Cincinnati Reds pitchers tied an all-time Major League Baseball futility record by walking seven consecutive Pittsburgh Pirates, forcing in four runs in the second inning before 23,763 fans at PNC Park.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (20-13) | 7 | 11 | 0 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates (18-16) | 17 | 19 | 0 |
| W: Mlodzinski (2-2) L: Lowder (3-2) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reported that, according to Elias Sports Bureau, today was the third time seven consecutive walks has occurred in a major league game. The most recent was May 25, 1983, when Pittsburgh pitchers walked seven consecutive Atlanta Braves hitters.
Manager Terry Francona was forced to use six pitchers today (seven if you include Jose Trevino, who threw the seventh and eighth) at a time when the collective bullpen could have used a break. Starting pitcher Rhett Lowder endured his worst major-league start, not making it through the second inning. In that historic inning, Lowder walked three batters in a row, after which Francona made the switch to Connor Phillips. The reliever unfortunately threw only five strikes in his 21-pitch appearance, resulting in four more consecutive walks and four runs for Pittsburgh — all without a base hit.
The Cubs’ 2-0 win over Arizona today moves them to 21-12 and into first place in the National League Central division, one game ahead of the Reds.
The Offense
Cincinnati’s collective hitting line: 11-for-37 (.297), 2 walks and 13 strikeouts.
Cincinnati scored with two out in the top of the first thanks to some charity from the Pittsburgh defense. With JJ Bleday at third and Elly De La Cruz on second following a walk and a double, respectively, Nathaniel Lowe launched a long fly to left-center. Left fielder Bryan Reynolds appeared to have a decent chance to make the catch, but centerfielder Oneil Cruz, running toward Reynolds, called for the ball. It sailed over Cruz’s glove and onto the warning track for a two-run double and a 2-0 Reds lead.
With Cincinnati trailing 5-2 in the top of the second:
Will Benson led off with a no-doubter home run to right field off Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski to make it 5-3. Tyler Stephenson then launched one to deep center. And just like in the first inning, Cruz played what should have been an out into a double by taking a tentative path to the ball. An out later, TJ Friedl dropped a beautiful bunt single to send Stephenson to third. After Bleday struck out swinging, De La Cruz walked to load the bases, but Sal Stewart struck out swinging to end the inning.
With Cincinnati trailing 15-3 in the top of the fifth:
Bleday hit a double to right, and with two out, Lowe plated his third run of the game with an RBI single to make it 15-4.
With Cincinnati trailing 15-4 in the top of the sixth:
Mlodzinski hit Friedl with a pitch with two out, and Bleday greeted reliever Chris Devenski with a home run into the upper deck in right field to make it 15-6.
With Cincinnati trailing 15-6 in the top of the eighth:
Benson led off with a single to left, and Stephenson followed with an infield single, sending Benson to third. Benson scored on a Ke’Bryan Hayes double-play grounder.
Bleday, Lowe and Benson each had two hits to lead the team. Lowe knocked in three runs. Bleday’s batting average in still-limited action is .308, with a 1.317 OPS. Lowe is at .288 with a .991 OPS and 15 RBI. If those two keep up this pace or anything close, it’s going to be tough to justify removing them from the lineup.
The Pitching
The mortifying-but-true Reds pitching line today: 8 innings, 19 hits, 11 walks, 9 strikeouts, and 17 runs, all earned. Pittsburgh averaged 3.75 runners on base per inning.
Lowder’s horrible pitching line: 1 1/3 innings, five hits, four walks and eight runs, all earned. It increased his ERA to 5.09.
After Moll threw 40 pitches over 1 2/3 scoreless innings, other Reds pitchers who were sacrificed over the remaining innings were Brock Burke, Graham Ashcraft and Jose Franco.
One fan’s thoughts
I remember a game I attended at Riverfront Stadium in the early 1980s in which starting pitcher Bruce Berenyi threw 15 straight balls. That, of course, led to four straight walks. It was the most notorious walk-fest that came to mind for me prior to today’s game.
Nobody should walk the Reds-fandom plank as a result of today’s embarrassment. However, as I mentioned in this space a couple of weeks ago, this team will need some different faces if it is to fulfill its full potential this season. I love Phillips’ stuff, but you absolutely can’t rely on a relief pitcher who performs like he did today. I’d send him to Louisville with the objective of finding consistent control within the strike zone. Another outing like today, and Lowder should be dispatched to do the same.
