Pitcher’s duels don’t often take place in Great American Ball Park, but that happened on Friday night as Brett Kennedy and Jose Berrios traded zeroes before handing the game over to the bullpens. Cincinnati’s outlasted Toronto’s in this one as the Reds got a walk-off home run from Christian Encarnacion-Strand to top the Blue Jays 1-0.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Blue Jays (67-56) |
0 | 3 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (64-59) |
1 | 4 | 0 |
| W: Diaz (5-4) L: Hicks (2-8) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Brett Kennedy was tested right out of the gate. Whit Merrifield led off with a single and stole second base with one out. Cavan Biggio then worked a 2-out walk to put two men on, but Kennedy buckled down and got a strikeout to get out of the jam unscathed. In the next inning he’d get into trouble again when Daulton Varsho doubled with one out, but a lineout and a ground out ended the inning and kept the game scoreless.
In the bottom of the 2nd the Reds would get a walk from Spencer Steer to lead off the inning and a 2-out walk from Tyler Stephenson, but a strikeout ended the threat. Toronto got back to it in the top of the 3rd when Brandon Belt singled and then Brett Kennedy hit Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a pitch. Kennedy was helped out by Matt McLain when he made a diving stop and got a force out at second before a fly out stranded runners on the corners.
Neither team would do much of anything through the 5th. Cincinnati turned the game over to Buck Farmer to begin the 6th and he sat the Blue Jays down in order. The Reds were hitless entering the bottom of the 6th, but Matt McLain picked up the clubs first hit on a hard grounder into center. Elly De La Cruz followed up with a walk to put two men on base with just one out. The Reds would come up short with back-to-back grounders turned into outs.
Ian Gibaut entered the game for Cincinnati to start the 7th and he got three fly outs on 10 pitches to keep the game at 0-0. In the bottom of the inning Tyler Stephenson singled with one out, but he got doubled up when Will Benson popped up on the infield grass and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. let it land before fielding it, then flipped to first base before Whit Merrifield fired to second to get Stephenson with a tag to end the inning.
Lucas Sims took over for the Reds in the top of the 8th. He would strike out the first two batters he faced, but then walked Brandon Belt after a 9-pitch battle. Sims locked in and got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to pop up to end the frame and keep things scoreless. Cincinnati would try to get a 2-out rally going with a single from Matt McLain and a walk from Elly De La Cruz, but a strikeout would strand both runners and push the game into the 9th inning without a run having been scored.
Alexis Diaz trotted out to the mound to face the middle of the Toronto lineup in the top of the 9th. It took a little bit of work, but Diaz put together a 1-2-3 inning to give his team an opportunity to win the game with just one run in the bottom of the frame.
Joey Votto hit the ball hard, but he lined out to right field just short of the warning track. Christian Encarnacion-Strand made sure no on could catch the ball he hit unless they had a ticket as he hit a 411-foot homer into the upper deck in left field for a walk-off home run to seal a 1-0 victory.
WALK US OFF, CES?? pic.twitter.com/W1p3b6eFIS
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 19, 2023
Key Moment of the Game
Christian Encarnacion-Strand giving a souvenir to a fan in the bleachers in the bottom of the 9th.
Notes Worth Noting
The Cubs lost earlier in the day, leaving the Reds in sole possession of second place.
Matt McLain was the only player in the game for either team to have multiple hits. He went 2-4 and pushed his average to .301 on the season.
Brett Kennedy stepped up in a big way for Cincinnati, making a spot start and throwing 75 pitches in five shutout innings. The bullpen followed up with four hitless innings.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Toronto Blue Jays vs Cincinnati Reds
Saturday August 19th, 6:40pm ET
Chris Bassitt (11-6, 3.95 ERA) vs Brandon Williamson (4-2, 4.33 ERA)
Glad they were on the good side of a well-pitched game.
The only negative was Benson’s mental error not running out the popup.
That needs to be addressed.
Just saw the replay but it had to be the infield fly rule where the batter is automatically out, unless I’m missing something. Stephenson should have stayed at first.
Rule 2.00 defines the Infield Fly as, “a fair fly ball (not including a line drive or a bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second, and third bases are occupied before two are out.
Infield fly is only runners first and second or also a runner at third. One runner means the infield should just get the one out anyway so theres no rule, without it the two runners can be thrown out and the batter likely is safe.
What should he have done different? Run hard to first just so he was out on the flip anyway? The error was stephenson’s, im not sure why anyone would view it any different.
