This game had it all. Andrew Abbott had another strong start as he continues his turn-around, the offense did their part, the bullpen for both clubs had some real issues, and Cincinnati’s defense put up numerous highlight reel plays. When the final out was recorded the Reds had barely hung on for a 7-6 win over the Guardians to open up the weekend series in Cleveland.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (24-21) | 7 | 11 | 0 |
| Cleveland Guardians (24-22) | 6 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Abbott (3-2) L: Bibee (0-6) SV: Antone (1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Cincinnati got the scoring started in this on in the top of the 2nd inning. JJ Bleday led off with a double. Spencer Steer then picked up an infield single after the Reds challenged the call at first base and got the on-field call overturned. Nathaniel Lowe then singled up the middle to load the bases. Cleveland pitcher Tanner Bibee then issued a bases juiced walk to Matt McLain to bring in the first run of the game. Tyler Stephenson followed up with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0.
Andrew Abbott worked around a walk in the 1st inning. Now with a lead he had to work around two baserunners in the 2nd. He had to then do the same in the 3rd, but found a way to do so. The lefty had a clean bottom of the 4th inning. And then in the top of the 5th his offense gave him another run to work with after Ke’Bryan Hayes singled and then scored when Elly De La Cruz doubled off of the in right-cneter with two outs.
Cleveland would get a single in the 5th, but just like the rest of the game they were shut down by Andrew Abbott and came up empty. He returned for the 6th but on the 6th pitch of the inning to Rhys Hoskins the ball left his hand and the Hoskins crushed it down the line for a home run to make it 3-1. At 90 pitches, Cincinnati made the move to end the day for Abbott and bring in Pierce Johnson, who got through the rest of the inning unscathed.
After Tony Santillan tossed a scoreless 7th inning the Reds headed back to the plate for the 8th inning. JJ Bleday was called out on strikes, but he challenged the called third strike and got it overturned. He took advantage of that and doubled later in the at-bat. Spencer Steer then followed him with a single that put another run o the board to extend the visiting club’s lead to three runs. They weren’t done yet as Matt McLain came up with one out and he hit one out for a 2-run homer to make it 6-1.
The bottom of the inning went to Graham Ashcraft and things did not go well for the righty. He walked the bases loaded to begin the frame without throwing a single strike. Ashcraft then got ahead 0-2 on Travis Bazzana before the Cleveland rookie singled into center to bring in a run. That ended Ashcraft’s day as manager Terry Francona headed to the mound and brought in Brock Burke from the bullpen.
After striking out the first batter he faced on three pitches, Burke proceeded to walk the next batter on four pitches to bring in a run. He threw more pitches to the next batter, but walked in another run to make it 6-4. Cleveland would tack on another run when Jose Ramirez scored on a sacrifice fly. Burke would hold onto the lead, barely, with a shallow fly ball to left that ended the inning.
Dane Myers led off the top of the 9th with a double. Two groundouts would move him up a base each, with JJ Bleday’s bringing in a run to make it 7-5 and give the bullpen an extra run to work with.
Tejay Antone came in to try and close the game out. He would get a pop up to begin the frame but Kyle Manzardo tripled off of the glove of Dane Myers in center right before he crashed into the wall. Manzardo would score on a groundout that followed to make it a 1-run game. Travis Bazzana then scorched a ball towards right field but Matt McLain made a diving stop on the ball on one hop deep into the outfield grass and popped up to throw to first to beat Bazzana by a step to end the game.
Key Moment of the Game
Matt McLain’s diving play to end the game.
Notes Worth Noting
JJ Bleday hit in the spring. He hit in Triple-A. And he hasn’t stopped hitting since joining the Reds in late April. He’s hitting .346/.465/.776 in his 17 games with Cincinnati after picking up three hits for the second straight day. He had two homers on Thursday and came back with two doubles on Friday. He’s driven in a run in his last five games and 12 runs in those five games.