This team also has to overcome what clearly is a mental block about facing the Pittsburgh Pirates specifically and teams in the National League Central in general. The Pirates had been pillaged by the Cardinals in a four-game sweep earlier in the week, but became the pillagers when the Reds arrived in town.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates
Sunday, May 3, 1:35 p.m. ET
Chase Burns (3-1, 2.65 ERA) vs. Brent Ashcraft (1-2, 3.71 ERA)
Back in the 1950s, before the invention of “saves,” the key statistic for relief pitchers was “GF,” meaning games finished. Trevino now has 3 GF.
Need to cut back on his usage to save his arm (so don’t get blown out!). Glad he’s willing to do the worst job on a baseball field, hopefully for the last time this year. How does an RP come in and walk 4 guys in a row – is that a Reds record? Expect these last 2 games are just a blip in the season. Need a win tomorrow.
I don’t know about 4 walks in a row, but back in 1956 (yes, I’m a geezer) Raul Sanchez had four hit batsmen in one inning. Forget whether they were consecutive. Set off a brawl with the Pittsburgh Pirates. It’s a record that might last forever.
I liked your comment James K about Raul Sanchez. I had to look that game up and your memory was very close. It was actually a game on 5/15/1960, it was versus the Phillies and he hit 3 batters. He pitched the entire inning but with 3 on and 2 out in the 8th inning of a 9-1 deficit he hit 2, then walked 1, and hit the pitcher Gene Conley. I found this blurb about the game on Facebook:
John Snyder’s Post
Old Photos Of Cincinnati ·
July 15, 2018
·
On May 15, 1960, the Reds and the Phillies participated in a massive brawl which lasted for 12 minutes. In the eighth inning, Reds pitcher Raul Sanchez hit three batters. Phillies manager Gene Mauch had enough and left the dugout running straight at Sanchez. Within seconds, both benches emptied and fight broke out all over the field. Reds second baseman Billy Martin (pictured below), who stood 5’11” squared off against 6’8″ Philadelphia pitcher Gene Conley. Martin came out of the scrape with a bump on the head. “I hit him in the neck.” said Martin. “He’s so tall I can’t reach his face. I’ll fight him again. Just give me a stool.” Frank Robinson and Robin Roberts also exchanged punches. The Phillies won 14-3.
I agree – especially regarding the bullpen. The bullpen choices at AAA come down to Antone and Richardson. I don’t trust Richardson yet – so I would go with Tejay. Neither though is on the 40 man roster so someone will have to be DFA’d. Who goes?
The owner count?
Burns will make the biggest start of his young career tomorrow. He has great stuff and he will need to become an ace tomorrow. These last two days have been awful, every team in the division is winning and playing well while the Reds look like a minor league team. All along people were saying you can only go so long without your top 2 starters before things go south, well that time is upon us.
No defense for 11 walks and 7 in a row.Also when you fan 13 times and I believe at one point 6 in a row it was a game that shows major flaws with the Reds.Lowder and Phillips I can’t offer any excuses for but if I was to offer one it would be youth.The offense I can’t offer any at all.After the second inning it was pretty much here it is hit it if you can from the Pirates starter.Reds hitting coach teaches the oppo approach or shoot the ball the other way.That to me means and I could be wrong it kind of eliminates the pull aspect which means fewer strike outs and more balls in play.Now at times last year players did that and were rewarded.Last year this team was not a home run hitting team and Geno and Sal help that some but the rest are just not home run hitters so the oppo approach should work.Maybe they just can’t hit or aren’t listening but something needs to change.The hitters right at or under 200 are not home run hitters yet strike out way too much.Friedl MM and even Tyler come to mind.Part of the core that is expected to be better.
The offense scored 7 runs on 11 hits. I disagree with the thought it was here hit it.
Games like this happen and Reds will bounce back. Lowder had a bad game. It happens
But 3 out of last 4 games vs last place teams at one point in that span have been +8 run or greater blowout losses by the Reds.
Not a promising show of what lies ahead for rest of the season at this pace. The 2026 Reds run differential could be the 2025-26 version of the Dallas Cowboys horrible points differential.
And hitters are picking up where they left off from 2025 with regular double-digit K games. As a team offensively, they are at a 28% strikeout rate or nearly 1 in 3 AB’s result in a K. Averaging 9.2 K’s per game.