As a total side note, what in the world are you even going to say to stephenson or benson to “address” it? Im asking for a word for word, because im not sure what yall even expect a coaching staff to do. It was a mental error and im sure he knows it. My conversation with him would be very short, if anything try and minimize the mental errors, but that took me like 5 words. Benching him a game might be my maximum response.
In no baseball universe is the base running error on Stephenson lol
Eh, youre right. Still wondering what you say to benson though, im not expecting anyone to answer that. Run it out? End of conversation. Well addressed, congrats.
Should always run hard.
“The umpires declaration of an infield fly means that the batter is out (and all force plays are removed) regardless of whether the ball is caught. The rule exists solely to prevent the defense from executing a double or triple play by deliberately failing to catch a ball that an infielder could catch with ordinary effort.”
Benson was out as soon as the ump declared infield fly. Stephenson didn’t have to run because the force was off. You can blame Stephenson or more so the first base coach. If the fly rule was not declared, blame the ump.
JB, I think you need to search the rule book. There is NO infield fly rule with only a runner on first. There is no issue of a double play with only one runner on, UNLESS the batter/runner decides not to run to 1st base. In this case it was clearly a mental error by Benson because you would much rather have Benson on 1st base instead of Stephenson. Sadly though, Benson didn’t run so it was a double play. Stephenson did nothing wrong. As to the response to Benson via Bell, it should be a simple, comment telling Benson, at this level we run balls out, PERIOD. Don’t let it happen again. End of story.
Yes, that was poor fundamentals on Benson’s part. You run to first, no matter if you are sure you will be out or not. Baker had a huge on-going beef with Brandon Phillips for not running to first on ground balls and infield grounders. He finally sat Phillips. Hustle is as contagious as hitting, but, unfortunately, so is lolly-gagging.
Oops! Meant “…pop-ups and infield grounders…”
@chris and others: I was wrong. Thanks for making me dig deeper. And yes, Benson, run it out!
Tonight was a reminder of when Reds baseball was very much fun. Couldn’t have scripted it better than that mega-blast from CES.
Missed Jim Day doing the post-game interview and the screaming fans with the guys during the post-game.
Given all the negativity on the game thread last night, I’m a bit surprised that now it was “very much fun”.
Negativity on the game itself, the terrible coverage, having to do the temporary Apple TV thing … care to clarify, sir?
And are you responding this way to everyone, or just honing in on me in particular?
The fun is when we stick it out and win. Pitching carried the day and that was great to watch live as opposed to follow on Gameday or just the radio. The blast just capped it for me. I screamed … just ask me wife.
Oh well, that’s why we have individuals and this fan site, right? So we can all express our thoughts before, during, and after the game.
No need to respond. I certainly won’t follow up.
Nice trombone, BTW. I played way back in the day. Never did much with it as I pursued vocal work more.
Not just specifically at you. If you all enjoy whining, fine with me. I just have little use for it at this point in my life, thus why I almost never come to the comments threads anymore.
That’s actually a photo of Trombone Shorty I took at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. But I come from a musical family. Parents were music teachers, sister is a professional horn player, brother was a very fine trombonist. I played baseball instead of music, lol.
That was either going to be a really fun game to win or a terrible game to lose. Very glad it was the former. BIG GAME. 🙂
Lorenzen lit up tonight
3.1 ip, 8 runs.
If only Kennedy had started some of those Weaver starts.
Or could have been an opener at least.
Reds WON 12 of 21 starts (57%) by Weaver.
Oh. You didn’t know that? Now you do.
Oh. We did know that.
The Reds winning and Weaver’s performance had little to do with one another.
Coincidence doesn’t equal causation.
Didn’t know that?
Now you do,
@Oldtimer, are you serious? The bullpen was constantly taxed in Weavers starts which has been a major part of our bullpen being worn out. I’m not putting all the blame on Weaver, but he was as much of a problem as one could be.
It does mean something. I doubt the Reds will win 12 of 21 starts by Kennedy. Weaver kept the Reds in those games. That is what it means.
Weaver averaged almost 5 IP per start. Greene, Williamson, and Lively ALSO averaged 5 IP per start.
If Weaver wore out the bullpen averaging about 5 IP per start, then SO DID Greene, Williamson, and Lively.
Pretty simple math.
@Oldtimer, which is why I said I’m not putting all the blame on Weaver, but he was as much of a problem as one could be.”
4 1/2 IP is closer to the truth, but now I just being as pedantic as you. Only Weaver’s family would be arguing so hard for him. The dude carried a 6.87 ERA, and no other team wanted him.
