The Cincinnati Reds led 3-0, but the bullpen couldn’t get the job done and immediately gave up the lead in the first inning after Nick Lodolo exited the game. San Diego would win the game of bullpens from there and score the winning run in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off sacrifice fly to take the first game of the series.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (72-72) | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| San Diego Padres (79-65) | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| W: Peralta (6-1) L: Martinez (10-12) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Cincinnati grabbed a lead right off of the bat as TJ Friedl ended an 8-pitch at-bat with a home run to lead off the game. The score remained 1-0 until the 3rd inning when it was Friedl getting things going again as he picked up a 1-out single and then stole second base. After taking third base on a groundout he would come in to score on a 2-out hit by Elly De La Cruz.
For the most part, Nick Lodolo was cruising through the Padres lineup. He allowed just two hits and a walk in the first five innings of the game and was sitting at just 79 pitches while keeping San Diego off the scoreboard. In the bottom of the 5th his offense gave him another run when Austin Hays crushed a home run down the line and off of the Western Metal Supply Co. building to push Cincinnati’s lead to 3-0.
Despite not pitching in nearly two weeks and only being at 79 pitches, Nick Lodolo was finished after five innings. Perhaps he was still feeling the side effects from being sick last week, but no matter the reason the Reds brought in Scott Barlow for the start of the 6th. He’s give up a single to Fernando Tatis Jr. to begin the frame, but then get the next two hitters out. Gavin Sheets would come through with a 2-out double that brought in San Diego’s first run. Barlow would then walk the next batter and that ended his day. Brent Suter came out of the bullpen and gave up a 2-run triple to Jackson Merrill that tied the game up before getting a strikeout to end the inning.
The game remained tied into the 9th inning. Cincinnati went down in order in the top of the inning. Emilio Pagan entered the game for the Reds to face the bottom half of the Padres order. He got some help from Spencer Steer over at first base as he made a diving catch on a line drive down the line to end the inning and send the game to the 10th.
After the Reds offense failed to get their free runner in during the top of the 10th inning they sent Nick Martinez to the mound to try and shut the Padres down. Freddy Fermin failed to get a sacrifice bunt down on his first attempt as it fell in foul territory just out of the reach of a diving Spencer Steer. The second attempt was successful and on the play Nick Martinez couldn’t make the clean throw to first and Fermin reached base, but Jake Cronenworth remained at third base. Fernando Tatis Jr. came through, though, as he hit a fly ball deep enough to bring in the run on a sacrifice fly.
Key Moment of the Game
Jackson Merrill’s 2-run triple that TJ Friedl came up about a foot short of catching that tied the game up in the 6th inning.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds hitters walked zero times and struck out 13 times.
TJ Friedl and Austin Hays were the only Reds with more than one hit and they both homered in the game.
The 1-4 hitters for the Reds went 5-17 with three runs batted in. The rest of the lineup went 2-20.
Cincinnati is back to the .500 mark at 72-72. The Mets lost, which leads the Reds four games back of them. The Giants won, though, and they are now ahead of Cincinnati once again in the wild card chase – three games behind the Mets.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs San Diego Padres
Tuesday September 9th, 9:40pm ET
Zack Littell (9-8, 3.81 ERA) vs Michael Kind (4-2, 2.81 ERA)
They sure have been awful in extra innings. Late inning situational and clutch hitting has really been lacking this year.
Hitting in general.
Great point!
They have to lead league for guy on third nobody out and fail to move him let alone from second. Sweet Lou is spinning. The 1990 champs was the best I have seen at winning games like that. They moved runners.
Pinnella also had a much more experienced lineup with better hitters than Tito has. Not even close
=1000000, Makk s.
Terrible hitting team with men on base and 2 strikes. Sadly that is not new. Reds have been poor here for a number of years. Votto in his prime was one of the best reds ever had here for years
It will be interesting g to watch this off-season moves.
My bet is that the regime will just expect a turn around in situational hitting and offensive improvement from within the organization.
This is a really sorry era in Redsville.
hate the man on second rule for extra innings. seems like every time exceot the Reds can get a man in from 2nd with no outs. we execute rather poorly.
team.
They got Bar-lowed again. This team sets the bar too low, and whines when they just miss or miss out.
He has to be gassed – over-used as are most Reds RPs.
The Giants might be a team that would be interested in Stephenson this offseason. This could be one step in shedding salary in order to make room for Schwarber.
Wish Schwarber was a realistic option. I can’t see our ownership writing the check necessary. I think the lineup next year would be fun with Stewart at 1B, Marte in RF, Schwarber at DH… but I can’t bring myself to get my hopes up.
Giants have Bailey as their catcher. He basically shuts down the running game and threw Elly out a few times. They aren’t interested in Stephenson . Obviously you never read any comments because Doug has said repeatedly that Stephenson is one of the top 30 catchers in the league and the league is in terrible shape catcher wise.
Brent Suter has not been good the last few weeks. Reds have to find a decent left handed relief pitcher next year, for the lefty to lefty matchup.
Got him already. Sanmartin.
I agree. I understood sending him down after burning the bullpen up but that was days ago. A left hander – preferably San Martin – needs to be o. The roster. We aren’t even using Maxwell or zuluwtta so what’s big deal. Suter is not a situational lefty. He is an opener or long relief guy.