They need to get their average down below 25% (goal should be 20%), with per game K’s to make improvement here.
It’s ok I respect your opinion and agree Lowder had a bad game and the Reds will bounce back
Well teams go through bad stretches and while on two games and 3 out of 4. It isn’t the end of the world.
Dodgers have lost 3 in a row and so have the Padres.
Peaks and Valleys
Yes, true that all MLB teams go through peaks and valleys with a long season. Reds are trending in the wrong direction and have little margin of error for correction with pitching and hitting compared to Padres and Dodgers and the like.
Hopefully the Reds can make the turn around and changes needed such as relieving Mr. Valaika of his duty as hitting director and benching Hayes to PH/PR/defensive replacement, and start Myers in CF daily. Come on Tito, wake up!
When a team scores seven runs in a game and loses, logic dictates that the pitching is the issue. When you add the details–seven consecutive walks–you would think the deal is sealed. There are issues with offense, too, importantly including Sal’s mini slump, but it has largely been getting the job done. No offense in the world could consistently overcome the pitching in the recent blowouts.
Tomorrow is a salvage day. And I think an important one. Reds need to turn this around now and get out of Pittsburgh with a little momentum. Also, as bad as the Reds have played, winning tomorrow and they only lose one game in the standings to the Pirates. Sweeps however are very damaging. So lets hope we can get a good performance out of Burns and turn get out of this downturn before it gets really ugly.
Yes peaks and valleys, but it would be a shame to valley now to division opponents and wither away all that was gained in April.
Also, wondering if the league is figuring out Sal.
Well we saw what happened with Marte after a pretty good 2025 season but I have to believe Sal will not be given that kind of treatment at all.He is bouncing around some on defense and as the DH.I have no clue as to if that effects his hitting or not.Personally I would just put him at third and say see you at the end of season.Of course I would have done that with Marte as well in right but well we know.Reds will go as far as far as Sal and Marte and other young players take them this year.I also include Elly and MM in that young category.Others you just hope they do what they have done in previous years.
The league eventually feels it’s figured out all new hitters. The few good hitters emerge when they’ve figured out the league. Sal, with his talent and enthusiasm has that potential.
I agree on the mental thing… Pirates have the Reds number last years even being a pretty bad team and now they are really improved this season so it is becoming tougher to have success against them… I’m afraid of Burns will continue the starting pitching meltdown tomorrow , hope I’m wrong…
Stewart is going to a deep slump , I don’t know if he should be rest to recover confidence, don’t forget he’s a rookie but shouldn’t be tomorrow because it is Sunday so Tito is going to put Trevino and Hayes at the bottom of the order…
Go to win tomorrow it isn’t the end of the world …at least…
How my words ring true from a few days ago. Seems every year, the pirate take series from us, regardless of records
Hinds needs to go back down. He’s still worthless as a hitter. It either he or whiff and the whiffs are adding up quicker.incant.remember the last time this team has so many hovering at/below the mendoza line a month into the season.
Oh well…..until new ownership happens, this team will continue to have a .500 (+/-5) record.
Cardinals rolling with Jordan Walker leading the way.Now up to close 1100 at bats for his career and had a 67 OPS +last year in 400 plate appearances.Now has homered 10 times with on base plus slugging close to 900.Cards stuck with him and are being rewarded now.Marte and his numbers last year were much much better so where is he?Yep I am cherry picking but you have to let players with talent play.May not work but lets see or do we continue to give tryouts at 30 at bats per to everybody else.GO REDS and get him back up.
I dont get the Marte demotion either. But the drumbeat was very loud to bring up Hinds for an extended period. So Tito complied. I dont know the definition of “extended” but the last part better be about 5X better than the results to date. If Hinds doesnt get a bunch of hits in the next week or so, I suspect DFA would be in play. He hasnt demonstrated he can hit MLB pitching. No great loss but sad. But in the interest of the team, you have to do what is best.
It is too early for Krall and Tito to make major personnel changes. But it is not too early to be developing contingency plans if this poor hitting continues. If we are susposedly a good team, and I think we are as we work through some pitching downturns, then you absolutely can not have 3-4 190 hitters in your starting lineup, no matter if they are gold glovers. 1 is tolerable and 2 is a big stretch. Krall knew good and well that his predicted bounceback for McLain and Stephenson was subject to misjudgment. Not a May 1 decision point. But possibly a June 1 (or before) decision point if you have fallen a handful of games out of first. Either you are a good team or not.
