It’s over. It is finally over. The losing streak came to an end on Saturday evening at Great American Ball Park as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros 3-1 to pick up their first win since *gulp* April 30th against the Colorado Rockies.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Astros (16-24) | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Reds (21-19) | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| W: Burns (4-1) L:Arrighetti (4-1) SV: Johnson (1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Chase Burns and Spencer Arrighetti were both locked in through the first four innings of the game. But that changed in the top of the 5th inning when Braden Shewmake homered with two outs to put the Houston Astros up 1-0. Burns would walk the next hitter on four pitches, but he got a groundout to end any further threat.
The Reds would have the back of their young starter in the bottom of the inning with a little help from the Astros defense. Spencer Steer picked up a 1-out single and Will Benson followed up with a walk. Jose Trevino then hit a fly ball down the right field line that Cam Smith flat out dropped, allowing everyone to move up a bag safely and load the bases. Two pitches later Matt McLain singled and drove in two runs to put Cincinnati ahead. Three batters later Elly De La Cruz was at the plate with the bases loaded and he singled into left field to bring in another run, but McLain was thrown out at the plate trying to score a second run on the play and ended the inning.
Chase Burns came out for the 6th inning with a lead and then saw Yordan Alvarez hit a later into the right field corner for a leadoff double. The right-hander locked in, though, and retired the next three hitters to keep him there and get out of the inning. Cincinnati would have their own man in scoring position in the bottom of the inning after Sal Stewart singled to lead off the inning and then moved up to second on a balk and then stole third base with one out. The Reds couldn’t bring him home, though, and their lead remained at two.
When the 7th inning rolled around the home team went to the bullpen and brought in Brock Burke. He threw just eight pitches to get three outs. The next inning it was Graham Ashcraft taking over and while he needed a few more pitches he also retired the side in order. Up by two runs in the 9th the Reds turned things over to Pierce Johnson. He got some help from Dane Myers in center when he tracked down a line drive on the warning track for the second out of the inning. Johnson then got a grounder to third to end the game, end the losing streak, and have the nearly 36,000 fans who showed up to the game leave happy.
Key Moment of the Game
Matt McLain’s 2-run single in the 5th inning that gave Cincinnati the lead.
Notes Worth Noting
Chase Burns walked more batters than he struck out in this game (three walks, two strikeouts), but he was in control during the outing and lowered his ERA on the season to 2.11 through 47.0 innings.
Elly De La Cruz was the only Reds player to have more than one hit. He’s had back-to-back 2-hit games against Houston.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Houston Astros vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday May 10th, 1:40pm ET
Kai-Wei Teng (1-2, 2.35 ERA) vs Andrew Abbott (1-2, 5.13 ERA)
Sorry for such a belated recap. I got caught up with some stuff and couldn’t be at the computer.
No apologies necessary Doug. I appreciate all you do here and everyone has a life outside of our fandom for the Reds. You only post relevant information/news and don’t dive into random speculation for clicks. That’s refreshing. Thank you.
I’ll second that. Thank you Doug.
Doug is a pro, and it is a privilege for me to be an occasional part of his outstanding blog.
Thanks for all you do Doug
I so look forward to reading your material Doug every day
Burns picking off ‘El Cubo de Basura’ Altuve was a highlight of the game for me.
Sal Stewart’s final two at bats were much better than his first two.
Glad the Reds gave you a good bday present today!
Chase Burns, ACE.
Right now, he is indeed the best starter on the pitching staff.
Lodolo might round into shape after 2-3 starts, but Greene is still at least 6 weeks away. He has not started throwing off the mound yet.
Reds exploded for 5 hits. They have now won one in a row and I could not be happier. Winning makes everything feel better
Arroyo with 3 more hits tonight. It is past time to bring both he and Marte up. Hopefully on the off day Monday.
The Bats won 10-8.
Arroyo ended up 4/5 with 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored, and 6 total bases (2 doubles and 2 singles).
HRod (2/5) and Hinds (1/5) both hit long home runs, 450ft for HRod/ 440ft for Hinds, both EVs>110mph (but RH also struck out thrice).
Quiet night for Marte. He did pick up an RBI on an out.
