The Cincinnati Reds played two games on Sunday and both games ended in blowout wins for someone. Cincinnati beat up on the Arizona Diamondbacks at home in a 13-4 victory, but the Reds got clobbered in the road game against the Padres that saw San Diego win 14-3.
Diamondbacks vs Reds: The Highlights
Cincinnati got a scoreless top of the 1st inning from Brady Singer. The Reds offense then put together a rally to bring in a run after TJ Friedl walked to begin the inning and then saw Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Spencer Steer follow up with singles to take a 1-0 lead.
Brady Singer followed up with two more shutout innings before turning the game over to Emilio Pagan for the 4th inning. The Reds closer retired the first two batters of the inning but then he walked Ryan Waldschmidt and paid the price for it as LuJames Groover followed with a double into the left-center gap to tie the game up.
In the 6th inning Elly De La Cruz reached on a throwing error. That led to Will Benson getting to hit with two outs and he came through with one of the strangest home runs you’re going to see. He hit a chopper that first made contact with the ground 12 feet from the plate but it went over the head of the first baseman and hugged the line and then got by the right fielder and rolled to the wall as Benson turned on the speed and rounded the bases for an inside-the-park 2-run homer that put Cincinnati up 3-1.
Luis Mey came out to pitch the next inning and gave one of the runs back. After getting the first two batters out he gave up a single, had a passed ball advance the runner, and then gave up an RBI ground-rule double that made it a 3-2 game before striking out the next hitter to end the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the inning the Reds got that run back on two doubles that were about as opposite as they could be. Christian Encarnacion-Strand doubled off of the wall and nearly hit it through the wall in right as it had an exit velocity of 112 MPH. Rece Hinds then blooped a double the other way with an exit velocity of just 76 MPH that plated a run.
Cincinnati wasn’t done there, though. Prospect Carlos Jorge came through with an RBI triple to center and then Rafhlmil Torres came through with an RBI double as the lead was extended to 6-2. Tyson Lewis then went the other way for a 439-foot home run that came off the bat at 110 MPH to make it 8-2.
Arizona got some of that back in the top of the 7th against Graham Ashcraft. He gave up a single to begin the inning and then the first pitch to Jordan Lawlar went 392 feet for a 2-run home run. Ashcraft would retire the next four hitters, including the first one of the 8th before he was replaced by Darren McCaughan who got out of the inning unscathed.
When the 8th inning rolled around the Reds youngster hitters went back to work. After Rafhlmil Torres reached on an error Tyson Lewis followed up with a single. A pitching change came next but it made no difference as Ryan McCrystal crushed a 3-run homer down the right field line. Three batters later it was Zavier Warren that came through with a home run of his own, a 2-run blast that went 403 feet into left center that made it 13-4 for the Reds.
Darren McCaughan returned to the mound for Cincinnati in the top of the 9th inning and got a 1-2-3 inning to seal the win as the Reds moved to 7-6 for the time being.
You can see the box score for this game here.
Reds vs Padres: The Highlights
It was a tough start for Chase Burns in the 1st inning. He gave up a 1-out double and then a 2-out walk before Gavin Sheets hit a long 3-run home run. The next inning he retired the first two batters before giving up a single and then an RBI triple that made it 4-0. Things went better in the 3rd inning for Burns as he tossed a perfect inning on 14 pitches. He returned for the 4th inning and got the first two batters out before reaching his pitch limit for the day and handing things over to Nate Peterson who completed the inning on five pitches.
Chase Petty came on in relief and tossed two shutout innings, sending the game to the 7th still at 4-0. In the top of that inning the Reds finally got on the board with a little help from the Padres pitching as P.J. Higgins was hit by a pitch with two outs to extend the inning. Two pitches later Cincinnati’s top prospect Alfredo Duno hit a 2-run home run into left-center to make it 4-2.
San Diego got one of those runs back thanks to some wild pitching from Zach Maxwell. He seemed like he was going to be able to work around a walk, but on what was his third strikeout of the inning he threw a wild pitch and the batter was able to reach first base. Another wild pitch to the next batter followed and that brought in a run.
Kevin Abel took over for the Reds in the bottom of the 8th and like Maxwell he was struggling with his control. He walked four batters in the inning, bringing in a run while recording just one out before he was replaced on the mound by Jared Lyons. Things went from bad to worse as Lyons threw two run-scoring wild pitches, gave up an RBI single, an RBI double, and a 3-run home run before recording an out. He eventually got out of the inning but it was 14-2 before that happened.
Cincinnati started out the top of the 9th inning with a single from Ruben Ibarra and then a double from Mason Neville. Ibarra would come in to score on a ground out but it would be the final run of the game. This one ended about four minutes after the game in Goodyear did, bringing the Reds back to .500 at 7-7.
You can see the box score for this game here.
News and Notes
The Reds won one and lost one. In both games the two teams involved scored 17 runs and both games were blowouts.
In the win over the Diamondbacks the Reds had eight extra-base hits, including four home runs. 12 different players had a hit for Cincinnati. Two players had multi-hit games and both of those guys came off of the bench. Those two guys – Tyson Lewis and Ryan McCrystal both homered in the game and both played in Single-A Daytona last year.
The pitching staff struck out 11 Arizona hitters and had just three walks. When the game was over the ERA on the spring of the Reds pitchers who made an appearance in this game were as follows: 9.00, 18.00, 10.13, 27.00, 27.00, and 1.93. The 1.93 belongs to Darren McCaughan, while the rest belong to guys who all pitched in Cincinnati last season.