Matt McLain is heating up. He didn’t hit in April. And he began May by going 0-13 to begin the month. But since May 6th he’s hit .367/.457/.733 with five extra-base hits, five walks, and just three strikeouts in nine games. He’s had a hit in eight of those nine games and in the one game he went without a hit he walked twice and drove in a run.
Andrew Abbott threw 21.2 shutout innings in a row before giving up the 6th inning home run to Rhys Hoskins. After a very rough start to the year where his ERA was 6.59 after six starts, he’s allowed just three runs over his last four games and his ERA is down to 4.21 on the season.
Tejay Antone picked up the save in the game. It was his first save since May 30, 2021.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Guardians
Saturday May 16th, 6:10pm ET
Chris Paddack (0-5, 7.63) vs Gavin Williams (5-3, 3.74 ERA)
Great win and very glad to see us score 7 runs. But hey, Tito – he walks the first two, you leave him in and he walks a third, and then he gives up a single? Sparky rolling in his grave.
Well if he walked the first two, not allowed to take him out until he has faced three batters
He had to face at least 3 batters minimum.
Huh? Face a minimum of three batters? Since when? Where have I been? No one told me. On you, Doug. Lol
Thinking it might be time for us to take our collective foot off of McLains neck
Started May 0-13, but he’s been hot since then. Worse case scenario he’d atleast be a solid #9 hitter. Speed, some power, and decent on-base potential. Have to get KBH out of the way though
Not for me. I was impressed with all the walks MM had in April. Thats how he’ll earn his $. Just don’t like a dude thats struggling like that batting 2nd
Bat Matty last it would be like 2 lead off batters back to back
@Indy, McLain is hitting .256/.333/.512 in May with 3 HR’s, and that’s including the rough start you mentioned.
We are 100% in short sample size territory but it would be nice to see McLain really make a sustained comeback. Until that happens, I’m going to remain guarded in my enthusiasm.
Great idea, but that’s not how it works here.
Yep.
How it works here is that a player can go 0-13, hit below the Mendoza for a full month, after an anemic 2025 and after he strings together a few good games, then the RLN know it alls come out of the woodwork and say: “See!”
Second Guessing is the @RobertFitch standard operating procedure.
That’s the way it really works around here.
Evidently not since Worst Hitter In Mlb Bobblehead night is coming up
How do you defend him? About like being Ted Bundy’s defense lawyer.
KBH murders rallies
I’ve clearly hurt you. I think there’s medication for your condition. Either way, don’t let your anger issues get the best of you. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
Anger no. ADD lol. I like your articles. They’re mostly wrong (joking), but well written atleast. I agreed with you on the pitching coach. Its not his fault.
@Indy it wasn’t directed at you. But thanks for the support (sort of)
Don’t look now as a solid lineup is happening right before our eyes.
Players are getting hot or coming on strong!! Elly, Bleday,Lowe,Steer, and Mclain…
Stewart is in a massive slump since April “Player of the Month”. I am not mad at him, but maybe he should be dropped down in the lineup and take some pressure off of him to produce. He might be trying too hard.
And while we are at it, I think it is time to send Will Benson somewhere (AAA Louisville) so that Terry Francona can’t have such a lousy hitter leading off. Maybe Noelvi Marte has his head screwed on straight now, and can play right field again. Frankly, I don’t think Marte is a screw up or a bad guy, but he did not exactly tear it up in Spring Training, and I personally thought he was going to have a great year hitting. Or call up Edwin Arroyo and see how he handles 3rd base and ML pitching for a few weeks.
Arroyo taken out of the game early tonight after playing 3B. They were down 8-1 at the time though in the 7th. May just be for rest? Maybe. He was 1-3 with a bunt base hit.
Marte 2 singles , a walk and a grand slam.
Yeah I know. I’m not too confident in Marte. Given the current state of affairs it may be time to try him again.