They have to get better middle relief. Average start today is 5.3 innings in the big leagues. If dont have 2 guys in that pen that can consistently give you solid middle relief work you can’t win. Look at the Brewers. They have solid pen top to bottom
This one hurt big time since we were up 3-0. Yeah, we know our pen is depleted. And we were one catch short in centerfield of taking this one home.
The Reds are not laying down.
Taking this season to the finish is absolutely necessary.
The game does not get easier, it just gets more real.
The season is still ours to win or lose.
It’s been an interesting year although frustrating since the midseason break. A real offensive plan is needed in the offseason for the Reds to take advantage of the cozy ballpark they play half their games in. They’ve got the starting pitching, but more than an afterthought is needed to have a strong bullpen next season with a close down closer whose either developed or acquired. The Reds have the makings of a winner. Francona needs to bring it all together in his second Reds season.
TR, you are spot on! We play half our games at a “homer friendly” ball park.
We need some “thumpers”, bullpen upgrade and our starting pitchers to remain healthy. Where would we be if Greene was healthy all year?
Reds have a solid closer in Pegan. Look at his numbers. He has converted 84% of his opportunities. League hitting 176 aginst him. How much better can you get. What they need is middle relief. With starters today only pitching 5.3 innings you must have solid middle guys. Issue here is not Tito, its an owner who refuses to spend money to get better. How about giving the manager a complete toolbox instead of screwdrivers with no hammers
My mistake. Pagan has had a fine season as the Reds closer. It would be great if the GM puts together an outstanding bullpen for 2026 to support the Reds outstanding starting pitching.
Did Francona clarify why he removed Lodolo after just 75 pitches ?
Because Tito is a nincompoop.
Moderator: Come on, Jesse. You’ve been around long enough to know we don’t allow personal attacks like this. Choose better words.
Possibly because it was his first game back after being sick. He may well have not recovered his stamina, and pitching is hard work.
ll.
Highly possible.
Going 85+ pitches is unwise after not pitching much in the last month.
If he overworked him and he blew out his elbow or shoulder, you’d be cussing him for that.
Abdolutely ridiculous. Maybe they can build up his pitch count by mid-November. I blame God’s gift to pitching coaches, who never met a relief pitcher he could help.
During post game interview – Lodolo said he was gassed. Tito also interviewed and said he would have like to keep him in but couldn’t. These are like playoff games!
They are, so wouldn’t you rather have a pitcher who isn’t exhausted?
A short-handed bullpen is evident, cannot do much with only two or three reliable arms.
Reds just don’t hit consistently enough.Too many games where they just don’t compete at the plate.Sure they are trying but they just aren’t good enough to win games night in and night out when they score 3 or 4 runs.They held on and won 3-2 on Sunday but not good enough last night and lost 4-3.Pen is on fumes and it shows.Pads pen is electric and ours is not and our pen has never been deep enough to not have Tiger and Pagan in games when we are up by 3 or 4 late and that’s why they have ran out of gas.
Hmmm. Pagan worked 6-2 and 7-2 games vs the Rays…I remember that. The one game in Wrigley we were up 4 I think with 2 outs/nobody on and TIto brought in Tony.
Barlow is on fumes. Alot of it is on Krall, but Tito deserves his share. He kept bringing in Lyon Richardson over and over and over despite stead negative results. Reminded me of Bell with David Hernandez and Heath Hembree. Not impressed w/Tito to say the least.
18-21 in one run games. I thought HOF managers made the difference there?
Probably thought wrong.
Hays has 5 HRs in the last 12 games….he wants that $12 mil. Tough call? Lean towards a pass w/his injury history. I’d like to keep Andujar and Stewart will be a keeper. I think he’ll adjust and he’s just a bigger/stronger guy then Steer w/more potential for numbers. MM finally starting hitting a little…I’d let him battle with Steer for 2B. Steer might end up a Ben Zobrist kind of guy that floats around and helps out.
Elly needs to get his head right or fight back against Tito if thats the case? He was flying around a month ago when he scored from 1st on a single, but rarely runs?
And then the #$% ground balls one after another? Smoked the ball in the 1st inning last night…hard 1 hopper off Darvish. If he elevates its 2-0. They have to get that fixed because no ground ball ever went over the fence.
Hines, CES, and Hector Rodriguez? Who knows, but I’d rather see any of them over Lux. Lux’s ops is down to .719. He’s ok. He’s a pro, but one thing he is not is a LF/DH on a good team
Like your assessment of Lux. Also, yes, on the observations of Stewart versus Steer. We’ve already seen Stewart reach out and snag a couple of throws just before they hit the dirt that Steer would have been forced to dig because of his shorter reach.
I’m glad that you mentioned the reach aspect. That’s been one of my pet peeve’s.
” Steer might end up a Ben Zobrist kind of guy that floats around and helps out.”
Ohhh, I like this idea/comparison.
I agree. A competitive Reds team in 2026 has Steer and Lux in utility roles. Both should play a lot, and both could provide solid coverage at several positions when the injury bug bites.
Streer had played hurt all year hurt. He had 90 RBI last year on a team offensively that was not good. What are going to get 90 runs batted in. Stewart is an unproven player at this point. Maybe he pans out and maybe he does not. He is not going to play. Stewart needs to get in better shape. I think he will. That is an issue with a long MLB season
Woke up this morning to the disappointment that is being a die-hard Reds fan … but not surprise. Checked out after 3 innings because slumber called.