Weaver and his ~7.00 era ‘kept the Reds in those games’?
That’s some pretty simple fantasy.
The Reds offense kept the Reds in the majority of games Weaver started.
Oh.
Not hard to look that stuff up.
Don’t hurt yourself doing these backflips to defend Weaver, Oldtimer
Ignoring the stat just so you can be negative some more is also a pretty irresponsible response, yeah? He kept the team in games, obviously not spectacularly but he did his job all the same. I think its a shame how it ended up in a dfa, but i also wont miss him and his spot was always the most vulnerable on the team, but to just dust off a stat because its easy to doesnt prove any point to me.
Those 12 wins were despite Weaver’s pitching.
Weaver killed our BP and that was the main problem with him.
I’m always going to wonder if that’s David Bell’s decision to just keep letting Weaver go out there every fifth game with Kennedy down there at AAA…. or maybe Krall and the boys above Bell made that decision??
Bell got the same number of average IP (5) per start from Weaver as he did from Greene, Williamson, and Lively.
Kennedy was pretty ordinary at AAA Louisville;
That you think Bell has any influence on the roster is laughable. If its anything at all, its very minor i guarantee you.
Kennedy pitched a great game! That said, you can’t expect him to pitch like that every time out. I’m glad he’s getting a chance to show what he can do, though once MLB hitters get a look at him, his ERA could be up there with Weaver’s. I hope not. Good luck to him!
Great win! A shame that they held CES back at Louisville way took long. Kennedy should have replaced Weaver long time ago.
Reds won 12 of 21 starts by Weaver.
Kennedy has 2 starts. Reds are 1-1 in those.
Oh.
Actually the Reds are 2-0 in Kennedy’s starts, first one was at Washington when the Reds swept them 4 straight. But honestly I don’t think it matters what the team’s record was for Weaver’s starts, he was simply terrible and destroyed the bullpen almost every single game he started.
You mean Reds won both of Kennedy’s starts?
And that Weaver had little or nothing to do with 9 or 10 of those wins?
Oh.
You could look that information up, if you wanted to.
Then you might know something,
He hit the walk-off and that’s great. It’s very possible that he will prove to be a good MLB hitter. But he hasn’t been setting the world on fire, despite many predictions here. I’m glad he’s on the team, make no mistake, but I haven’t seen any evidence that he should have been called up sooner.
CES had very little to prove in the minors, he hit at every level.
Being called up was earned and now learning to hit at big league level will take a little time. CES has raw power and he might turn out to be a very good hitter especially at GABP!
Bichette is out and Vlad is slumping. Have to take advantage
Hopefully this will give CES the confidence he needs
I don’t think CES lacks confidence. I think he is still learning to see ML pitching, which is, without a doubt, better than the pitching he was seeing at AAA level baseball.
The closer for the Blue Jays hung a slider right in the middle of the plate.
It was a really lousy pitch, and CES crushed it, as he should.
The “color man” commentator reacted to the bad pitch before CES even hit it.
Great win and yes could of went either way.
A well pitched game by Kennedy and the bullpen. 3 hits allowed. 2 walks and 7 strike outs. Fun game to watch
Williamson tomorrow let’s go!!
Great game and very unsual pitching duel. The Brewers tied at 3 with the Rangers in the bottom of the 6th.
Bassett’s era is 5 something on the road. Let’s get the bats going again!
CES. THIS is what having real power can do.
People were down on CES earlier in the game and now he is the hero. Welcome to Redleg Nation.
Exactly. Impatience is a virtue here, as is recency bias.
the reds have been underperforming for a quarter of a century. I think the fans on this site are quite patient actually.
Good point Rednat.
Quite patient? Being even a little patient actually requires some patience surprising as it sounds, and ive seen literally none of that here. These patient fans youre defending might exist, but they for sure dont post anything here.
After a fashion, yes, but the patience with individual players is often infused with recency bias. I do this as much as anyone, but all or almost all players on every team are streaky and rookies can be especially so. It’s the nature of the game, but frustration makes that hard to remember.
Yup, one of the reasons I have spent very little time reading the threads this season. That and the complaints about the announcing crew and the stats showing on the screen. Turn down the volume or turn off the TV and listen on the radio if complaining is all people can do (not aimed at you JB).
CES has ridiculous power
Great win
Go Reds
It seems like the designated hitter, a position long avoided by the NL, is a position generally meant for CES.
+1
That was a no doubter – congrats to CES.
Great outing by Kennedy and the bullpen. Kennedy could play himself into a role in 2024. Can’t have enough starting pitching depth next year.
