The Cincinnati Reds couldn’t hold onto the lead in the series opener last night as they dropped a 5-3 game to the Brewers. Tonight the two are back at it in Milwaukee with the Reds looking to even the series up and grab their first win of the season against the division leaders. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds | Milwaukee Brewers |
| Elly De La Cruz – SS | Christian Yelich – DH |
| Sal Stewart – 1B | Jackson Chourio – LF |
| JJ Bleday – LF | Brice Turang – 2B |
| Eugenio Suarez – 3B | William Contreras – C |
| Nathaniel Lowe – DH | Jake Bauers – 1B |
| Noelvi Marte – RF | Garrett Mitchell – CF |
| Edwin Arroyo – 2B | Sal Frelick – RF |
| Jose Trevino – C | Joey Ortiz – SS |
| TJ Friedl – CF | David Hamilton – 3B |
| Rhett Lowder – RHP | Brandon Sproat – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Rhett Lowder | 58.0 | 4.81 | 1.47 | 29 | 48 |
| Brandon Sproat | 69.2 | 5.43 | 1.35 | 32 | 73 |
| Links: Rhett Lowder’s Stats | Brandon Sproat’s Stats | |||||
Rhett Lowder
It’s been an inconsistent year for Lowder. He was good for much of April but May was a disaster in his two outings before landing on the injured list. Since he’s come back he’s made four starts. The last of those four came against tonight’s opponent. He gave up three runs in 5.2 innings that night in a game that Cincinnati eventually lost 6-5.
The splits against Lowder are big this season. He’s been good against right-hanaded hitters, holding them to a low on-base percentage and next to no power. They have hit for a solid average, though. Lefties aren’t hitting for much average, but they are walking a lot and when they do get hits they are hitting for a good amount of power. Not shown below is that he’s been significantly worse on the road. His ERA is 6.00 away from Cincinnati this year and he’s walked more batters than he’s had strikeouts (22-to-20).
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 100 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 19 | .258 | .310 | .344 |
| LHH | 159 | 32 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 23 | 29 | .239 | .358 | .440 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 93.3 | 92.6 | 84.7 | 86.2 |
| Usage | 24% | 29% | 26% | 21% |
Brandon Sproat
For the most part this season it’s been a struggle for Sproat. That’s reflected with his 5.43 ERA on the season. But his last start was the best of his career and it came against the Reds when he allowed one hit in 6.0 shutout innings without a walk and with 10 strikeouts.
When it comes to OPS, the splits against Sproat don’t really exist. But the two groups of hitters get there in very different ways. Right-handed hitters hit for a higher average and have a higher slugging percentage. Lefties are walking nearly twice as often while hitting for a lower average and less power – but those additional times on base give them a big advantage when it comes to the on-base percentage. Not shown below is that his ERA at home is 6.75 (4.38 on the road) and hitters have an OPS that’s 163 points higher against him in Milwaukee.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 144 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 34 | .252 | .319 | .458 |
| LHH | 151 | 29 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 21 | 39 | .234 | .362 | .419 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-sm | 2-sm | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 96.8 | 96.2 | 93.0 | 82.9 | 86.5 | 91.2 |
| Usage | 21% | 26% | 26% | 11% | 9% | 7% |
When and Where
- Game time: 7:40pm ET
- Where: American Family Field
- Watch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market).
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: They have a retractable roof
News and Notes
Roster moves
The Reds made four moves today. They called up infielder/outfielder Ivan Johnson from Triple-A. He’s taking the roster spot of Dane Myers, who is heading to the injured list. Emilio Pagan was activated from the injured list. To make room for that the team optioned Zach McCambley to Louisville. You can read more about all of the players are moves here from our piece earlier today when things were announced.
Minor roster moves
While there were some moves made for the big league club, there were also a ton of roster moves made in the minor leagues today. There were 16 moves made today, unrelated to the ones made by the big league club. If that’s something you like to keep track of, we’ve got you covered over at RedsMinorLeagues.com where we wrote about all of the moves early this afternoon.