We don’t need Arroyo now. We just won today. Everything is fiiiiine. 😉
I agree Melvin, why take a chance. I mean McLain drew the headline here so obviously he’s back. And Hayes is rapidly turning into Mike Schmidt. The Reds are set. It’s obvious that Arroyo, Hinds, and the rest down in Louisville will never hit ML pitching so move on with the All-Stars the Reds have on the current roster. So, what if the Reds have the lowest batting average in the majors, BA doesn’t mean anything. It’ll all work out, just like it has for the last 20 years.
I don’t recall a time when the gulf between AAA and major league hitting was wider–Hinds and Marte demonstrate this gap. Arroyo certainly offers hope, but how does he look beyond the counting stats?
@BK>> Arroyo’s current 2026 AAA triple slash in 183PAs is .346/.415/.588 (1.003 OPS). K%= 15.8; BB%=9.3. His total extra-base hit % is 10.4, with a home run % of 2.9 included in the extra-base hits.
Edwin Arroyo to the rescue to save the Reds season. I thought Rece Hinds was supposed to solve all the team’s hitting woes.
@TennTom>> See above, Arroyo’s K rate at AAA is less than half of Hind’s at the same level. Also, it is 10 percentage points lower than EDLC’s AAA K rate in 3 fewer PAs than EDLC had at AAA and 6 percentage points lower than McLain’s at AAA in 3 more PAs.
Hinds didn’t seize the opportunity, no question. OTH, he didn’t get much of a chance. Another 33 ABs hardly qualifies as a “fair chance”. Marte? He showed last season that he can hit ML pitching. As I said last season, and as Reds coaches have indicated, he doesn’t have the attitude for the game at the moment. Also recognize that Marte has 711 ABs while Hinds has 122. No one can determine a player’s ultimate success or failure on 122 ABs. By comparison Stephenson, Friedl, and McLain all have more than 1000 and Friedl and Stephenson closer to 2000. McLain is below league average while the other two are marginally above. McLain has been subpar since his rookie year. Stephenson hasn’t recovered and it’s his walk year. Friedl has been trending down for months. Krall’s “strategy” is to build from within. That strategy is totally meaningless when you don’t give the “withins” a legitimate chance to succeed. Arroyo could crash and burn, absolutely. But NO ONE knows at this point. Same with Hinds.
I’m not much for changing batting coaches but I’m curious what the approach is?
I do think they may thinking a little too much up there.
Case in point Wil Benson up in the 6th inning with 2 outs and Stewart on 3rd. You have to be aggressive there especially with Trevino on deck. A walk does nothing. Yet he takes 2 pitches right down the plate. Better situational hitting is needed.
Doug has (rightfully) been very lukewarm on Chris Valaika as hitting coach:
New manager Terry Francona knows Chris Valaika and what he brings to the table. Looking at what his teams have done while he was the hitting coach – they’ve been below average when it comes to production. Was that because of his instruction or was it because of the players the Guardians had? It’s really tough to answer that question. They’ve had some really good hitters in Cleveland. And they’ve had some poor ones, too. Sounds like just about every team in baseball, doesn’t it?
If Chris Valaika can get the Reds hitters to make a little more contact, that’s probably a good thing. But as we saw with Cleveland, they made more contact than anyone over the last three years and never once were even in the top half of the league in terms of offensive production. Hopefully that part of it was more about the players than the coach.
https://www.redlegnation.com/2024/10/24/cincinnati-names-former-reds-infielder-as-new-hitting-coach/
Reds hitters didn’t exactly have a good season. No one hit for any power. Elly De La Cruz hit .264/.336/.440 and was easily the best player by OPS+ on the team when it comes to OPS+ and he was barely above-average. Among the returning players, no one really took a step forward except for Noelvi Marte. Multiple hitters took steps backwards.
It’s tough to make a good case that Chris Valaika did well as a hitting coach. The only good hitter on the team was a guy who got 103 at-bats and was acquired at the trade deadline – Miguel Andujar. The team had an OPS+ of 90, which is OPS but adjusted for the ballparks that a team plays in all year (home and road). That was 26th in baseball and only better than the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Colorado Rockies.
https://www.redlegnation.com/2025/10/06/the-cincinnati-reds-will-retain-their-entire-coaching-staff/
I agree with Doug’s assessment. How many times have we seen hitters arrive on this team and they tear it up for a short time then… Just seem to forget what that piece of wood on their shoulders is supposed to be used for? As Doug asks, have ANY hitters improved since they’ve been on the Reds? Because it sure seems like every single one of them has gotten worse with Valaika’s “coaching”.