Idk how you pencil in an OF of Steer, Bleday, and Marte? Bleday is supposed to be really bad in CF and we’ve seen Marte get twisted around like a pretzel in CF. Probably our best offensive OF atleast
“Idk how you pencil in an OF of Steer, Bleday, and Marte? Bleday is supposed to be really bad in CF and we’ve seen Marte get twisted around like a pretzel in CF. Probably our best offensive OF atleast”
It’s a problem. Our outfielders who can hit aren’t very good defensively. At this point you just about have to put out the best hitters and hope for the best. SOME DAY we’ll have players who can do both. 😉
hmm the OF is a problem
RF Bleday / Friedl
CF Marte / Myers
LF Steer / Friedl
I really dislike watching Steer in the OF, but his bat is one of the few that’s producing. I love watching Steer at 1B.
“SOME DAY we’ll have players who can do both. ?”
Yes some day Melvin but that would require the Reds to spend serious money so we need to wait till we get new ownership or the new CBA brings some much needed relief/sanity to the game.
Fouled a ball off his leg.
Fouled a ball off his leg
Great win despite Ashcraft’s meltdown. He is hard to understand. Sure good to see the offense making a bit of noise.
Bleday in May is Sal in April. Enjoy and hope that he stays hot. Team win today. Meyers had a key hit. Lowe had a hit. Hayes had a hit. Everyone chipped in to cover for Sal. Reds scored 15 and 7 in back to back games and Sal was 0-8. Hard to believe.
Abbot seems to have turned it around. Need Singer and Lodolo to do the same and contribute to this team success.
I think Lodolo can once he builds up some arm and body strength. Maybe next start, or the start after that. Brady Singer is just what he is.
Tomorrow is going to be a tough one with Chris Paddack likely the starter for the Reds. They will have to score a LOT of runs tomorrow to have a chance at winning.
We don’t need Singer to become an ace; just need him to be a solid 4th starter like he was last year and I believe he can turn it around. I hope you’re right aboit Lodolo. He has too many good pitches not to have success.
Another busy Reds bullpen day likely coming up.
Singer has not been a starter throughout his career with an ERA approaching 6 and giving up homers left and right. He needs to be what he’s been…not this. Same with Lodolo…his first 2 starts were horrific
2 weeks shy of 5 years between saves for Antone. I have a feeling it won’t be that long until the next one.
Boy, even though he got the save, it sure didn’t look like had much on those pitches and his velocity on his fastball seemed down dramatically to me. Hope you are right as it seems Reds RPs have been walking leadoff hitters for years now. Diaz was another guy that couldn’t throw strikes.
His velocity is down, but his breaking stuff can be effective. The guys in the pen who throw hard all have the potential to string numerous walks together at any time. 16 runs walked in by the Reds already and the season is barely more than a quarter over.
If the Reds are going to contend, then there’s no time like the present. What happened today with the bullpen was an aberration we’ve seen once before this year. We still need a leadoff hitter, and Sal needs to find his form again. Just keep playing to win one game at a time. Play good ball, and the wins will happen…
Cleveland Guardians career statistics vs. Chris Paddack
Pitcher AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS
Patrick Bailey 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .250 .250 .250 .500
Austin Hedges 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000
Rhys Hoskins 8 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 .125 .125 .500 .625
Steven Kwan 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .500 .833
Kyle Manzardo 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .200 .200 .200 .400
Angel Martinez 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000
Jose Ramirez 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 .250 .250 .500
Brayan Rocchio 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000
Daniel Schneemann 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .250 .400 .250 .650
Totals 48 8 1 0 1 2 1 5 .167 .184 .250 .434
A little or alot off-center, but Clev current roster is 8 for 48 off Paddack. Thats crazy
Paddack reminds me of Littell, just because the Reds picked him up during the season, last year, when they couldn’t find anything better. Paddack is expected to pitch just one game in the majors for the Reds.
Man our bullpen just cannot keep walking the bases full and walking in runs.
What is it with these guys and walks?