This is September for us, but at lease we had a chance at some hope this season.
Watching Marte strike out over and over and over again is a hard watch.
Not sure statistically, but it seems Marte’s hot streak is ebbing. Maybe time to bring MM back up in the order.
Per BBRef, there is a 0.007 difference in Marte and Steer’s K rate for 2025. Steer 22.1% (or 0.221) and Marte 22.8% (0.228). Did this comp because both have been alternately used in the same lineup slot. Then there is the king of the #2 slot K rate, McLain at 28.7% (0.287), which is actually a smidge under his 2023 rate, 28.5% (0.285).
At the other end of the scale, for 2025 Marte has a 116 OPS+, Steer 89 OPS+, and McLain 80 OPS+. So, at least the Reds are seeing a significantly better offensive return on Marte’s Ks.
So disappointing to see this is the result once again. Another sad September in Redlegs land.
I didn’t get to see what happened in extras. I know that bunting has fallen out of favor and I can agree that there should be less bunting today then in the past. However, with the ghost runner extra innings rule, I would think that unless you have a big bat up you should bunt the runner to third to setup a runner on 3rd 1 out every time. Am I completely off base with this strategy? It seems that the Reds can never score in extras and we are essentially starting the inning with a leadoff double. It is actually incredible how poorly the Reds seem to score in extras.
Stephenson was the Reds first batter of the 10th. He rolled over on a ball and pulled a routine grounder to the 3B side of the infield. There was no chance for the ghosting Hayes to advance.
I can understand a road team not bunting in that situation because the bunt most likely limits them to a single run at best. However, the leadoff hitter should make some effort to hit the other way.
Agree with you Jim on this. Tito probably plays this different if he had another solid arm in his pen. Had to use Pegan in the 9th. So he is figuring he needs more than 1 run in the 10th. Reds not a good contact hitting team. Way too many strike outs
Barlow and Suter have combined for some stinkers lately. Goes back to my thoughts on only being confident in Santillan and Pagan out of this bullpen. Major area of upgrade for the offseason along with improving the offense.
Suter did not get any help from his defense on the triple. Both the Reds and Padres announcers described the ball as either in (Sadak/ Brantley) or off of (Padres’ announcers) Friedl’s glove on the fly.
A comment was made by the Padres announcers that the ball “hung in the air for awfully long”. They seemed to question the positioning of the Reds outfielders ahead of the play. Brantley wondered if Friedl had lost sight of the ball and not picked it back up in time.
For my part, in real time, I thought the ball hit in Friedl’s glove a foot or two above the ground as he attempted to backhand it. It was out of the glove before Friedl or the glove touched the ground on what appeared to me to be a half-reaching half half-diving effort by Friedl that ended up with Friedl on the ground.
Possibly the ball tailed very late into Friedl and essentially handcuffed him?
Marte was also in the vicinity and might have had a play on the ball himself, but he correctly peeled off when he saw Friedl was committed to attempting the play. Ultimately, when the ball rolled away from Friedl, Marte retrieved it and made the throw in.
I thought TJ was a little distracted by NM and how close he was?
When the glove/ ball contact happened, I’d judge Marte was standing at a near dead stop, almost the width of the track deeper than Friedl, and 2 to 3 body lengths to the right field side of Friedl.
I thought Marte did everything he could to get out of the way once it was clear Friedl was taking the play. That’s not to say Friedl might not have seen Marte and lost a bit of focus.
Perhaps this was what Brantley was referencing with the comment that Friedl seemed to lose sight of the ball and not pick it back up clearly?
I got Marte’s position wrong. I was able to get the Fanduel close-up back on a replay. He was braking and slowed 10-15 feet from Friedl, but shallow in front instead of behind him at that point. Like defense attorneys always say about eye witness testimony. 🙂
I should have looked at this instead of the long view highlight clips on MLB(.)com.
Do not think Marte crossed Friedl’s sight line ahead of the ball; but it was close.
Maybe they will hire a GM that has some urgency. Maybe he will say, ‘You know what, I’m tired of losing the same way 80 times a year.’ A guy can dream.
Got news for you Justin it will make no difference who the GM is as long as you have ownership that will not give the GM the budget he needs to compete with. You look at all the teams in the NL now who would make the playoffs, they all have payrolls that are 1.5 to 2x what the reds payroll is. You get what you pay for
Lodolo was rested. Must win game. Even if you still have the touch of the flu, grit it out. 75 Pitches and no runs allowed – with an overused bullpen?
Not impressed with Lodolo or Tito at all. Seems like these games matter more to the fans than those two.
I am glad you wrote that because those are my thoughts exactly. Knowing the situation Francona should have asked for one more inning and any quality pitcher would have replied no problem I will give it a shot. This team is not what you would call a tough, or for that matter, a smart team either. Stephenson’s at bat in the 10th was a hero ball effort instead of being a smart hitter and waiting for a pitch to hit the other way. This pretty much convinces me this season is over and from here on out the team should play for next year. I always was suspicious of the Francona hire and he has not won me over the way the team has performed or with some of his in game decisions.
What has the ownership done here to improve the team in the last 15 years? The owner is great at blaming the manager and coaches for the performances. They have made 0 effort for years to improve the talent. That means spending money which they will not do!