Lets go REDS!
Let’s go Rangers! Way to go Royals! Dodgers beat the fish….
Poop! Three run homer by the Beers. They lead 6-4 now.
Happy for CES! Still hate those black City Connect uniforms!
Not the color uniforms most fans expect from the Redlegs. A bit of a throwback to the White Sox and the U.C. Bearcats in football.
What genius thinks black uniforms in the middle of an El Niño summer of heat is a good idea. Black absorbs heat, white reflects it. Simple physics. Anyone can look it up.
It was in the 70s during the game and it has been a cooler than normal summer in Cincinnati withplentyofrain. I’ll take an El Nino summer every year.
True. White and gray are better during the heat
This was only the second Reds game I’ve watched this season (opening day being the other) as I don’t have cable. I actually liked the uniforms and it’s not like they wear them every game.
Not only do the Reds take over second in the central they also are also back in the lat wild card spot. So if the season ended to day Reds would be in the playoffs. That was a big win for Cincy.
CES had the same kind of excitement in his face, that Benson had when he launched his 1st HR. Hopefully any pressure he’s been feeling goes away, and he can just go out there, and rake.
CES has a calm demeanor and an easy swing, easy power. Just need to work hard on the craft particularly seeing and fouling off sliders to stay alive.
WTG, Kennedy, relievers, CES! One matter of concern: We seem to struggle mightily against quality starting pitchers. Have for most of the season. Double digit strike outs again. Youth?
What makes them quality starting pitchers is that most teams struggle against them. Scherzer, Verlander et al didn’t get to be quality starting pitchers by only bearing weak teams.
I know, doc, but we seem to struggle against all of them. No real breakthrough games I can recall.
What team is good versus good pitchers? Maybe the Braves have a slightly better chance than the Reds, but they arent a “good” starter because only the Reds cant hit them, right?
How about good hitting teams are good against good pitchers, at least occasionally, and they don’t strike out 12-18 times per game?
CES has been paying his dues like Steer did last September.
Not many start their careers off like McLain has done.
For me, McLain is a young well-rounded ballplayer. Overall, so far, the surprise of the season.
He looked great from the get go. Smooth and fundamental, headsy solid ballplayer. Had a lot of confidence in him coming up but expected more growing pains than this for sure.
AAbbott is the surprise of the season. And then Williamson.and then McLain, then Steer
EDLC needs a hot streak to get back into the surprise of the season sweepstakes. Good to see him taking bb’s. That is the first adjustment
CES will be fine. Spencer Steer is fine. There were people calling for him (Steer) to go back to AAA ball when he was slumping earlier in the year.
These guys have talent, they just need the experience seeing ML pitching.
Same as EDLC. I mean, the guy is only 21. Twenty – one years old.
That 21 thing is getting old.
Why? Its facts, that he’s even held his own at all is extremely commendable.
Careful David, saying things will be fine on RLN doesn’t fit their narrative and they will chastise you for it.
In saying that yes lets remember these are rookies and 2nd year players for the most part and they will be bumps along the way.
No ballplayer that has nothing left to learn in the minors should be sent down, period. Struggles are to be expected and its up to the player to adjust. Only reason to send someone down is if theres someone else thats earned a chance at their spot, “working on” something is an overused excuse by many fans.
I agree, David. EDLC is visibly struggling, so it’s easy to overlook that he’s on pace, for a full season of 600+ at-bats, for something like 10 triples, 25 homers, and 50 stolen bases.
Spot on David!
@David: Heck yes! This all day.
Interesting observation: sometime between EDLC’s second and third AB, the camera was panned to the Reds bench. There sat Cruz and Henry Ramos looking at an iPad intently. Elly’s third and fourth AB’s were professional as any he’s had since the callup. It would be nice to see him go on a hot streak. This kid is going to be a monster, it’s only matter of time – maybe the time has come? We’ll see.
You should get an award for having the best post on this thread.
In other related baseball news, Lively pitched 5 innings for the Riverbats and gave up 4 runs against Iowa tonight.
TJ Antone pitched one scoreless inning.
The Riverbats won, 5-4.
So, I don’t think we are going to see Lively up here anytime soon, and Kennedy may be here for at least another turn in the rotation. Who will go off the roster on Sunday to make room for Hunter Greene?
