tomorrow when Friedl returns. Hopefully he learns from this, but to me he is at best a 5th outfielder. Or lesser part of a platoon.
Bell asleep at the wheel.
The George Costanza of MLB managers.
And he comes back with Kuhnel. Bell messing with dynamite
To me it seems like Bell was intent on using this as a game to rest the bullpen. Especially once the Reds fell behind early. I guess with 16 games in a row you have to find time to rest an over worked BP
That’s true and Kuhnel got his ERA down to a respectable 8.10
Kuhnel is fixing to implode… Watching him in Louisville, once runners got on he started nibbling and walking people. Then would groove one.
Glad I was wrong there.
He got outs on a deep fly ball and a laser to right. Did his best to implode but couldn’t quite pull it off.
This has to be the worst game Bell has managed all year and that is a mouthful.
Last chance for the Cardiac kids!
Seems like if Kuhnel wants to be serious about his career he would get into better physical condition. He and Lorenzen are the poster boys for too much and not enough.
Sponsored by Golds Gym and Dunkin Donuts.
Newman batting again against righties. Fraley must be hurt. Look for him to go on the IL in 5 days.
Evidently, Bell can’t make lineup changes because he banged his arm on a desk and it keeps moving involuntarily.
They really need to win at least one of the next two. Pitching wise they will both be tough. Hopefully Abbott and Greene can pitch well and the offense can score some runs. Bell also needs to actually manage the next two games instead of just watching.