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Milwaukee | 51 | 31 | 0.0 | 97.6% |
| Chicago | 47 | 38 | 5.5 | 70.3% |
| St. Louis | 43 | 38 | 7.5 | 32.5% |
| Pittsburgh | 43 | 42 | 9.5 | 39.5% |
| Cincinnati | 39 | 44 | 12.5 | 3.5% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
Never heard of him?Where do they find these guys,who you gonna call Tito?
He’s been in the Red’s minor league system for seven years and at Louisville for the last three seasons.
All the pitching analytics point to a high scoring game.
Which probably means it will be a pitcher’s duel.
The Brewers score around 5.27 runs per game, and give up about 3.22 runs per game at home, which was just about typical for the Monday night game against Cincinnati.
I had not seen too much of Edwin Arroyo hitting until last night. He does have a quick bat…I was impressed with his bat speed. Can he play center field? 🙂
Nice having a bat in the lineup like Arroyo at 2nd. He’s been doing his part at the plate.
It’s good to remember he has only had 32 career games in the minors at 2B in six years pro vs. 378 at SS.
Only one team will score a lot of runs.
Of course the Crew is favored, but their streak against us has to end some day.
Play to win, and let’s do it !
One thing is for certain. It never rains in Bernie’s House.
Here’s to a good outing from Lowder and more than a couple hits up and down the line-up. I do wish Geno was DH. I see Sal as the near future at 3B and want to give him as many reps as possible.
+5
This Reds 2026 pitching staff is truly an enigma! Except for Abbott and Burns, the SPs seldom go beyond 5 innings in their starts! Take last night for example! Even though Lodolo pitched 5 shutout innings, he issued 4 walks. If Lodolo doesn’t throw those 28 pitches to the batters walked, he may have been able to complete 7 innings instead of 5! The 5-inning starts force Tito to use multiple RPs and far too often one or more of the RPs has a bad inning that results in multiple runs and blown leads!
As for the RPs, they have been anything but consistent! Last night it was Petty who struggled and allowed the Brewers to overcome the 3-0 lead left by Lodolo!
As a lifelong fan it’s just frustrating to watch this Reds team lose games that are winnable, especially against the teams in the NL Central Division!
Hope they can find a way to turn their season around! That starts with a win tonight!
You should listen to Francona on WLW 700 before the games. He knows more than we do.
Salbert Salvotto. 🙂
Sal gives the fastball a ride to right and it’s outa here!
Deep shot Sal! Lovely.
He’s been heating up.
1st two batters go oppo.
Well hit balls….
Sal’s left the yard.
It works so why ever change.
I’ve yelled it for years Roger…they do it with success, then abandon ship.
Sal caught on it was 7 straight fast balls to start the game and well #7 went out of the park.
Sproat liked fastballs mostly, 1st time through the order last time.
Be ready, and pounce
Nice walk and at bat by Suarez.
Worked Sproat and got an early elevated pitch count. That’s a plus.
Not really…their bullpen is awesome.
I’d rather Sproat stay in the game.
What in the world was Suarez doing?
Trying to unleash his speed? Not quite. 🙂
Suarez stealing seems to be a bad play since Sproat was in a high pitch count battling with Lowe in 3-2 …That helps the Brewers…
Awful
WLW 700 crew said he thought it was 3-2 count, not 2-2.
Not quite sure why Geno did that … but now Lowe gets another shot at Sproat with a fresh count. Way to run up his pitches in the 1st inning. Cowboy called that “death on a cracker for a starting pitcher”.
Mistake # 1.
Would be nice to see a quick inning for Lowder to get their pitcher out on the mound quickly.
Nice inning for Lowder!
Ultra efficient 1st from Lowder. Keep that up young man.
10 pitches – 10 strikes for Lowder.
1 foul ball cost him the immaculate inning.
Lowder was an strike shy of an immaculated inning but he ended throwing 10 pitches all strikes…
Trevino not winning me over with his defense.