Pretty sure they recalled Busenitz when Weaver was DFA’d as a clear place holder/extra bullpen arm for two days
Big win! I love CES’s swing. He is very balanced and compact. If he can continues to improve his pitch recognition and refines his strike zone, he is going to be a monster. I think he will get hot down the stretch and be one of the reasons that the Reds squeak into the playoffs. If they miss the playoffs by a game or two, I hope Krall and company recognize and learn from their mistakes this year. You can’t continue to roll out starting pitchers that can’t make it to the 5th inning and carry nearly a 7.00 era. Literally almost any decent AAA pitcher can do better than that. CES should have been with this club as soon as he was fully recovered from his spring training injury, and he was crushing the ball in AAA. Abbott and Williamson should have been up much earlier. Management easily threw away 5 or 6 wins because of agonizingly slow and obvious roster moves. And to the critics on here, it’s not hindsight if you call for it a head of the moves.
we are averaging 4.5 runs on the road to 3.5 runs at home this second half. if we don’t make the playoffs, this will be the reason . the pitching really has been superb.
is it stage fright? are the young players pressing too much at home? is it the dimensions? again, I maintain that gabp is actually a pretty hard place to get a hit. what is the over /under for reds runs in the next 2 games? 5 maybe? at LEAST WE KNOW THE PITCHING WILL KEEP US CLOSE!
I think you’re onto something because the OF is so small that alot of balls don’t fall in that would in bigger parks. However HRs are cheap so that becomes their focus. Still have to run and play your game though. Tonight Stuey with the leadoff walk and just stands around til he gets forced out. Hit & run with Freidl! Attack mode. Let’s go!!
GABP definitely suppresses singles, but i think its negligible. The proper approach is still to hit it hard somewhere, same as always.
Stu batted in the leadoff spot the entire time he was back down at AAA. I thought his 2 PAs tonight when he was leading off innings reflected that.
He got a walk off a full count on one of them. However, on the 2nd one, after battling to 3-2, he lost his nerve and chased a borderline splitter, tipped it. but the catcher held on for the K.
Great comment and so true.
Rangers almost came back but fell one run short 9-8. Still two games back of first. Currently have a wild card spot.
This Reds team is truly exciting to watch and follow. I for one, am glad they stuck with the plan and didn’t trade off players just for sake of trading.
Rest of this season will be fun to watch and see where they finish. Even if they don’t make the playoffs the future is bright. Kudos to the coaching staff and manager as well.
Although I still don’t understand going to bullpen when a pitcher has only thrown 75-85 pitches.
Nor is it easy to understand why a reliever throws 10 pitches and doesn’t come out to pitch the next inning. I don’t think it is so much that Weaver wore out the BP as it is the philosophy of SP and BP usage that is currently the norm, at least in Cincy. It would be interesting to me to hear/read the thinking behind that philosophy, but no one will explain it because whatever the source, the explainer would be throwing someone under the bus. Brantley has said that he pitched better the more he was used and he fought against ‘scheduled’ days off. Was he just an unusual body type, was it a mindset. One would think that BP pitchers can be trained to handle 2 innings every other day.
@Doc, I might suggest the game especially handling starting pitchers has changed dramatically since Brantley played. I scan the box scores nightly of all the games played. 100 pitch limits for starters are used by all teams which drives the complete games down to almost never. This was done to help combat injuries and sustain effectiveness over a long season. The use of bull pen arms has gone up considerably. The use of the pen is driven by DJ. The plan to ensure health and effectiveness is to only use the guys for 1 inning if possible. That is how this pen and most in the league are being utilized. As someone who trained for many years I can attest that when training consistency and repetition are big factors in performance and health. If you want to judge the pens handling wait until the season is over and judge their season’s performance in its entirety.
@JT +1
I know nothing but I expect pitcher usage is driven by analytics.Data driven decisions put everybody in the mixer and what pops out is best for all.Brantley doesn’t fit the norm but rather he is the exception but the more managers go against the script the more the data changes.In Tuesday’s game Young went the last 2 innings which is not the norm.Doubt it was scripted that way but it happened.Injuries play a role in all of this and there is data to support it.Personally I think that pitchers can be trained to go 2 innings but in the age of spin rate and throw hard then harder well don’t know.
It’s late August. Reds are in the thick of the wildcard chase. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. Looking at a path to the playoffs. Reds 5 over. If they can split next 2 with the Jays and head out on the 10 game west coast road trip 65-60, they then simply need to avoid catastrophe. They are a good road team so if they went 5-5 and came home for September 70-65, I think that sets them up for well a winning September.