The offense is waking up though and hopefully the pitching sharpens up. Tito can’t ever know what he’s going to get with this bullpen— it’s like Russian roulette at times.
Bleday is feeling Josh Hamilton like. Bleday 4th overall, Hamilton 1st overall both should have been better, both came in on an inconspicuous move. Hamilton might be a lot, Scooter instead
I’ve been saying Bleday has a smooth swing. Turns out I am not the only one. Mr Wipedia has this to say “Bleday is known for his smooth left handed swing and refined approach”. I wholesale second Mr Wipedia.
Happiest part of the night for me was Antone getting his first save in five years.
Yep, great to see!
Me too, OT.
“Happiest part of the night”
…well, maybe my most relieved part of the night was Antone getting a save.
We have a real problem with closing, and Antone has some history there. He has the right mindset, plus his stuff looks good. We may finally have a closer for 2026.
It seems possible that Antone will get better the more he pitches. He is certainly dedicated to his craft.
Good win by the Reds…thrilling both in the positive and negative
I said this on a post yesterday, but pitching had started to adjust to Sal just when Suarez went on the IL. No offense to Lowe, because he is a pro’s pro…but losing his protection just as he was needing to adjust is Sal’s biggest issue right now. I’d flip Elly and Sal until Suarez is back.
He’s thinking too much about the strike zone and using ABS…but mostly, he looks stuck between “are they gonna throw me strikes or not?”, and is getting frustrated
He needs to reset his internal clock, relax, and not let the pitcher dictate what he swings at.
He still has more good swings than bad swings, because he’s a solid hitter…but his decisions right now look more like Will Benson’s.
Suck in some air, hum a song to yourself, and stay in your own head…the best pitchers want you thinking along with them, stay out of their head, Sal!
So glad the Reds found a way to hang on and gey the win!
Bullpen walks are way out of ” control ” ( pun intended lol )
I am loving the Reds infield defense!
How about Tito gives Sal Stewart a game off to maybe reset??
Go Reds !
Reds have given up the second most walks in the league behind the Astro’s. The Pitching staff has the third worst ERA which surprised me, I thought they had performed better. But they are still in the race for a wild card, just 2.5 games behind the Brewers and the Cardinals. The bad news there is Milwaukee and Philadelphia have good ball clubs and both have emerged from early season struggles and are playing very well right now. It is not going to be easy for the Reds to squeeze into the playoffs this year. Most likely it will be the Brewers/Cubs (one will win the Division, one will be a WC), Padres, and Phils
Hopefully Reds can hang in the wildcard race until July. See when Greene will be back and see who the contenders are and how healthy are they. SD has some serious concerns about Tatis under 230 with no home runs. Machado under 200.. other guys struggling. Phillies hot since Don Mattingly took over but very thin being there main core. Is current version of Kyle Harrison for Milwaukee for real? Still over 2 thirds of season to go…I think Arizona who is one under may still be in hunt. They will likely get Burnes and AJ Puk back by July 1st. That is two big additions to there staff. We shall see how it all plays out…
Absolutley. You have to play the games. With Green and Lowder back and Lodolo shaking off the rust the Reds will have a formidable starting rotation. But the offense is weak. They need Sal to start hitting better and perhaps get some help from the AAA guys. I am not sure how much getting Eugenio back will help but he does deliver some power
Was thinking exactly the same thing about Stewart. Drop him to hitting 6….Bleday 3, Steer 4, Lowe 5
Cincinnati Reds could win the games where Burns and Abbott started who are performing better than others right now. McLain, Bleday and Abbott were the key players to win this game with good contributions of Elly and Steer…
The Reds have issues to figure it out as a team but the other tough problem they have is the division rivals keep winning over and over again…it seems things will be decided when they play those teams and those teams play between them..
Correct, but the lead-off double by Myers also turned out to be crucial.
If walks truly haunt, our bullpen must be possessed.