I’m with ya Roger. Big Marte fan but people wanted Hinds and down he went. Marte homered today and hitting .400. Funny how nobody gives the daily report on what he did for the day but we heard what Hinds did every day.
For my part, I feel like Marte is already a quantity known to fans and the Reds, good and not so good.
Marte has lit up AAA and also done well in spurts at MLB in the past. The Reds chose him over Bleday and Hinds to start the year. When the Reds see what they need/ want to see from Marte, he will be back.
Marte’s return to MLB is likely going to result in significantly less playing time for Friedl or Steer unless the Reds move Stewart off of 1B (for Steer), which would result in less playing time for Hayes or McLain to accommodate Stewart. And what are they going to do when Suarez is back to keep both Lowe and Suarez in the lineup? All this boils down to the Reds needing to be very sure about Marte before they bring him back.
Today was just embarrassing. Lowder was awful and so was Phillips. They have looked like an amateur team.
A win tomorrow would make things look better. I’m just wondering how the Pirates hitters are crushing Reds pitchers this badly. I like the Pirates off-season moves, but it’s not like they are running Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke, and Bobby Bonilla out there.
Fat pitches and walks. Thats why the Pirates are killing us.
Lowe 124 career OPS,O Hearn 106,Reynolds 119,Ozuna 117,Cruz 105 and Horwitz 118.Hard to believe isn’t it? Was for me as well when I checked.Four new guys that can hit and all above average hitters.Now we could say that they went with offense over defense and that’s exactly why they traded Hayes.Nothing wrong with defense but these last two games we have brought knives to a gun fight.Walks never help of course.
Hayes wouldn’t be bad with his top notch defense if you have a lot of guys hitting. But when you do t have a lot of guys hitting, the guy at 3rd becomes a offensive albatross
Must win tomorrow just to stop the Pirates domination/divisional slide. Burns needs to be on point and I think I might’ve suggested something with Bleday in the 2 hole.
He can take pitches and he’s got pop. He got down 0-2 and drew a walk with his first at-bat as a Red. I’d just slide everyone up behind Myers vs lefties…Elly 2nd Sal 3rd etc etc
Maybe it’s time to get new pitching coaches. They are not doing what they are hired to do. I’ve been saying this for at least 2 years and to me this is the icing on the cake.
I have never thought much of our pitching coach. Way overrated.
We’ve been favoring velocity over control for awhile now. Pitching up in the zone is going to torment us at GABP in the summer too. Hopefully things get better.
Anyone that has pitched has had a day like Phillips did today. It is a helpless feeling. You have a better chance throwing to the dugout to get a strike. I feel for him.
Having said, the walks are a problem for this team. That needs to change. I’ve pushed for more two seamers. This is what velo worship gets you.
Bad performance by Reds pitching for sure but give Pirates credit, they made Reds pitchers throw strikes, they didn’t chase anything out of strike zone. And when they had a pitch in strike zone, they got the barrel on it quite well. One of those games. Sal is slumping a bit, so that didnt help. Bases loaded and he struck out on that pitch off the plate away that I could see it coming miles away. Hope for a better game tomorrow.
Marte hitting.400, HR and single tonight. 29 ABs show you NOTHING. And how long do they wait on Mclain? Too long
Two awful days in a row, hope for a better Sunday.
How bout that pitching Huh??? Thinking they need to FIRE Tired ol Tito and hire Joe Girardi; that might add some life to this Slew of Sloths. While we’re at it, how about firing Krall and hiring Jeff Brantley.
Why do you continuously insult Terry Francona? The dude has won in Boston and Cleveland and Now cincy.
To me its just rude and disrespectful to Francona the continuously rude comments being made in regards to his name
No guarantee that the trades will work out. You know your own players a lot better than those on other teams. The trade of Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas worked out great – eh?
Agree. Last week Reds were in first place and Terry could do no wrong. Two games and it is fire the manager, trade so and so, send so and so to the minors or bring up someone who has done well at AAA. I guess it goes with the territory of being fans. It is hard to take losing like the last two days to a rival. Now is not the time to panic. Terry needs to keep them focused on playing together and working towards winning on a regular basis. That they had such a good record masked some real issues. Like the hitting and sometimes the pitching. Thanks for pointing out the over the top reactions. It is a long season.