If Greene, Lodolo, and fraley are healthy for a September playoff run, thats huge. Reds simply need (1) big hot streak in September…a 5 game winning streak, 8/11. A 17-9 September is not that unrealistic and that would get them to 87 wins if they can avert badness on the WC trip. Should be fun to watch.
In April, in my wildest dreams I wouldn’t have believed this but here it is. I’m just gonna sit back, listen (no cable TV) and enjoy no matter what happens.
Did I hear Moe Egger correctly this morning? Marte getting the call?
Maybe he said they still have Marte to call up, I can’t see anything on twitter. I mean X.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/08/reds-to-promote-noelvi-marte.html
Woah.
They’re going for it going for it
In a ball game tighter than the rusted lug nuts on a ’57 Chevy with both teams playing flawlessly, this has to be the biggest win of the season. Better yet, the game winning HR by one of the rising rookies. What a game! Huge win….
I listened to the game on xm radio last night while finishing a 13 hour drive from Cape Cod. It was a great finish to a very long day. I thought the Cowboy made an interesting point last night. He said that late in the year he thought most bullpen pitchers were much more effective if they only were used for one inning and used for multiple days a week. He thought that season fatigue caused more issues when a tired pitcher was asked to go multiple innings. I thought this was very interesting because he supports how Bell has chosen to usually use the pen this year and goes against what a lot of posters would like to see.
That’s interesting, Soto. Thanks for sharing it.
My issues with Bell and his pitching decisions usually aren’t so much on multiple Innings versus one for the bullpen. It’s more that he doesn’t have a long guy in the bullpen like a Kennedy for those days when you need one….and also pulling starters when they’re throwing the ball well and are at 75-85 pitches, but they walk a guy or give up a hit with 2 outs in the 5th or 6th and he immediately yanks them out of the game. You can tell when a guy is still throwing well….there’s no reason to do that everytime. You’re putting an undue burden on the bullpen that eventually catches up with you…but even more your limiting these starters ability to grow into the starters that you want them to be, which is to be able to go 6/7/8 innings consistently. They never get a chance to work through any minor problem even when the pitch count is good and they’re still throwing the ball fine.
Some things Bell does don’t make sense, but I believe there is a method to his madness with the pen. If you push a guy to 25 pitches then it’s unlikely he’s available the next night. If the Reds won 10-3 occasionally then that might not be an issue, but almost every game is tight. Our pen has been a strength overall and who’s the big proven names? Diaz was down to 93 last night. Farmer? He’s proven alright. Proven to be a scrub. Gibaut was off someone’s scrap heap and Sims was a throw-in when we traded Duvall. My concerns with Bell are the fundamentals and the lineup
Miami picked up Dave Robertson from the Mets before the deadline. They’re 6-1 in his appearances. Miami? They draw like 14k a game and half the people in the stands are family or just someone that wandered in looking for a place to sleep one off, but they can add 2 hitters and a solid reliever. If we fall short it’s on Krall much more then Bell
Actually, it’s on Krall that we are even in a pennant race so yeah I guess if they blow it, it’s on him. Bullpen isn’t a problem, youth and inexperience are. You are seeing the cure right before your own eyes – enjoy it.
Wondering what the counter-move is and where Marte plays …
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/08/reds-to-promote-noelvi-marte.html
I’m interested in the move itself. Intriguing. And surprising — at least to me, in terms of timing. So, what position will he play — SS or 3B? Also, in a selfish way, kind of bummed because I will be at the game in Louisville on Wednesday (despite the 99-degree forecast!) — most all the interesting guys on the team are now with the Reds. Still, good for Marte, and can’t wait to see how everything unfolds!
I’d really like to see EDLC back at 3B on a more permanent basis and MattyMc as the regular SS. I still think that’s the best left-side we can muster. I have no idea where that leaves Marte, though it probably pushes Steer back to LF (where I think he has solid long-term potential).
If he starts tonight I would think he plays 3B, De La Cruz at SS, McLain at 2B, Votto/CES 1B/DH, Steer in LF, Friedl in CF, Benson in RF. TySteve at C
Got to be Newman or an injury about to be revealed?
Or a Newman injury 😉
Great move and a bit of a surprise. Get the valuable experience right now. It will payoff next year if not necessarily this year. Hopeful Blake Dunn goes to AAA very soon. Edwin Arroyo should be sent to AA soon as well IMO.
Hopkins is the obvious
This gives them another right handed bat against a left handed pitcher which is badly needed. The problem is he is only 21 years old.
Time to sign Brett Kennedy to a long term contract
Marte getting his firs major league hit with a hustle double. Good job and congratulations. 🙂