The problem is that you have no idea how Lodolo was feeling or how sick he had been. Maybe he was “gritting it out” by pitching at all and was completely spent by the time he threw the 75th pitch. In fact, I’d say that’s a likely scenario because both Tito and Lodolo would have been very well aware of the condition of the bullpen and the stakes involved.
winners are tougher than what transpired last night.
Remember, before last night, Lodolo had made just one start in a bit more than a month. He did not make any rehab starts when he had his blister issue in August and spent time on the IL. Then, he gets sick. Even in crunch time, human bodies have limits.
Unless you’ve heard otherwise, I think it’s irresponsible to lay any blame on Lodolo for being taken out of the game when he was.
+100000000.
Yup!
+10000000001
Elly would have had that ball in center
I agree with that.
I think it is also fair to say that on some to many nights, Friedl makes that play with relative ease. The reaction of both the Reds and Padres color analysts indicates to me that something out of the norm happened because the ball looked catchable to them, but was not caught. The Padres guy even said sometimes it is good to be lucky.
Marte coming at him full speed probably cost him at least a half -step.
Friedl might not have a great arm, but he is a gold glover at catching the ball.
The batted ball had an expected batting avg of .470
Having an inexperienced Marte running hard at him probably didn’t help Friedl at all. I’ll give him that. He could probably see his life flash before him. Marte is a big guy. I can see Friedl getting plowed over.
After I watched the replay from several angles several times, I think Marte actually had the better play, if Friedl had not been coming at his line from about 90 degrees left at full speed.
He (NM) was going to run under the ball if he had a clear path and have a backhand play above his head. Thank goodness he pulled up and at least avoided a collision. It looked like he was just hanging around because he was slowing and swerving to avoid a collision and allow Friedl his shot. Such is life.
The reaction of both Brantley and the Padres’ color analyst seemed to indicate they both thought the ball could have and should have been caught.
No way of knowing that. He hasn’t played outfield.
The above response was to Wizeman.
Our imaginations are wonderful things.
They are indeed. And on frequent display.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
This is on bullpen, again. It seemed a couple of weeks ago that Barlow has lost some zip. There is nobody that I would trust in that bullpen. Yu Darvish has always been tough on Reds. But they need more offense too. Another loss, another lost chance to gain on Mets. It will now take a miracle to pass Mets & Giants.
Math is really against us. 19 games left 4 out. Reds need a 10 game winning steak and the other teams play 500 ball just to probably tie.
Francona said “in a perfect world , Lodolo would pitch in the sixth, but it isn’t a perfect world” … Lodolo also said he was running on fumes when finished the 5th..I got in those words that he’s had a lack of playing time recently and it affected a little bit his shape…
Reds have a terrible bullpen problem since they only have 1 lefty (Suter) of 9 relievers and the reliability has been getting reduced to just Santillan and Pagan after Barlow is taxed and struggling recently. So they have to use Phillips, Maxwell, Richardson and Zulueta in high leverage situations…. Martínez hasn’t been a solution either so far as Krall thought …
The Reds should sign Hoby Milner this offseason. He keeps the ball in the park and doesn’t walk people. He’s an upgrade from Suter and the others.
I’d also kick the tires on bringing back Raisel Iglesias on a 1-year deal with a team option for Year 2.
I’d always try and sign someone like Jose Urena to a cheap deal and only pitch him in relief.
I would target Robert Suarez in free agency too.
Curb Ashcraft’s walks and the longball for Santillan and we have 2 good relievers.
I like Tito as a personality and he has a successful track record but he has not really managed any differently than Bell. Everything is by the book and it follows the same pattern: rely completely on a bullpen, even if the bullpen is THE weakness and not any kind of strength.
Having stated that, you cannot blame Tito for the bullpen composition. Cheap guys that throw hard is the problem. We need dudes that can pitch. I’m fine with 1-2 flamethrowers that learn to pitch at the big league level and I’m not living in a fantasy world where I think we can afford the most expensive pen in the league, but we constantly get beat between innings 7 and 10.
Our bullpen is now 28th in baseball in BB/9. 24th in HR/9. But hey! We’re 10th in velo. We’re tied for 5th in Games. All of this proves my points above.
Suter and Barlow are relatively cheap, but they don’t throw hard. And all teams rely completely on their bullpens. Pitching has changed, for good or ill, but the change is in place and the days of starters routinely going 7, 8 or 9 innings are gone. Given how hard pitchers throw, I doubt that pulling them after five or six innings is coddling them, but there’s also the third time through the batting order effect, and it is very real. It may be a product of different pitching philosophy or it may simply be that somebody bothered to notice it and realized that it could result in strategy that would win games. Your comment about Tito was measured, but for some, the bloom seems to be off the rose. Tito took over a team with weaknesses that all of us recognized: hitting, bullpen and defense. This was not a roster that any manager past or present was going to take to the WS. Tito seems–from the outside–to have done what a manager can do. Bad decisions? All managers make them, particularly if we count decisions that don’t work as bad. I hope he’s back next season. And, of course, I hope for considerable improvement in the roster’s areas of weakness. Long-winded: I’m putting off sweeping my chimneys.
Hunter Greene has his best performance the 3rd time through the lineup this year. They are hitting .156 against him.
He is a guy, that if he is rolling, you watch and enjoy. He’ll let you know when he’s tired. Either his stuff, his command, or he’ll tell you. Catchers can tell too.
This automatic, 70, 80, 90, 100 pitch count does not matter at all.
Nick Lodolo? Same thing. Look it up on fangraphs. His best metrics are the 3rd time through the lineup.