+10000000
Hate to rain on the Antone parade but I agree with a previous comment about Antone’s stuff. Not sure he broke 90mph on his fastball. Cleveland hit him hard and that last play was almost a miracle by McClain. If he is our closer we are in big trouble.
I agree with this.
We are a little bit giddy, because he’s the only one that actually threw strikes.
He isn’t really using a fastball.
He’s thrown only one 4-seamer all year.
He prefers the 2-seamer, but that is only 20% of the time
His sweeper and curve ball account for 74% of his pitches.
He has given up a run in 3 of his last 4 outings
It’s concerning for sure. Don’t know of many closers who throw nothing but junk. Even the ever positive Chris Welsh commented on it, noting that it’s necessary to use the fastball to keep hitters off the slow stuff.
At least with Antone, the defense has chances to save the game. Agree onMcClain’s play, but Myers had another misplay on the triple. The Myers play was a different park than the one in Chicago (Wrigley), but it was in the same area of the field with a similar angle to the ball on his route. Crazy as it probably sounds, could he have a small, very late blind spot working in that direction?
He didn’t. But he also didn’t throw a fastball. His fastball, which he doesn’t throw much of anymore, will be 93-96. He’s only thrown ONE fastball since he joined the Reds. He’s been cutter/curve/sweeper. When he was in Triple-A he used the fastball more, throwing it 26% of the time. Not sure why the change in usage happened the second he got back to the Reds, but the 2 and 4 seamer were just completely abandoned.
Just seen where Schwarber is up to 20 HR now.
Water under the bridge now, but boy, the Reds sure could have used him.
Schwarber chose to stay with the Phillies. A hitting star locally and at IU, the Red’s scouting dept. let him originally get away by signing with the Cubs.
Any team could use him, not just the Reds lol. So far we struck gold with Bleday, so no complain.
Bases-loaded walks:
– The Reds have faced 65 batters with the bases loaded and they’ve now walked 17 of them, after Burke added two to the total last night. Just a completely ridiculous rate. 26.4% of the time! That’s higher than Sal Stewart’s batting average. If that lasts it’ll be the highest rate in baseball history by miles and miles.
– The all-time record for a season is 32 bases-loaded walks, by the 1915 Philadelphia Athletics who went 43-109-2. Their pitching staff finished with a 4.29 ERA, easily the worst in the majors. League average that year was 2.90.
– The Reds’ franchise record is 23. That was set in 1910. It might fall before the all-star break. That team actually went 75-79-2 behind a deep offense and two strong pitchers, Harry Gaspar and George Suggs.
– The highest total by any remotely recent team is 29 by the 2021 Cardinals. You remember them – they blew past the Reds for the wild card with a patchwork rotation of zombies. Alex Reyes handed out six free RBIs.
– This year’s Reds offenders so far: Phillips 6, Nicolas 3, Burke 3, Moll, Lowder, Lodolo, Johnson, Burns. (Bullpen 14, rotation 3.)
Nice context Noyes.
The most disturbing part is many of those walks, are of the 4 pitch variety, which to me, is more of a mental thing. The most skilled professional in the world can’t throw a pitch over the plate, even when they know the batter is taking it.
Maybe they can call in a hypnotist?
Is there anyone here you would 100% trust to hit the zone if your life depended on it? Other than Emilio Pagan? Like I guess my “just get one over” ranking right now would be Johnson, Santillan, Antone, Ashcraft, Moll, Mey, Burke, Phillips… not much command here. If it is mental, we should get the guys a role model and bring back Suter’s 84 mph gas. He probably does hypnotism on the side too.
If Game 7 of the World Series was tonight I would seriously consider having Brady Singer close it out.
I don’t even trust Pagan.
If it is game 7 and Burns was not the starter, he is the guy to close it out if physically available.
You’re right, Jim.
Too late. An exorcist. Voodoo or maybe a pet goat.
