The Cincinnati Reds start a 9-game road trip tonight with a trip to San Diego to face the Padress for three games to get things started. There’s almost no room for error for Cincinnati as the season winds down as they desperately cling to fading hopes of making the playoffs as a wild card team. Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for 9:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds | San Diego Padres |
| TJ Friedl – CF | Fernando Tatis Jr. – RF |
| Noelvi Marte – RF | Luis Arraez – 1B |
| Elly De La Cruz – SS | Manny Machado – 3B |
| Austin Hays – LF | Gavin Sheets – DH |
| Gavin Lux – DH | Ramon Laureano – LF |
| Spencer Steer – 1B | Jackson Merrill – CF |
| Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B | Jose Iglesias – SS |
| Jose Trevino – C | Jake Cronenworth – 2B |
| Matt McLain – 2B | Freddy Fermin – C |
| Nick Lodolo – LHP | Yu Darvish – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Nick Lodolo | 134.1 | 3.22 | 1.04 | 25 | 130 |
| Yu Darvish | 51.2 | 5.75 | 1.18 | 17 | 48 |
| Links: Nick Lodolo’s Stats | Yu Darvish’s Stats | |||||
Nick Lodolo
After spending three weeks on the injured list, Nick Lodolo returned to the mound on August 27th and struggled as he allowed four runs in 4.2 innings to the Dodgers. He was scratched from his next start after coming down with what sounded like the flu that’s been working its way through the Reds clubhouse.
Early in the season left-handed hitters were picking up singles at an incredibly high rate against Lodolo. They weren’t hitting for power or drawing walks, but singles? They were hitting a lot of singles. Things have looked much better against lefties since the start of July but his overall splits are still showing the ramifications for those early struggles. Right-handed hitters haven’t been doing much of anything against him all season, hitting for a low average, rarely drawing a walk, and not hitting for much power.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 419 | 82 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 18 | 103 | .210 | .259 | .363 |
| LHH | 128 | 33 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 27 | .289 | .346 | .395 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 93.8 | 93.7 | 81.9 | 87.8 |
| Usage | 25% | 25% | 29% | 22% |
Yu Darvish
An elbow injury kept Yu Darvish on the injured list for the first three plus months of the 2025 season. The right-handed starter returned to the mound on July 7th and he’s made 11 starts for the Padres since. He’s battled consistency since his return. In his last two starts he began the 5th inning but couldn’t record an out before having to exit the game.
The splits against Darvish this season are a bit different. Right-handed hitters hit for a higher average, but they walk significantly less and make less contact. Lefties are walking a lot and making plenty of contact. Both groups are showing good power when they do turn their contact into hits.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 96 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 25 | .242 | .281 | .451 |
| LHH | 118 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 23 | .220 | .333 | .430 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-sm | 2-sm | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | Split | |
| Velo | 93.8 | 93.5 | 90.7 | 72.4 | 84.5 | 85.8 | 86.4 |
| Usage | 13% | 22% | 13% | 15% | 24% | 3% | 10% |
When and Where
- Game time: 9:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: FanDuel Sports Network, MLB.tv
- Listen: 7004WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 70°, mostly sunny, 5% chance of rain
News and Notes
Chase Burns could be activated on Friday
The Reds could be getting Chase Burns back soon. Manager Terry Francona said that he could be activated on Friday if his bullpen session on Tuesday goes well.
Wild Card Standings
With the division firmly out of reach, we are switching to the Wild Card standings for the rest of the season.
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Chicago | 81 | 62 | +5.0 | 99.7% |
| San Diego | 78 | 65 | +2.0 | 97.8% |
| New York | 76 | 67 | 0.0 | 93.4% |
| Cincinnati | 72 | 71 | 4.0 | 3.9% |
| San Francisco | 72 | 71 | 4.0 | 2.9% |
| Arizona | 72 | 72 | 4.5 | 1.8% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
Reposting this from earlier today for anyone who may have missed it.
I have disabled the search function for the site.
The problems that the site was having with being incredibly slow, being down, etc, were related to Chinese hackers using the search function thousands of times per minute to try and create their own “pages” on the site.