TennTom that trade did work out great.
For the Orioles.
But most teams have trades that are absolutely terrible that you can point to. Probably not Frank Robinson bad, but still really bad. With all due respect to the other guys involved, how’d that Joe Morgan trade work out for Houston? Cincinnati got Brandon Phillips for a guy who wound up throwing 37 innings in the big leagues with an ERA over six several years after the trade and for a franchise that wasn’t even involved in that trade.
MLB Bullpen walks
30) Houston -90
29) Reds -86
28) CWS-80
They passed the White Sox like they were standing still.
They also have the worst team batting average in MLB. That with the number of walks they give up is not a good combination https://www.mlb.com/stats/team/batting-average
From what I can see Lowe plays every day one way or another.
Bleday has done a good job since being called up. As far as I’m concerned he’s an every day outfielder until he proves otherwise. The Reds could be hurting out there on defense though.
From what I can see after watching Hinds latest plate appearances he’s virtually lost all confidence. Larkin pretty much said the same thing recently. It’s not doing him or the Reds any good have him up in the majors at this point. This could be the last time for Hinds at least with the Reds.
As far as KBH goes he now has 90 PA with numbers of .119/.178/.190/.368. It’s my considered opinion that NO ONE is THAT unlucky.
Question: Does anyone think the Pirates are unhappy they made that trade?
From Doug’s minor league recap:
“Edwin Arroyo extended his on-base streak to 18 games. He hit his 4th home run of the season in this one. He did only had three home runs last season. Arroyo is now hitting .291/.367/.472 with 15 walks and 27 strikeouts in his 31 games played.”
I’m not sure how many PA the Reds think he needs in AAA before getting a chance. He now has 154 and shown consistency. He played 2B today.
His AAA numbers pale in comparison to Hinds AAA numbers. How did that Hinds call up work out? Disclaimer: I strongly supported Hinds call up.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/duck-reds-pitchers-lowder-phillips-tie-unfortunate-mlb-record/ar-AA22fDuN?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69f6b7622d0a4c499c45c8fc4bdf613a&ei=32 here is the Enquirer story on 7 straight walks.
My Knothole teammate Paul Hoppenjans (8 straight BB and 32 straight balls) holds the record so far as I know. This was in 1960 or 1961.
In one sense the last two losses to the Pirates are not that big of a deal. Getting slaughtered or losing by one run all adds up to the same. We’re still only one game out of first place.
Not to be overly dramatic but if don’t start playing better against the PIrates and Brewers than we did last year we’re in trouble. Plenty of time to turn that around though. Let’s win tomorrow. 🙂
BEFORE today, we were 27th in the league with 4.56 BB/9. We were 26th in MLB in GB%. Our bullpen was 29th in the league with 5.76 BB/9. 28th in the league in GB%. These are the concern areas.
BEFORE today, we were 26th in DRS, dead last in FRM, 2B was 28th in DRS. LF was 28th in DRS.
BEFORE today, our hitters were 26th in K%, last in AVG (someone else mentioned this too), 27th in OBP, and 27th in wRC+.
I was wondering if the pirates caught the Reds tipping pitches in the 2 series so far. The 11 walks are an outlier, but they seem to be tattooing many pitches
The Hayes situation is reached a conclusion in my opinion….he has never hit in the major leagues….and he is actually regressing….leave him on the bench till you need a late inning defensive replacement….also fire the clown who traded for him cause that money could have been used elsewhere
That’s an interesting takeaway after Reds pitching gave up 17 runs and the Reds scored 7.
In my mind, most of the 7 Reds’ runs were garbage time, as they say in basketball or football. The Reds scored 2 in their first inning. The Pirates answered with 5 in their first. The Reds scored an additional run in their second, and the Pirates answered with 5 immediately in theirs, plus 5 more, before the Reds put another run on the board.
So, I’ll tack onto the adage, never beleive anything that happens in spring training, September when not part of a playoff race, OR in garbage time.
I would add this to the adage: never believe in minor league stats. All the eye popping stats Hinds put up in thr minor, let’s keep them there and keep him there as well.
Lowder’s had a start like this coming for a while. His 52.9% first strike rate this year is low for a crafty pitcher like him. Ranks 143rd out of 153 pitchers who’ve thrown 20+ innings. League average is 60.5%. Nobody walks the tightrope forever.