Suddenly Lowder found himself in a singles spiral
That run is on you Trevino …. Catch the ball man …. That ain’t anything close to a wild pitch
Marte with a strong throw made a play of a soft liner. Brewers will think twice about challenging Martes arm.
Sal’s defense at both corners has been impressive.
Indeed. Smart and talented with the bat and in the field.
Brewers are just a fundamentally sound team who can hit to all places in the ballpark. I tip my cap to them and their hitting coach who has them locked in.
The Brewers luck continues.
3 singles at 65, 70, and 74.
Brewers just get it done.Move the runners go the other way put it in play. A joy to watch them compete.
Man on second , no outs , top of order … never moves …. Par for the course
Brewers move their runners, Reds man at nobody and there he stays. I am sorry but some of this is coaching.
Sour grapes… put a man at second, and the Reds bats fall silent.
The Reds just start to strand runners in scoring position and that generally haunts at the end…
What they just did in the second and what we just did in the third is why they are who they are and a big reason why we are who we are as a team.We get a gift walk to Friedl who moves to second and then our 1,2 and 3 hitters fan fan and pop up.Its just the way it is.
Can’t beat teams especially good teams by giving away outs on the bases having a passed ball and not moving a runner from second with no outs.Its only the 3rd inning.
Lowder back on track in the 3rd. Nice pitching.
Got a break there when Chourio was up. The 5th pitch would have walked him, and was not challenged… Lowder cruises thru the 3rd.
I am beginning to feel sorry for the Red’s announcers, they have to watch this garbage every night, at least they are getting paid.
Sproat was tough on our boys last time, and nothing has changed; he strikes out the side in the 4th.
Sproat has been pretty tough for the Reds… Guy had 5.90ERA before the 2 games against the Reds, now has 5.25
Sproat owned the Reds in the 4th. Yes Lowe made him pitch but ultimately struck out. Just not a great hitting team. And worse with RISP.
Making another average to below average pitcher look like Cy Young …. The REDS WAY
Reds can’ hit or make contact in the 4th.Twelve outs and six by strikeout.Same story different game.Sal goes yard and well we know what usually happens after that.Night all early start tomorrow for this old man.GO REDS
Again Lowder struggling against the middle of the lineup…
Brewers can hit. Putting on a clinic this inning.
This is about to get ugly
Brewers broadcast:
Brewers lead MLB with 223 opposite field hits.
HMMMM….
2 more since I posted that.
Lather, rinse, repeat
Situational hitting team taking advantage of what they are seeing.
3 straight singles loads ’em up in the Brewer 4th, no outs.
Make that 4 in a row and one run in… who’s up and throwing ?
And the beat (down) by Brewers goes on.
This Brewers team is lucky too..incredible
Game over more than likely. Crazy how badly the Brewers own the Reds. And it’s not even close.
And that’s how Bernie roles. Slap shots all around.
My time watching tonight is getting more limited by the at bat.
Ballgame ….. seen enough of Barnum and Bailey this evening … yall take care
And Brewers win the game in this inning how easy …The Reds are a piece of cake for this hateful team…embarrassing
The wheels are about to fall off of the Lowder bus! Oh well! Reds have 8 more chances to beat the ’77 Yankees, er, the 2026 Brewers!
The 1976 NYY were better than 1977. The 1976 was arguably one of the Top 10 (or so) in MLB history.
But the Reds swept the ’76 Yankees in the World Series, correct? They were both great teams and arguably better than the 2026 Brewers!
It’s now 5-1 and the bases are loaded with one out … I don’t care. Lowder needs to sit.
thankfully it’s over… saved by a challenge !
Brewers .378 AVG with bases loaded.
Leads MLB
Lowder has nothing and not sure what the reds saw that made them think he was worthy of a top 10. His stuff is so weak
Just maddening to watch this team and their pitching! How do you go from tossing 3 scoreless innings to giving up 6 runs?
You throw strikes right down the middle.
When I played, we called that batting practice!
Apparently one single at a time. And a bunch of softies at that.