Before taking further steps that would cost more than the site makes in a month for a 1-time fee, plus about $500-1000 a year for each year after that, I am trying this solution first to see if it will alleviate the problem.
Thanks for your patience, understanding, support, and by and large not fighting with each other in the comments.
Time for people to step up.
Hayes and Lux do the left field DH shuffle and Andujar and the rookie watch from the bench.Romano will not get any more at bats then anybody else that was here before he got here.So much for he will essentially play every day but hey GO REDS.Hope the ERA for Darvish gets worse tonight.
Lux recently:
Last 15 games – .186/.286/.279
Last 7 games – .182/.280/.227
May be time to give him some time off with the rookie available.
I was thinking same. Lux needs to be given more time off. I’d like to see Andujar play over steer more too – but not if he’s hurt.
Tito has made his decision to ride with the guys that brought him here – to a .500 record.
Mets fall 1 to 0.
Rock on. Focus
Mets lost 1-0 … Reds have to win somehow to cut distance
Let’s go Phillies!
9 game West Coast trip. Good lord it’s like dead man walking. Wish them well but they are going to have to play out of their minds.
I am a realist! This 9-game road is probably the telling point of the season for the Reds! A 5-4 road trip will probably keep them within shouting distance of the Mets or Padres! A 6-3 road trip is what they need to make up ground! At a minimum they need 2 out of 3 in San Diego!
As I was typing this the Mets left runners at 2nd and 3rd with less than 2 outs and lost 1-0 to the Phillies! Sound familiar?
Let’s go Reds. Let’s go Lodolo. We’re playing with house money tonight. Go all out, play aggressively to win the darn game.
Looks like a tough series for the Reds. Padres are good, and are close to catching the Dodgers for first in the West so they will be playing hard of course. The Mets look like they could be caught, but I’m not sure the Reds, Giants, Cards, DBacks have the juice to catch up to them.
Only 4 back from the WC spot. Not impossible to make up. Three teams made up 3 games on the Reds in the last 10. That’s called 7-3 vs. 4-6. Even if the WC bid doesn’t happen, I would think a lot of pride is on the line regarding the difference between finishing 7th and 10th in the league standings. Who will step among those who have stepped around rather lightly this year?
Friedl! leadoff blast! Is his first of the season?
4th
TJ on base streak reaches 17 game….with that blast
That’s what i am talking about TJ, play aggressive and drove that ball out of thr park
TJ on base streak reaches 17 games with that blast
The Chinese are messing up the site again.
I checked the time frame around this comment and while there was definitely a spike, the site should have been up and running still – perhaps just a little slower than *what used to be normal*.
The current step is not going to stop the bots from coming to the site – just stop them from searching and creating spam pages as a result. Stopping the ability to search is me trying to make things less stressful on the server while not spending thousands of dollars right now.
Kind of in a “gonna test and see how this goes” situation.
It’s like they saw this response and decided to show me what’s what.
Nice first frame by Lodolo
Elly delivers 2-out RBI single!
Hays chasing a splitter well away after worked a 3-2 count…
Reds threaten in the 3rd… and De La Cruz delivers !
It’s this old boy’s bedtime so I’m hoping for good news in the morning!
In addition to the Mets losing, the Cubs lost at Atlanta! Go Mariners! Beat The Dirty Birds!
Back to back game Elly got a hit off of some sort of breaking pitch. In last game he dropped down and fished a double to dead center. He got low to hit a single in his last PA. That’s good sign.
+1
Cowboy and Tito saying what I’ve been saying forever.
The schedule ahead doesn’t matter.
The game, the inning, the at bat, and each pitch is what needs the focus of each player’s attention.
I guess the schedule watching is just a fan thing.
They don’t need a sweep here, a series win there….they just need to win the above stuff mentioned.
Lodolo in contact mode… he’s 0 Ks so far but dominating
Last comment of the night for me! Some things NEVER change with this 2025 Reds team! Four innings in the books and 4 SOs by Reds batters!
Reds are just consistently inconsistent on offense.Just been that way most of the season.Reds just swing at way too many pitches away that are not strikes.