I would have fired Valaika last off-season. I don’t know of any team that has fired their hitting coach mid-season unless they are firing the whole coaching staff, but I wish the Reds would try it.
A real good writeup regarding the Red’s lack of offense. It’s past time for a change. Promote the hitting coach from Louisville along with Marte.
Hopefully we can still win the series now.
Would that be Tito’s decision to replace Valaika or the produce folks.
Not only a good write up, but what a great commentary by CI3J
Not sure for how long they’ll hold to the underperforming players considering how others are performing in AAA. Not much that can be done about the catchers, but Friedl, KBH and/or McLain should be in a tight rope.
Marte and Hines have been given plenty of opportunities IMO.
Hines cannot layoff nor hit the breaking ball.
Marte for some reason, seems to lack effort?
Arroyo should replace KBH.
I believe and this is my own thoughts that Francona likes consistency among his players. Meaning he isn’t a fan of the revolving door of sending players down and bringing players up. Marte and Hinds didn’t hit while up here and Bleday has so I assume he will stay. Mclain and Friedl are part of the core and I don’t see them going anywhere. Sadly same can be said about Hayes. Now I am not sure if that is Francona’s call or the gm’s call in regards to who gets traded or sent down or whatever.
To me Reds need to decide who is part of their future and who isn’t. Is Arroyo, Rodriguez, Marte part of the reds future? Not to mention some of the players that are a year or two away. I bring this up as they need a power hitting right fielder. So a trade to me is only thing that makes since. Reds seem to stock pile players and they are the trapped by current big league guys. Arroyo is great example as well as Rodriguez.. So maybe a big trade would be the call, and I do hope it happens. As much as I like Friedl, and mentioned he probably isn’t going anywhere, I do think his time is up. Mclain, well I don’t know. Hayes, well to me while defense is important, I saw how Sal has played over there and I think Reds would be fine. Just my thoughts and I have rambled long enough LOL… Have a great Morning
Arroyo should be our new second baseman. McClain needs to spend some time in Louisville learning to hit again. Hayes and Benson should be released in favor or Marte and HRod. What can you lose.
sunk costs, thats what you lose by releasing Hayes. He’s going to stay for a while.
If you’re losing due to poor offense and this dude is a big part of the problem, then it is sunk cost anyway.
When they lose, it’s because they’ve been outscored, and that has on more than one occasion been because the pitching has failed. Yesterday’s game was won, in part, by good pitching and, in part, defense–good defense by the Reds, bad defense by the Astros. As far as the Reds’ offense goes, I find it interesting that we’re third in all of MLB in homers, but 26th in runs scored. Maybe selling out for expensive sluggers isn’t the answer. Maybe developing/acquiring some guys with excellent–and less expensive –on base skills would be a better use of resources.
Why all the Will Benson hate? He had a slow start but in his last 15 games he’s been getting on at a .432 clip with an OPS of .932. If Friedl had been doing that we’d all be thrilled, yet Benson has been doing it and RLN wants him gone. Benson is fine. Nice to get a win. Go Reds!
Benson may have saved the game yesterday and the same can be said for Meyers and McLain. I get it: the Reds are a feast or famine offense with a preponderance of famine. It’s also the case that the formula for yesterday’s win–strong pitching and defense and just enough hitting–is the formula that accounted for the strong start to the season. In my view, the Reds will never spend the money required to out slug the other 29 teams, but there are other, cheaper ways to win.
I agree Benson is battling and getting results of late. However, he has all of 1, yes 1, plate appearance for the entire season versus LH pitching (so say both BBReference and Fangraphs).
Presumably, this is because the Reds have zero confidence in him facing LH pitching. This is not a tenable situation to hold down a roster spot.
Possibly a bunch of games.
Response to Doc4UK.
Benson has been giving good at bats lately with a good eye and patience. He doesn’t hurt you in the outfield at all. A little bit of speed. He’s done pretty well playing part-time