What managers should do, is do what they did for 100 years before insanity, and read pitchers. They’ll tell you when they need to come out.
And no offense to Barlow, Suter, or any pitcher that is talented enough to make it and earn multiple years in the bigs, you do not automatically and consistently take out your #1 draft pick for guys that are not as good, are over-used, and have many more off days than sensational days. Its a recipe for an average .500-esque team.
Hunter may be an exception that proves the rule. I don’t know the source of your contention that, essentially, pitch counts don’t matter. Certainly they would matter less for someone like Bronson Arroyo than they would for Hunter Greene or Chase Burns, but throwing a baseball 95mph with an overhand motion is not what shoulders evolved to do. It may be that that the managers and pitching coaches and trainers throughout professional baseball are wrong and you are right, but pitching injuries would seem to support their position.
I should have added that neither Hunter nor Lodolo makes a good poster boy for the irrelevance of pitch counts: both are oft-injured, and Hunter has had TJ surgery.
The average start today in MLB is 5.3 t ainnings. Nobody is averaging 6 linnings. With this model today you must have middle relief. You can’t just have 2 guys to pitch the 8th and 9th. If you dont have them in your system then sign them or trade. This is on the owner to give him the money to do this and not just 50 cents on the dollar forcing the GM TO find a barium. How has that worked
We have a 4.85 ERA in the 8th inning.
Terrible in 1 run games 18-20
Terrible in extra inning games (3- 14)
Terrrible bullpen in 7th and 8th innings. – especially 2nd half.
We just don’t have the situational hitters or enough bullpen horses this year. That has to be resolved in 2026.
Nice game by Phillips. He may be securing a 2026 spot. Barlow is just cooked, not really his fault.
12 months ago in Louisville, Connor Phillips had just returned from AZ after being sent to the Rookie complex from AAA to just throw bullpens and get his game together. Since then, he has also moved from starting pitcher to the bullpen, another big adjustment. His results won’t stand up and yell Most Improved, but he might have come as far as anyone else from 2024 to 2025 showing up this year. I root for him because of that. Marte, too, for parallel reasons.
Hate that they have to give the most appearances to their most mediocre pitcher. Not only is he not that great he is severely overused. Between his first start in the major leagues and his implosion last night the Reds are about sunk.
There are 2 points I would question about Francona’s managing last night.
1) If Martinez was up to be used last night, why wasn’t he brought in for the sixth inning to try and bridge to Santillan and Pagan for the eighth and ninth innings?
Then again, maybe Martinez was an emergency, unexpected move after the events of innings six through nine?
2) When Trevino was taken down for a pinch hitter (in the seventh), why was Stewart burned as the pinch hitter versus just sending Stephenson up as the pinch hitter since he was coming on to catch anyway?
In what universe does a manager send a 21 year old with 15 MLB PAs and 47 OPS+ up to hit for the supposedly franchise catcher who has a career 103 OPS+ and 90 OPS+ for the current season? There has to be stuff going on behind the curtains that would amaze us if we knew the half of it.
Let me clarify my final sentence above:
In what universe does a manager send a 21 year old with 15 MLB PAs and 47 OPS+ up to hit ***instead of*** the supposedly franchise catcher who has a career 103 OPS+ and 90 OPS+ for the current season? There has to be stuff going on behind the curtains that would amaze us if we knew the half of it.
We can only speculate and I’d almost rather stick a no. 2 pencil in my eye. Which might sum up being a Reds fan when you think about it.
So true. The mysterious use of pinch-hitters has flummoxed me quite a few times since late July. Including Marte being taken down early, leaving Joe and Espinal to hit in crucial late-game situations, and Andujar being replaced early and creating the same problem. All of which contributes to the dreadful 3-14 record in extra innings.
It think its simple. Tito only plays glove first players late in games and Stewart was only going to pinch hit as he’s on the roster for his bat and not considered a good defensive player, especially as a 21 yo with Hayes.McLain and Steer at 3b/2b/ss. As good as Trevino was hitting early, he’s had a bad second half so Tito knew Stewart was only going to pinch hit once in the game and quite simply, Trevino was the only player in the order that Tito would call down and send up a rookie. (Lux against a lefty I suppose but that didnt materialize) Tito wasnt going to play Stewart in the field late in the game, nor was he going to pinch hit him for Friedl, Marte, Elly, Hays, Steer or Hayes or McLain
Trevino was the only player that Tito would pinch hit for.
OS>> But why does the supposed #1 catcher, who has a 90 OPS+ this year and a career 103 OPS+, not bat in that situation since he is coming on to catch anyway? That’s the part that doesn’t make sense.
Sending Stewart up for Tevino is saying to Stephenson and every man in the dugout that Stewart was the preferred guy between TS and Stewart to risk their 20th out of the game on.
And in this process, as you noted, they gave away their ace in the hole to bat for Lux, the DH, if the Padres sprung a LH pitcher on him when, in fact, Stewart’s greatest value may have been as a decoy to keep Lux in the game by keeping a LH reliever out of the game for the Padres.
Or this is how I see it.
@ Jim
Trevino was getting pinch hit for.
I think he wanted to get Stewart an opportunity knowing that he otherwise wasn’t going to play and he’s the Reds hottest young player who homered earlier this week to straight center. I mean Stephenson did hit in the 10th in a big situation needing to move the gift runner at 2nd to 3b and grounded out to SS instead of hitting the ball to RF and moving the go ahead run.