I’ve never met a goat who could throw a 99mph fastball. And their control is notoriously poor: they get distracted by all of that green grass.
Yeah, if it’s really all hands on deck Burns is clearly the guy today and Greene when he’s healthy. After that it’s wide open.
Yes, hopefully they get a leadoff hitter, Friedl is not that, and Hayes brings a great glove but a 3B needs to hit above .275…. Stephenson needs to start hitting, if they solve this 3 problems, don’t give the ball EVER to Phillips, leave Antone has the closer, because is the only one with a closer mentality, leave the 7th n 8th to Pagan and Santillan.
The same with Ashcraft. don’t EVER give the ball to him.
Let’s bring Arroyo to the bigs, plug McLain in 3rd, Arroyo in 2nd .
The pitching will be OK.
So there it is, forget about Friedl, Benson, Phillips, Ashcroft, sent Hayes to the bench and we’re going to win the Central
So looking at the game logs of Paddack. Other than 3 games, he kept his team in the game. So maybe its not as bad as previously thought. Time will tell of course
To me, WHIP and BAA are the most important things when considering the back end of the bullpen. Antone is the best suited at this time to be the closer. Based on his injury history, pitching 1 inning per outing seems the best moving forward and he throws a lot of strikes. As mentioned, our staff walks too many hitters. When Ferguson is ready, I think Phillips has to be sent down. He averages a walk per inning with a WHIP of 1.68. He gets himself into trouble almost every outing. Recently, Santillan has been ineffective and should be moved out of the 8th inning role. In 45 games, there has already been 8 blown saves. Tito has got to be more flexible with the back end of the bullpen. Roles shouldn’t be determined by the salary of the player, but by the in game performance.
Way too many holes. I love to see the Reds win and IF the rotation is ever healthy on April 1 then we have a solid shot. I was hoping Lowder might surprise and do 150+ innings around 3.60 or something. He’s not a max effort guy by any means. HG & Lodolo really hurt though. If Lodolo can’t throw the slider he’s going to get killed. Burns & Abbott….they’d have to win almost every one of their starts somehow? Petty injured too. Bullpen is a mess now. Just too much. Betting apps have us favored to atleast reach 80 wins though. That would probably keep them hanging around?
The thing is the Cubs have already played LA, Atlanta, Philly, and SD. If I wasn’t a Reds diehard, I’d bet under 80 wins. Geno/Lowe would have to combine for 45 HRs or something. Bleday isn’t Josh Hamilton either
Saw today’s line up, Why is Marte still in AAA? He is now hitting .365. If Sal was treated like Marte he would be in AAA right now with his recent slump, instead he is batting 3rd everyday.
Sal is in a big slump right now. In the last 30 games he has played in, he is batting just .205 with 6 HR and 20 RBI’s. So part of that is not bad, but his BA is falling.
Marte was not making any connection with the ball at all. In his 29 official ML AB’s this year, he was batting .138, with no homers and no RBI’s.
I am all for bringing him back now (Marte), as he is really stinging the ball in AAA, and sending down either Dunn or Benson. And the other one is going down when Geno returns.
I would also like to see Edwin Arroyo up here, as he is tearing it up in AAA right now. Bring up Arroyo and Marte, and send down Dunn and Benson. Let Arroyo play 3rd base for a few days until Geno is back.
As they commented last night Sal is pulling off the ball and not stepping toward it. Easily the ruination of many good young hitters.
Just when McClain seems to be getting it figured out, Sal goes into a horrible slump. Still to me it looks like Marte should replace Benson and Arroyo replace Hayes or Friedl…take your pick. Both are subpar .200 hitters with no power.
Agree about Sal. He’s been getting killed by outer half of plate pitches. Stepping into it and slapping the ball the other way a few times, see how it works. Make adjustments, Sal. Easier said than done though 🙂
Reds by far have the toughest inter league rivalry with Cleveland. Would not surprise me if the
Brewers, Cubs and Cards all get sweeps this weekend