I still remember what pesky Sheets was in the series played at GABP …Lodolo could get out unscathed
Mr. Trevino is exceptionally good at catching foul tip 3rd strikes.
I’m guessing the pitching staff appreciated that.
You work your arse off getting a third strike, and your guy catches most all of the foul tips?
More.
When is the last time we heard a ‘Lookin’ good’ from The Cowboy?
This was a bad offense inning going quickly and helping to Darvish to prolonge his outing
What is going on with Marte?
Standing there staring at three pitches all in the zone.
I hope Francona gave him the WTF? look when he got back to the dugout.
Hays blast!
Why did Lodolo come out after just 5 innings? Now Barlow has given up a run with another in scoring position?
The Reds bullpen has struggled recently…
Just gonna leave Barlow in to blow the game Francona !!!!’
I don’t care to see Barlow again this season! He gives up at least one run every inning he pitches!
5 innings 78 pitches in September then Barlow. Are they really trying to win? Ridiculous, let the starters pitch.
It’s ridiculous. It does nothing to prevent the tsunami of arm injuries in baseball. Took out the momentum pitcher and found the one that did not have it tonight.
Francona made a horrible move by removing Lodolo. There is no tomorrow! Unless he asked to come out it might become a disaster with Suter coming to the mound.
Suter is the only lefty in the bullpen… Tito brings him to face Merrill in a crucial moment
The wheels fell off
Nice job bringing in Suter who can’t break egg !!! Brilliant move dude
Reds middle inning relief has completely broken down.
We’re back to the bad old days.
“Historically bad bullpen.” as the NY Times sports page so succinctly put it some years ago.
No lead is safe.
New ball game. Crud. I thought Friedl had that ball.
Taking out Lodolo at 78 pitches is certainly questionable. I wonder what was involved in that decision?
Probably that it’s Lodolo’s first game back.
Now 3-3 and San Diego has the better bull pen. Biggest game of the year and Lodolo goes only 5.
That is true, but Krall has given Francona noone reliable to pitch middle innings but maybe Martinez.
Barlow has been shelled of late.
Who else? Phillips?
Don’t want to see Barlow or Suter in this bullpen next year PERIOD !!!
Gas can crew back at it. They said Lodolo came out from being weak from illness? I was thinking blister. You have to get another inning out of him unless he’s really bad off? No Burns either but he can blaze 102 in practice.
Whoever said they’ve enjoyed this season must be watching a different team
Friedl should catch that ball in my opinion although Marte was close too… bad defense…
The ball was in the air too long not to have been caught, given that it fell at the front edge of the track. Brantley noted that it hit in Freidl’s glove, but he seemed to have lost sight of it for an instance. There was also a comment about the Petco Park outfield being larger than the GABP outfield. It made me wonder if he was questioning Friedl’s route or read that maybe he thought the ball was on or over the wall.
And I agree Marte was close. In fact, I think he could have caught it, but he correctly peeled off when he saw Friedl was committed to the play.
I thought the ball should have been caught.
This is all on Francona, in a must win game he pulls Lodolo after 78 pitches. i don’t care how many world series he has won he has done a terrible job this year. There have been too many decisions like tonight.
And the first 2 in are Barlow and Suter … UNFREAKING BELIEVABLE
You’re wrong.
Starting pitchers are particularly vulnerable the third time thru the lineup. This is not an opinion, it’s a fact borne of historical data. In addition to tiring, hitters have seen everything a starting pitcher has and they begin to take advantage of that.
Why Terry? Lodolo is so much better than Barlow and especially Suter .
Barlow and Suter can both take a hike next year … neither one any business in this bullpen any longer
Chokelahoma where the wins go slowly down the drain. I’m out
Reds needed a power lefty from the start of the season and never did anything about it.
This team wins in spite of Francona.
I agree I just don’t see where he has helped at all. Starting opening day he has made so many decisions that have backfired. I am sure he will make some poor excuse for pulling Lododo. The season is on the line Mr. Francona.
This bullpen is just not good enough.
Not by a long shot.
Despite all the clamoring for a BIG BAT, the team’s true weakness is on full display.
Same as it ever was.