Stephenson v Stewart and which at bat they got didnt impact anything. The Reds bullpen and lack of situational hitting or any hitting for that matter after the 6th inning were the impactful things.
OS>I don’t necessarily disagree with you. But it stinks to high heaven to burn a raw rookie hitter when a guy who is a better than league average hitter over a 5-year career is going to be the resulting defensive player anyway just to be sure and get the kid a PA.
And what about Benson, who if anything, has been known for running into fastballs with some regularity, if they wanted someone other than Stephenson to take that 7th inning PA? He’s had 2 pinch hits in the last week, one of them key in stealing a comeback walkoff win from the BlueJays.
The Reds’ world is going to get worse before it gets better if they start making decisions based on getting someone a PA just for the sake of getting him a PA when there appear to be other, better options.
And finally, Stewart for McLain in the 2nd spot of the 10th with a man on 2b would have turned the Juice up; and, they still would have Espinal for the field in the bottom of the inning.
100% correct on all accounts Redsvol but its the same story as last year.Its power arms and power hitters that the Reds must develop or sign in free agency to even compete.I don’t think they will do either because when Krall traded for Hayes pointing out preventing runs wins game well I got it.I expect the majority of the position players return and the hope will be MM will turn it around and Hays will be injury free and Steer will return to 2023 levels.Stewart will make the team but if he can’t start now then why can he start next year?Just what the Reds do.Reds have done a great job of developing starting pitching and with out it this year we would lose several more games then we have.Playing at GABP the Reds should win 50 games because that’s what good teams do.Win at home and play 500 or close to it on the road but with little power they will never reach 50 and are lucky they have a winning record at home.Did anybody see what Toronto did to us?We should do that to the visitors every night or be a threat to?Pads didn’t do anything special last night because they didn’t have to just keep it close and when they tied it and brought in the power arms we knew what would happen and it did.
Tito and DJ are the only two people on the planet who don’t know that Barlow and Suter are cooked. Tito is like all old managers; they all want Proven Veterans, rather than young guys. The Padres throw Mason Miller and Suarez, and the Reds throw the over-the-hill soft-tossers like Barlow and Suter.
As I say, no organization in human history — not even Kentucky football — can sink to the occasion like the Cincinnati Reds.
This loss kind of pointed to the Red biggest weaknesses, lack of Offense/clutch hitting late in games, and the Bullpen being Mediocre or below average often especially late in the year.
I actually thought the bullpen was not bad till about 15 games ago or so. I’d give them about a 5.25 on a scale of 10 currently but may dip below 5 for the whole season if the struggles continue.
Seems like they aren’t really getting the most value out of Martinez down the stretch they envisioned when switching him to the bullpen.
In hindsight the better moves would probably have been to trade for 2 good relievers and keep Martinez in the rotation. But I think injuries dictated some of those moves at the deadline if I remember correctly too so I know it made sense at the time.
But there are a lot of moves that seem to have made sense in the last several years that don’t seem to be making the team better overall.
Suter is a rubber arm who can eat innings to save the bullpen in blowouts. Availability is his job and he is good at it. Think of him as a knuckleballer. I hope he’s back next season.
If you’re asking him to get out of a jam with a 3-1 lead and the season on the line, with the expanded September roster no less, something has gone wrong.
Suter is a phenomenal human being, clubhouse guy, and representative for the team. He always takes the ball. Its up to management to find the right spots for him to take the ball. I personally don’t think it is high leverage moments.
Exactly Noyes
I agree about the part of getting out of the jam – but heck no , he can go …. He’s part of the problem with weak bullpen arms ….cant break an egg …. Barlow can also accompany him out the door
At the risk of judging … oh well, here goes … I want to be impressed with Lodolo. I want his presence in the rotation to shake the knees of opposing teams. I want to see his name and think, “The Reds are gonna be OK when his turn comes around.” With each passing season, the less likely he is to be any of the above. He should have come up with a better line after throwing 79 pitches last night than, “I was gassed.”
For the good of a team desperately trying to reach the postseason, the pitcher I describe at the top would want the ball, even if his head or his butt were hanging over the toilet. We don’t have to go back to Nolan Ryan or Roger Clemens or Curt Schilling. You had to rip the ball out of Johnny Cueto’s hand. Verlander or Scherzer would tell a coach to get the heck off of his mound and let him compete. But somehow we’ve reached a place where starting pitchers (not just Lodolo) — despite throwing career highs of 130ish innings, spending multiple stints on the DL, and only being asked to finish 5-6 innings — reach a wall in September and hand games they’re supposed to own over to an overused bullpen. I know. Lodolo had been sick. He had a nasty blister last month. Did I hear someone say he wasn’t in game shape? I’m not that old, but sorry, I just don’t get it. His career-high is still 9 wins. He’ll be 28 soon. He was the 7th overall pick in the draft six years ago. Let’s hope Burns or someone can be the horse this franchise lacks.
Say what you want about Elly losing power as the season progressed. At least he wants his name in the lineup every day. He wants to battle for his team. I’ll take that kind of drive and heart all day — all season — long.