Lowder fell appart has nothing to offer in this game just in the 4th inning..he’s out of the rotation but it’s a bit disappointing his performance despite coming out of a year plagued of injuries…
4 divisional wins by the Reds heading into July is absolutely atrocious.
Reds getting owned.
Ugly, ugly, UGLY!!!
My bad! ONLY 5 runs! So, you’re saying there’s a chance?
One for the RISP crowd. Their heads might explode on this one.
Brewers are next to last in MLB in leaving runners in scoring position per game.
The Reds are 9th.
It goes to show, that teams that get a lot of hits and walks, leave more RISP, than a poor AVG/OBP team like the Reds
With us in this position, I’m finding Sadak’s word buffet and micro-stats extra annoying. If we don’t manage something here, I’m at full Clete.
With the Reds going down 1-2-3 in the 5th it looks like I won’t hang around for the finish of this ugly game and catch up on my beauty sleep tonight!
Catch you all for tomorrow night’s scheduled beating.
Ain’t it grand to be a Reds fan???
Francona puts Lowder back out there in the 5th … Wave the white flag why don’t ya ?
Francona should resign… nothing to do this season….
The lineup each day is looking kinda like a roulette wheel, and it’s not working.
Ferguson comes on to get the final out in the 5th. The Crew gets 1 … 6-1 with eleven hits.
We are making an over 5 era pitcher look like cy young ! ( not just tonight , last week as well ) ugh
Go Reds !
Lowder might as well stay in and be the whipping boy for this game. Save the arms in the bullpen for another night.
The way this season has gone I don’t really care if they blow up the whole team. I would look at trading anybody for the right price. It is so obvious that this team has no clue how to play winning baseball. It is actually very embarrassing to be Reds fan at this point. I sure hope Tito decides not to come back next year.
Kirk Herbstreit had a tweet today expressing similar feelings but in language that Doug would prohibit.
Ben Verlander blew that nonsense up by Herbstreit
Is Hunter Greene ever gonna pitch this season? Tomorrow is July 1st for Pete’s sake!
It’s fitting that by the time the Reds so called Ace pitches a game the season is all but over.
You gotta pay attention. Greene is pitching on Saturday per Reds today.
Does this remind anyone of about 10 years ago when Albert Pujols and the Cardinals just owned the Reds for a while?
This is much worse.
The Brewers are tied with Tampa for the third least HR in the majors @ 76 yet they both lead their division. Cleveland has 77 and second in their division. There are other factors of course but obviously they know how to manufacture runs. As the radio broadcast said tonight, “The Brewers value hits”. haha
The Brewers by the way are 4th in runs scored.
Pitchers have definitely made the adjustments on Bleday. Wonder what Valaika has been working on with him? Results say nothing.
The Brewers are good but this Reds team is awful, just look at the players in the line up after you get by Stewart, they are just not very good baseball players. I think 90 plus losses are in play.
Back to back Dbls plate One for the Reds in the top of the 6th … but that’s all they will get. 6-2
Patrick has replaced Sproat on the mound for Milwaukee.
When you are putting starters in your lineup on a regular basis with batting averages currently at Marte .200 Suarez .206, Trevino .196, and Friedl .176, this isn’t a competitive ballclub. We won’t even talk about the bullpen!
And McLain who has started a majority of the season with his pathetic offensive efforts.
I don’t know what kind of marvelous thing (besides a bunch of Grants) Krall offered Tito but I think he should finish it and stops making ridiculous and damaging his HOFer reputation…It’s very sad how this Reds team is going right now…
Eureka! I think I figured it out! The Reds leave so many RISPs because they strike out! 1-7 with RISP thru 6 innings and 8 SOs! Conversely, the Brewers have 8 SOs thru 5 innings but are 5-9 with RISP!
The radio guys say the Reds are 18-44 against the Brewers since the start of the 2022 season.
Julian Garcia, of the great sweeper fame, replaces Ferguson with 2 on and one out.
Nice dbl play ends the Crew’s 6th.