Now Padres using his good bullpen…Let’s see what the Reds offense can do
Game, set, match! Reds will not score another run tonight against the Padres bullpen! In fact, they probably won’t get another hit!
This game was over when Tito pulled Lodolo!
When Francona pulled Lodolo, the Reds were up 3-0.
If a team can’t hold on to that lead, they have no business pretending that they are in “the playoff hunt”.
And the Reds can’t hold on to that lead.
Pads can come at you with power arms and can match up late like now.We can’t
Pads can come at you with power arms and can match up late like now.We can’t
TJ got a pitch to hit there. Anyway, we are going to have to overcome our own manager if we want to win this game. Tall task.
If he opts out and NYY pursues Tucker, CIN should target Bellinger. Good power, great defense, excellent OF arm. Can play CF and age into either corner OF or 1B.
The Reds relying on Phillips ina must-win tied game in the 7th inning…
Who they’ve got that’s better? Once it was tied, they couldn’t burn Santillan or Pagan.
I only mean the Reds bullpen is weak for that reason, there is no other relievers available
Phillips got the job done throwing the heater between 98 and 99 mph
I guess we now know who should have pitched the sixth.
Why didn’t Tyler bat for Jose Trevino? So many questions tonight. Wasted a bat and a player, IMO.
I thought the exact same thing. He is just not a good manager.
A couple of points, it may have been Francona’s worse decisions of the year and I really believe, like somebody said, a good center fielder catches that ball, sorry Freidl.
Agree with both points.
The only thing I can think of for pulling Nick is if the blister is flaring up, again. Don’t see any other reason because he was sailing along nicely.
Let’s be honest, Friedl basically failed to control a ball that was in his glove a foot or two above the ground. He was reaching in ahead of his path and attempting to backhand it. The ball somehow did not stay in his glove, and he basically ended up on all fours. The ball rolled out from under him. Marte picked it up and threw it back in.
Routine play? No. A play that should be made by a CF, yes.
The best I can say for Friedl on the play was that perhaps he was stuck in his mind whether he needed to make a full dive, saw belatedly he didn’t, lost his balance, or caught his cleats, and tumbled forward as the ball hit in his glove.
I think,sadly, we all know how this ends. Thanks Mr. Francona.
His management of the bullpen this game was ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS
Lux has 1 HR since June 24…..basically powering his way to the 5th hole every night.
You see lots of good teams where the 5th hitter hits a HR every other month. 3rd hitter too for that matter
Wow Sheets is unstoppable for Reds pitching…at the first pitch he singles again… MAybe they aren’t making good pitches to him
Reds and Seattle RL parlay would’ve paid nicely too. Seattle was down 2-0 and rallied to win 4-2
This is the type of game that we are just out gunned late and it’s not going to change this year.
As I sit and watch this game I still can’t get over the 6th inning decisions.
Why is Lux still playing and batting 5th?
The comments in here about Lodolo and the removing of him are comical.
Please share with us the knowledge that you had that would have kept him in the game.
Enlighten us, so we can all be as smart as you.
If you can observe the man after the 5th inning, it looked like he had just pitched 15 innings….suffering the effects from the flu a few days ago.
Not only that, but Sadak and Cowboy discussed Derek Johnson confronting Nick after every inning, asking if he was okay? We actually were shown it happening. He was still good after 4, apparently he was done after 5.
Yep. In addition, starting pitchers are particularly vulnerable the third time thru the lineup. This is not an opinion, it’s a fact borne of historical data. In addition to tiring, hitters have seen everything a starting pitcher has and they begin to take advantage of that.
The whole “he was cruising” thing has been debunked by tracking pitching results for years. But like many old shibboleths, it persists.
Agree.
Singer or HG wouldn’t come out there. Blister is the only reasonable explanation. If he was sick then so were the SD bats. I guess our pen would still blow it in the 7th instead of the 6th since Tito has seen better days
Yeah, the Reds needed to get to the 8th with a lead to have a shot at making 3 runs enough to win.
Happy you can watch the game! Some of us only have gameday. It doesn’t show us his appearance or his temperature. Maybe that’s why it is comical to you
Moll held lefties to .171 this year. Why did they get rid of him when Suter obviously can’t handle high leverage. Or low leverage. Or medium leverage. I wouldn’t hand him a baby or the kid will end up with a fractured skull
I can’t disagree with that.