On the other hand, how many times have we seen pro athletes cost their team by not having the integrity to admit they are not at their best? As I pointed out above, Lodolo returned from the IL without a rehab stint, pitched one game, and then was sick enough that he was told to stay home from the ballpark. Unfortunately, it takes time to rebuild conditioning after injury and illness. It’s really not Lodolo’s fault that the Reds lack the pitching depth to cover the one inning he couldn’t manage last night.
+10000000, BK.
@BK, I agree with you in principle. However, for me, the word integrity is a bit too strong.
Excepting for possibly the “can’t miss” super superstars, these guys need an enormous ego verging on feeling invulnerable, whether worn on their shoulder or buried under the hood, to make it to MLB and stick.
I prefer to believe the inability to face up to injuries that do not literally keep them from running, throwing, or swinging a bat more reflects a lack of honest self-realization mixed with a touch of humility rather than a lack of integrity.
@Jim, by integrity, I mean putting the team first; something that goes part and parcel with putting a team uniform on and representing one of America’s great cities. Ego (pride) is almost always the root cause when any person sacrifices their integrity in a big or small way. I applaud Lodolo for admitting he was not the best player to pitch the fifth inning. To me, this is a fine example of integrity. I’m not saying we should add him to Mount Rushmore, but he acted the way that I hope I would act in a similar situation.
WHY do the Reds only have one lefty in the bullpen?!!!!
Because they sent Moll down?
As nearly as I can tell, Moll got sent back because he wasn’t going to be available the next day, and they wanted an additional LHP (SanMartin). Then SanMartin pitched that next day and was immediately dispatched for a RH pitcher (Phillips?).
Now, Moll and SanMartin are stuck in AAA until the middle of the month unless another pitcher comes up with an injury.
Anyone else here old enough to recall Paul (Baby) Dixon from the WLWT/ Crosley/ AVCO regional TV network in the 1960s to 1980s or so? One of Paul Baby’s signature lines when things went wrong fits here: “What a way to run a railroad!!!!”
We started the year with Rogers, Suter, Moll, Alex Young, and Joe LaSorsa vying to innings and/or a job. Miley was also hanging around.
We traded Rogers.
Moll started the year hurt and had to work his way back but is now optioned.
Young (AAA) was injured and is out for the year.
LaSorsa was ineffective.
Miley …
SanMartin was here then he wasn’t.
We can all imagine how we want others to behave in order to meet our imaginations.
Perhaps Lodolo said just what you are fantasizing before the game began and pushed himself to hold SD and give his team five innings will still sick with the flu.
Then passed the baton to the rest of the team.
Which they dropped.
Does a half strength EDLC show determination and grit?
Or is it a stubborness to play every day, when taking some days off to get well might give another player the opportunity to contribute.
Your judgmental opinions of others’ commitment to there jobs is very naive.
Hmm. Sounds definitively judgmental to call EDLC “stubborn” for playing every day. Cal Ripken was called a second Iron Man for doing that. Could it be that Francona WANTS Elly to play every day — and NEEDS him to play every day? And could it be Francona wanted Lodolo to go another inning for the team — needed him to go another inning? According to his postgame comments, the answer clearly sounds like a “yes.” But you go ahead and call Elly “stubborn” for battling for his team, hypocritically claim others are judgmental … and be offended that I pointed out the obvious about the state of starting pitching in the year 2025.
Once again, you’re making all of this up….projecting your opinions onto a situation that you know nothing about.
My proposal that EDLC’s so-called ‘grit’ as you value might be equally suspect to your uninformed judgement.
Francona has options at SS…McLain and Espinal to give EDLC a break.
EDLC has said his goal is to play 162 games. Irrespective of his performance.
But somehow you find Lodolo suspect?
Your confusion is leading you into unconvincing territory.
Or maybe you just like to argue?
He didn’t call EDLC stubborn, he asked whether he was. I certainly agree that the guy who writes Lodolo’s material should have found a better word than “gassed.”
Oh I think players want to play regardless.Hays since his last IL stint rarely goes back to back to back days in the field.Fraley was DFA when he thought he should play more.Benson accepted the fact he wan’t going to play.Steer has been hurt all year yet just recently has set 2 or 3 games to get Stewart in but he can’t like it at all.Andujar is I guess still limping.MM is coming back from shoulder injury and who knows how he feels.Elly IMO needs to set a few games and Friedl seemed to respond after his day out of the lineup in what we call the Marte adventure to never never land.Players fear losing their jobs so they will do whatever to stay in the lineup.Now this is not about the time of the year when players every where are trying to hang on cause Hays and Steer and even MM have been hanging on all year long because the team allowed them to do it.Some may say well what else can you do if you have nobody to step in?I say you will never know until you find out.Reds are hammering the ball as a team and as individuals in the minors.Yet only Stewart has joined the team and he still is watching just as often as he is playing.The Reds haven’t hit all year long and strikeout out way way too much and we still go with the walking wounded night after night after night with expectations that somebody will suddenly rise up and lead the team offensively.Its too late this year anyway.So we look to next year with hope and well you know.
The Elly and Lodolo situations are totally different. Elly needs a rest from playing every day, all Lododo needed was to gut out one more inning and then take 5 days off. The sad thing is that, in my opinion, the Hall Of Fame manager failed in both cases.
And had Lodolo, just back from being sick and, in his words, “gassed,” pitched another inning and gotten hammered, would you have been satisfied that Tito and he had made the right call? It strikes me that nobody commenting on this knows what Lodolo’s condition was, and few if any have first hand knowledge of the physical demands of pitching in MLB. It’s one thing to go about a day in front of a computer or on the phone when you’re feeling like utter crap and quite another when you’re contemplating substantial physical effort.