After Lowder gets ahead 0-1 hitters are .180/.231/.197 this year. That’s really good and he should get in that situation more. He has taken no damage at all from batters swinging at the first pitch (3 for 12, all singles) – that’s *too* good, I think he should risk the occasional ambush and just throw strike 1 more. Perfection is hard. Aggression is easier.
*that 0-1 stat is wrong, it doesn’t include yesterday’s game. Single, double, groundout, walk, it’s now up to .200/.246/.231. Still very good and way better than the league average .216/.267/.337.
Good stuff! What frustrated the heck out of me was the mindless pitch calling by Stevenson. Lowder clearly had no ability to do anything other than hang the slider yet instead of adjusting on the fly and incorporating more changeups they just stuck with what wasn’t working. That applies to how they used Phillips as well. Madness.
As a longtime fan, I’m in favor of more trading than seems to go on these days. I think it gives the Reds a better chance of winning an occasional championship than depending on development as the main way to get there. The Reds, in my view, often keep players around too long waiting for development to happen. Jolting the situation by trading often can help all concerned.
After having a day to digest yesterday as well as the last 4 games. My conclusion is these things happen.
This is the same bullpen and rotation that kept the Reds in these games. Give or take a few pitchers. They will rebound. The offense is better as they are hitting better and scoring runs.
Things have a way of evening out.
I mean Dodgers and Padres are now on 4 game losing streaks. Reds have same record as the 3 billion dollar payroll of the Dodgers.
The frustration is there,however to me standings watching and all that in May is not important. Come August and September sure, but not May.
Hopefully Burns can give them innings today. Bullpen could use a day off!!
+1000
The Pirates own the Reds, that is embarrassing.
The Reds have played only five teams with a record above .500 at game time and their record is 1-4.
Once the Reds start playing their divisional foes it’s going to get uglier, I’m afraid.
The roster building decisions for the Reds has to fall on the front office and ownership.My theory is that every successful baseball team is built for the type of ballpark you play 81 home games and be respectable enough on the road to become a postseason caliber team.You cannot expect to be a good offensive team when you are at or near the bottom of MLB in every important hitting category when you play in one of the top three hitters ballparks in the sport,they have five hitters that get regular at bats that have OPS pluses below 100,slugging below .400 as a team,five hitters that has an average of 30 percent strike out rates per plate appearances,and led the majors in called strikes against.The pitching staff is allowing almost three baserunners per inning,opponents to hit over.300 with runners in scoring position,relievers WHIP rates well over 2.00,and the lowest percentage of first pitch strikes from pitchers in the entire league.Nick Krall and Brad Meador has to be accountable for trying to build a run prevention type team which is okay but you don’t have the right personnel on your 40 man roster to make it work.They don’t use their analytical models well enough to make the proper adjustments to what their opponents are doing especially when they are going up against NL Central Division opponents such as the Pirates,Cubs,Brewers,and Cardinals.If they are not careful this season could get away from them in a hurry.
Today is a day when Terry Francona earns his salary. Fortunately he will probably talk with his players and determine a way forward and it will not be some knee jerk overreaction. Good that they scored 7 runs, and really bad pitching can make the whole team look bad. Does Sal need a day off or maybe he wants to fight his way out of a slump. Slumps happen to everyone. Quite frankly, tired of all the KBH bashing. There are a lot of players that have gotten off to poor starts. Yeah, I know last year was not lights out either. I am sure the staff is well aware of the issues. The Marte yank was premature. Many players accustomed to warm climates struggle early before weather warms. I think Tony Perez used to be one of those. However, Marte has not earned a long leash with his decisions and fielding though. Rece Hinds will not make it in the bigs unless he figures out how to hit a slider/curve. Tough to work on that in majors. So much potential, but how many chances does he deserve. I know he did not have a lot of AB, but I think coaches saw that he is far from being a ML hitter. Reds need some of their guys back (Lodolo, Suarez, Greene) and others to pick up their game (McLain, Stephenson). Is Suarez traveling with the team. Now is when you need your veterans to lead. Don’t want to be like the Mets who I understand cannot stand each other and lose-a lot.
Here’s a fun fact that I don’t know if anyone has mentioned or seen yet or not but as of end of day yesterday the Cardinals and the Dodgers are tied at 20-13.