When the Reds are in games by 1-run many times the pitcher to come in has been Maxwell, Petty, Mey , Julian Garcia but when the game is trailing by 4 Caleb Ferguson is pitching…. I can’t understand
If the Brewers added a power at bat, not that they need one with being 4th in runs scored already, but that would really put them over the top. Probably their only offensive weakness. Would help them in a short postseason series too. They’re elite.
Think about this! Just checked the current ERAs for Reds SPs and 3 of the 5 SPs (Singer, Lowder & Lodolo) all have ERAs of 5+. And we wonder why the Reds will be 39-45 after tonight’s loss! I know Greene is returning but it’s probably too late to save this season!
19-34 after the 20-11 start combined with 4 divisional wins heading into July is laughably bad. Just atrocious.
Down on the farm Carlos Jorge struggled in his first three AAA PA striking out all three times. Two hits the next two with four RBI. 🙂 Duno has a hit in his first AA appearance.
Good for them. Duno has been hitting.
If you go back to 2023, the year we all thought the Reds were coming into their own, every hitter except Elly has become almost an automatic out. Something went wrong somewhere but that ship has sailed and is sinking fast to the ocean floor.
Aside from striking out the side, Julian gave up a Dbl in the Brewers 7th. Yeah, Sweepers and a fast-ball.
Nice job by Garcia FWIW!
McLain hitting for Friedl. Centerfield here he comes.
Checks out. Neither can hit. McLain can move so he’ll probably do fine defensively.
Interested to see it.
No challenge on the 2nd pitch by Elly … Koenig now on the mound, but Elly singles anyway !
McLain .161 avg his last 30 games. Appallingly bad.
Garcia looked good which is a positive.
Like I said besides Elly and Sal this is a AAA offense at best.
Julian Garcia back on the mound for the bottom of the 8th, after a scoreless top half for the Reds.
What good does playing Mclain in CF do? He is just another sub .200 hitter.
Come on Brewers hit one in the gap. I want to see Mighty Mac chase one.
When I said hit one in the gap I meant for it to stay in the ball park. Boy you gotta spell things out for these guys. 🙂
Ha! That made me laugh. Well done!
Yes, you do gotta spell it out Melvin!
Gotta be able to laugh. It’s that or the nut house and padded rooms. 😀
Tito looks so miserable, this will be his last year. There is no way he could have possibly seen this going as bad as it has. I no I sure didn’t.
He doesn’t sound too happy on WLV 700 pregame shows.
Probably the last four games the Reds seem to have some momentum and then the ground int a double play. Just extremely bad baseball all around.
Garcia mixing a slider in with this pitches, gets the first two, then Chourio reminds him of where he is… 7-2.
Yeah, it was off a sweeper.
4, yes 4, divisional wins heading into July. Just wow…
We’re gonna see Johnson now. 🙂
That’s no fair striking a guy out in his major league debut.
his manager picked a poor spot to send him up for his first big league at bat.
Welcome to the show Ivan Johnson.
Lowe dbls with 2 outs in the ninth … Ivan Johnson gets to make an appearance, batting for Marte.
He goes down on 3 pitches… Brewers win 7-2 .
My wife asked me why we’re paying for MLB.tv with the Reds playing as poorly as they are. She makes a very valid point.
Brewers owning the Reds. That felt so much more lob-sided than the final score indicated.
They got me for the season, Jason T. I paid for it so I will keep watching when I have the time.
Thank God that beating is over! Let’s see! Reds have played Milwaukee 5 times so far this season! And we are 0-5 with 8 more games left to play! Can’t wait!
Not exactly encouraging is it? 🙂
Looks like I missed a fun party tonight! 🙂
June 30, 1970. Opening Night at Riverfront Stadium. My brother and I were there. Blue seats, row 20, right behind home plate. Parking pass for stadium garage.
The colors (green, red, blue, and yellow) were so vivid when they were brand new.
That’s a nice memory, OT! I didn’t get to see those colors until July of 1993. As a kid, I was mesmerized for my first trip there with my Dad and brothers.
I used to love the Green, Red, Yellow and Blue it gave the stadium more character.