I agree with all you said except for one thing. We all know of examples of players who have gone out and played when totally gassed for the good of their team. Micheal Jordan, Willis Reed, Curt Schilling and the list could go on and on. On a personal note I was run over by a truck and faced a lot of pain to learn to walk again so I know what it feels like to go out and when you just don’t want to. I would lay in bed and pray that my Physical Therapist would not come get me for my workouts. I learned that the mind can be so much stronger than the body and yes I think my experience was a little more difficult than pitching one inning of baseball when he didn’t feel well. I also think fans would feel so much better if he had given it a try.
I don’t doubt that your experience was painful and difficult, Mark. My point is that Lodolo may have already gone the extra mile by pitching for as long as he did, and it may be that he knew he would no longer be effective. We just don’t know, so it seems unkind to assume that he quit when he didn’t need to.
+1000 GMR
When you look at the last 10 full seasons in MLB (2015-2025), taking out the 2020 Covid year, I think you could make a case that the Reds are the least successful franchise in MLB during this time, 30th out of 30 teams. I think it’s close between the Reds, Angels, Pirates, Marlins, and Rockies.
The Pirates had a great team in 2015, Angels in 2015 had 85 wins, Rockies 91 wins in 2018, and Marlins with an 84 win playoff team a few years ago. I think the Reds are the only team in majors in the last 10 seasons that have not won more than 83 games in a season.
I’d say overall the Pirates and Marlins have been worse season in and season out without much to cheer for. At least the Reds held our interest in 2021, 2023, 2025 for a good amount of the season. But that’s not saying a whole lot overall.
My opinion is the Angels are the least successful current organization, as they tend to have a decent payroll I think often, have had a superstar in Trout for a long time, are in a beautiful area of the country, have that kind of Disneyland appeal, etc. But they just seem to make so many bad free agent signings, and just seem uncompetitive annually.
What’s disappointing about the Reds is many franchises I’d say were kind of similar like Baltimore, Minnesota, Kansas City, Arizona, Detroit, all broke out and had at least a big year or years at some point in the last 5 years or so, made the playoffs, etc., but yet the Reds are still trying to figure it out.
Some would say being around that .500 mark year in year out is one of the worst places you could be, not good enough to make the playoffs, and not bad enough to kind of rebuild, which could be exciting if done right.
I don’t think the Reds should tear it down and rebuild, but I think they need a different perspective moving forward, new leaders in the front office. I think though they are going to believe they are on the cusp of a really good team, and if everyone can stay healthy with a few additions here in there, in 2026, that they’ll be really good. It could happen, but that’d be seemingly another year of guessing and hoping.
Lots of good points in your comment. My perspective, the Reds are on the right path, but it’s taking toooooooooooooo long. Why? Baseball’s economic landscape is a total mess as revenue disparity is increasing. The franchise has made many, many mistakes under the Castellini ownership group. I don’t want to diminish those miscues. But, for the first time, under Krall, the Reds are building a team that is improving from year to year while retaining a strong minor league system that can further bolster the roster in the coming seasons. Over the last couple of offseasons, the Reds have realistically needed to add six to eight players via trade or free agency. This offseason, the Reds likely need to add about four players–two pitchers and two position players. That would bump some decent players into bench and/or AAA roles and give them some quality and quantity depth. Like the other GMs, Krall isn’t perfect, but his track record is good, and there is definitely a solid core to build around. Let’s hope MLB gets a TV deal to replace the $550M deal that ESPN walked away from, so they have some discretionary dollars to use to acquire four decent players this offseason while retaining our core players as they move through the arbitration process.
With the Reds season long inability to hit, not going with guys like Stewart, Hinds, and HRod is unfathomable Yes, it’s distinctly possible, if not likely, that they won’t hit either. Nonetheless, it is unquestionably true that the Reds aren’t. And EDLC really looks like he needs a break.
That’s pretty much how I feel about a lot of the bullpen, many of whom appear to be gassed, including Barlow and Suter.
I don’t understand why he did use Phillips or Martinez in the 6th, both of whom have fresher arms. And while it’s distinctly possible that Philips or Maxwell won’t pitch well, either, they seem to me to be better bets than Suter or Barlow, simply because they have much better stuff.
But Tito and Krall are going to go with the Proven Veterans.
Lineup for Tuesday
Friedl CF
Stewart 1B
EDLC SS
Hays LF
Lux DH
Stephenson C
Benson RF
Hayes 3b
McLain 2b
What say they either use Andujar or put him on the IL and bring up Dunn, Hinds, or CES. None of the three would require a corresponding 40 man move.
Yep, it’s hard to understand why Andujar has hit so well, but played so little unless he’s too hurt to play.
Hinds 2-4 tonight. .305/.942
Bats have won 10 in a row.
I’d personally rather Lux get some time off instead of Steer. He’s been struggling. Steer has been fairly hot in the last week or so.
Baffling personnel moves and non moves are a Reds tradition.
I am not sure that anybody even cares any more but the Mets are losing again 4 to 0 to the Phils. Well, at least the Giants are happy and maybe St Louis and Arizona.
Oh, we’ll all care if the Reds can somehow pull the game tonight out of the hat.
Look like no game thread? I just saw Stewart hit a HR. So awesome.