In the loss to San Diego the Reds had three errors and threw five wild pitches, including one by Kevin Abel that missed the strikezone by about 15 feet. Hawkeye says the pitch height was 10.5 feet as it reached the plate, but I don’t believe that to be accurate. You be the judge.
Newly acquired Reds reliever Kyle Nicolas pitched this afternoon for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. He walked a batter, gave up two hits, and allowed two runs while recording just one out against Team Great Britain. On the flip side of that, Reds prospect David Lorduy threw 2.2 hitless innings for Team Colombia this afternoon against Team Cuba.
Monday will see the Reds at home and playing just one game. Rhett Lowder will start for Cincinnati as they host the Athletics at 4:05pm ET. The game will be radio only. Also scheduled to pitch in the game for the Reds: Connor Phillips, Sam Moll, Yunior Marte, and Tejay Antone.
credit to Benson for hustling all the way home.
Not sure hustle has been a question for Will.
Benson has always been one of my favorite players to watch because of his attitude, and fire. That being said he’s going to have a hard time making this club out of spring training.
Kevin Abel: “I was working on my knuckleball and that doesn’t break well in this Arizona weather.”
Kinda keeps batters loose at plate when pitcher doesn’t have a clue where it is going.
I can’t help worrying about the Reds pitching struggles
It’s spring training. Don’t be as high on the offense as it seems, don’t be as low on the pitching as it seems. The balls won’t fly so easily in those 50 degree April games, and the ball will break a little more in air that contains humidity.
Seems like Reds would have been better off staying in Florida for ST
Other than being more fun and closer for we fans, why?
Much cheaper deal in AZ, so I’ve been told.
It makes sense since the Reds were spring training fixtures in Tampa for 45 years or so where the Tampa Bay football stadium is now located, and across the street from the proposed stadium for the Rays.
Sarasota is where the machine attended spring training for many years. Tampa has the AAA Yankees. The Rays play at their stadium because the Trop was damaged 2 years ago with Hurricane Milton. pirates are in Bradenton, Baltimore is in Sarasota. And how lucky am I to live in the middle of all that
Better weather and shorter travel for Spring games in Arizona. Florida is a closer drive, but air travel is pretty inexpensive these days. Aside from the shorter driving distance for fans, AZ is a better location for Spring Training, complex league games, and the team’s primary training facility.
Looked online during the game and it said Bensons homer went 12 feet. I figured it was spring training and it must be a miss print. 12 FEET ! Crazy
I love the inside the park homerun… most exciting play in baseball. I am all for moving the walls way back and faster surfaces in baseball stadiums to make them more common place.
Yes it’s only ST, but it’s starting to look like Ashcraft should start in Louisville. Nothing is going his way right now.
Ashcraft is supposed to have good stuff, but he seems to make a lot of mistakes up in the strike zone, for a guy that is supposed to have a power sinker.
And I also think that there may be second thoughts on Chase Burns. I know it’s Spring Training, but I think both Williamson and Lowder are (overall) pitching better than Burns. Tomorrow will be an important start/appearance for Lowder. If he does well, and comes out feeling good, and IF he continues, he may be the fifth starter, and Chase Burns may start the year in Louisville.
I think there is still a question about Williamson’s overall strength, as he did have TJ surgery last year. Lowder pitched in the Arizona Fall League, if I am not mis-remembering.
Depends on the Greene report. I suspect the Reds already know more than they’re saying. Hence, Abbott is the Opening Day starter. Hopefully, Greene isn’t out too long.
Yeah, the lack of reporting on Greene is very concerning.
Why? The report from the Reds was that he wasn’t going to see Dr. El Attrache until Monday. After that they would talk with El Attrache and Kremchek to see what they both thought the plan should be. There’s nothing to report yet.
That is information that I was unaware of. My apologies if you included that information in one of your articles. I don’t read all of them. I was just comparing how quickly news came back on Blake Dunn’s MRI, to the silence on Greene’s, which I thought was before Dunn even got injured. That led me to believe they were likely looking at medical options and second opinions, which would not be good news. That is where my concern came from. Thank you for the information Doug.
@LDS, I think even if they say Greene is good to resume pitching the clock for him to be ready by opening day is already past. That’s why they went with Abbott.
Now, I’m not expecting the news to be Greene’s good to go, but hopefully it won’t be a season long issue.
It seems that Ashcraft is developing what I call “Mey Maxwell Syndrome”, where when he misses with a pitch he tends to miss middle middle.
I wish he had a power sinker. He basically only threw two pitches last year – cutter and slider. It is a weird combination and not enough variety to succeed, in my opinion. Everything breaks glove side. The slider can be great. Wish he paired it with a fastball that had some run. With this combination of pitches, he has to be perfect.
Ashcraft has always thrown 97-98 cutter with supposedly good movement but the “good” movement is very hit and miss and when it doesn’t move it is very straight. When it does move it usually isn’t close enough to the zone to get hitters to swing at it. 3-4 yrs in he hasn’t changed anything. Keep throwing hard cutters and hope they have movement. He goes thru extended periods where he literally is one of the worst pitchers in MLB. With his velocity even when he is getting people out he doesn’t get many strikeouts. He has to develop something off speed or he is always going to have an ERA around 5.
It looks like the hitters are ahead of the pitchers at this point in ST.
Watching as many innings as is useful for me during spring training, it’s nice to see so many pitchers getting solid work against a variety of hitters. Listening to the interviews and reading Charlie’s Chalkboard, this seems like a very mature team. Of course, every player says the same thing, generally, but the questions this year are better.