Reds without any chance against those fastballs at 100-101.5 mph from the Padres fireballers Miller & Suarez… it was unfortunate to allow SD to tie the game…literally they lost it there
12 strike outs and counting. How many more relievers does SD have that throw 100 mph?
Twelve strikeouts and zero walks.Just never seems to change
Well, at least the Reds will have a fast ghost runner (Hayes) if Pagan survives the bottom of the ninth 😉 😉
Extras… dangerous territory for the Reds
Barlow had a 16.88 era in September and was throwing 89 mph heaters vs the Mets.
Maybe someone should’ve told Tito. Krallonites can debate me if you wish, but this is 2nd guessing. I said wt# is Tito doing when I saw Gibaut warm up on Opening Day and nothing has changed
Sorry but I am of the belief unless it was the blister Lodolo needs to buck up and give his team one more inning.
If you’re going Barlow/Suter then it wouldn’t matter
Always good to pull the ball with a man on 2nd
Cowboy concurs.
Man, Stephenson got a FB right down broad way and grounded out and Mm looked at stike 3. Rough going
Stephenson didn’t even move the runner
Cowboy calling out Stevenson….selfish baseball as usual for the Reds
Phillips should replace Barlow in the pecking order.
I don’t know how many times this has happened in extras …Reds can’t even move the ghost runner! what an incompetence…
Ballgame – no way Martinez gets out of this – hope I’m totally wrong !!!!
uh! come on Martínez…pathetic …
Reds were in 9th place in the NL for most of the year and it looks like thats where we’ll end up. I hope next year pans out somehow. The rotation is elite. Lowder is really good too. I think he’ll be solid at some point. Tito worries me though. The lack of running and any creativity whatsover
Another error. Another probably win thrown away
Shore up the bullpen and the pitching from front end to back end will be upper level dominant.
Hitting is where they’ve got work to be done. I’m fine if Francona retires again.
How did the Reds not even get their free runner to 3rd? Poor fundamentals.
And now game over. The Reds love to give games away.
lol little
League baseball – GET THIS SEASON OVER WITH ! What a COMPLETE AND TOTAL JOKE ! 21 million dollar man does not need to be back on this team next year … FRANCONA contributed mightily to this loss ….
Absolute WORST FUNDAMENTAL BASEBALL TEAM IN MLB
Let’s just say the Reds for the most part just lack the talent or skills to win games such as this.Tyler pulls the ball?MM looks at strike 3?
This team can’t go for the play offs because they aren’t good enough to do the right things at the right moment…They often lose in this pathetic way…
The Reds are a joke. Padres send two guys to the plate: bunt and sac fly wins it.
Once there are runners on 1st and third in extras with no outs why not walk the bases loaded to get the force at home ?
I’ve always thought that was the best move.
That’s what I did as coach unless the hitter coming up was about the worst on the team.
Always take home team in extras.
Huge advantage.
21 million dollar man can take his cash somewhere else next year … absolute WORST FUNDAMENTAL BASEBALL TEAM IN MLB ….. Francona contributed MIGHTILY to this loss … bizarre bullpen management !!!!
Tito has been a total disappointment as the reds manager….has made no difference….BTW….does anyone think Elly will hit another HR this season?
He took two of those slow curveballs for strikes tonight that I feel like in the first half of the season he would have hit 500 feet.
Atleast Lodolo shined. He could be a legit #2 or maybe already is. Pitching in Gabp and putting up a 3.10 era isn’t easy to do.
AA needs to hit the gym. Smart as a whip, but a little bit of a gut and runs out of steam every year by August. He’s not a big guy and needs to be stronger
I recall reading/hearing so much about “accountability,” which is the go-to word for every manager who gets hired in December, listening to the support-the-team drone that happens every September and wondering which dugout staff stats director didn’t notice that Sheets is 10-for-12 against them. You won’t get to save up your challenges on close plays either. Reds had a losing record against the Fish, the White Sox, the Nationals and Braves.