The Cincinnati Reds had just three hits in the game and for a while that kept them in it, but the Cardinals put up six runs in the 6th inning and that put the game away as St. Louis held on for a 7-0 win to even up the series at one win for each club.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (48-55) | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| St. Louis Cardinals (53-51) | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| W: Pallante (11-6) L: Greene (2-2) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The first batter of the bottom of the 1st inning reached safely on an error by Elly De La Cruz as he couldn’t come up with the ball cleanly. The Reds wound up paying for that mistake as Jordan Walker hit a little flare just over the head of De La Cruz in the next at-bat to move JJ Wetherholt into scoring position and then score he did on a single into shallow left field two pitches later.
Hunter Greene locked in from there. But so did Cardinals starter Andre Pallante as the two exchanged zeroes through the 5th inning. But the bottom of the 6th saw Greene run into trouble and it once again started with JJ Wetherholt reaching base to start the inning – this time on a walk. Alec Burleson then singled with one out to leave two on for Ivan Herrera and he came through with an RBI double that plated two runs. Another walk followed and then Masyn Winn singled to load the bases for the home team. That brought the pitching coach out to the mound to talk things over.
Whatever was said didn’t work as Bryan Torres lined a single into right to tack onto the St. Louis lead. Despite having given up four hits and two walks and only recorded one out in the inning the Reds kept Greene in the game. Two more runs scored when Blaze Jordan hit a chopper that went down the right field line for another hit and it was 6-0 before Terry Francona walked to the mound to make a pitching change. Sam Moll came in and saw Nathan Church lay down a bunt for an RBI sacrifice that made it 7-0.
The Reds offense went down in order in both the 7th and 8th innings. The Cardinals then had Gordon Graceffo, who pitched the 8th inning, return for the 9th. Things didn’t go as smoothly for him in this inning as he walked Elly De La Cruz to begin the inning then saw Sal Stewart line a single into right field. That was followed up with another walk, this one to load the bases. Things then began to go his way as he struck out Eugenio Suarez and Tyler Stephenson before getting Noelvi Marte to ground out to end the game and seal a shutout win for St. Louis.
Key Moment of the Game
The Cardinals 6th inning that saw them turn a 1-0 lead into a 7-0 lead with a 6-run frame against Hunter Greene and Sam Moll.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds went 0-5 with runners in scoring position. St. Louis went 5-11 with runners in scoring position.
Cincinnati’s top three hitters in the lineup went 3-9 with three walks. The bottom six hitters in the lineup went 0-21 with no walks. A story as old as time for the Reds offense.
Chase Petty threw two shutout innings out of the bullpen in the 7th and 8th. Since giving up seven runs in two outings in May he’s given up six earned runs in 17.0 innings since (3.18 ERA).
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs St. Louis Cardinals
Sunday July 26th, 2:15pm ET
Andrew Abbott (5-6, 3.89 ERA) vs Kyle Leahy (7-4, 3.59 ERA)
St. Louis doing the small things that lead to victory – bunting for an RBI, hitting the ball to the opposite field, getting hits with runners in scoring position.
Have no clue why Francona didn’t pull Hunter after down 4-0. He wasn’t fooling anyone.
Typical 9th inning for the Reds – no out bases loaded, and don’t score.
“Typical 9th inning for the Reds – no out bases loaded, and don’t score.”
I wonder how many times this year that has happened
More than we want to count regarding this version of the Red’s inconsistent offense. How the Reds miss an offensive sparkplug like Mitchell, Vaughan or Rolen. No consistent .300 average offensive leadership.
If memory serves, I believe this near-exact scenario recently played out with the first two batters reaching base, except in a save situation. Suarez (K), TySteve (K), Marte 2-hopper to end it. Facing Duran and the Phillies? Same thought I had at that time, this team seems to fail to put together competitive at-bats in big moments too often. I don’t have quantifiable data to back it up, but that’s the sense I get.
@TR, to be fair though, there’s only 7 players with an average above .300. The game has evolved.
I’d take a core group that could even hit above .250-.275 consistently.
Pure insanity for not taking Greene out earlier…not that it mattered with the offensive performance.
1. Conspicuously missing is the word “Ace” near Greene’s name.
2. Why do you seem to focus on the difference between the top six hitters and the bottom three hitters when the comparison favors the former, but somehow seem to forget to mention the difference when the bottom three outhit the top six? Confirmation bias perhaps?
Seems like you just don’t read all of the notes. Four days ago the recap said this: “Cincinnati had three hits in the game. All three were singles. All three came from the 7-8-9 hitters in the lineup. The Reds 1-6 hitters went 0-20 with one walk.”
Putrid-Decayed and having an unpleasant smell.Yes and there’s still close to 60 games to play.Could get worse if there is a worse.
The Reds are somehow averaging over 25k a game in attendance. I don’t see this particular ownership group seeing much wrong with that. I’m sure that they will be content in keeping most of the band together, less work that way. They’ve figured out how to get rid of the peaks of winning and the valleys of low ticket sales. I will always love the Reds but I would use a different word for my feelings on the time of stewardship that this ownership group has had. Doug, you ever done or thought about doing a deep dive write up on who each of the owners are? This seems like an unending purgatory.
Since the departure of Dick Williams as president of baseball operations, it seems to me that the Reds have been on a downhill slope. The Castellini Family, imo, has too many ‘irons in the fire’ except winning a Red’s championship.
Hey TR.
Since the Castellini family took ownership of the Cincinnati Reds in January 2006, the team has posted a cumulative record of approximately 1,414–1,562 (a .478 winning percentage) through their 20-year tenure.
The Reds have finished with a losing record in 13 to 14 of their 20 seasons under this ownership.
The team is 2–11 in postseason games across five playoff appearances.
Zero playoff series wins since 2006.
When Bob Castellini took over the Cincinnati Reds in 2006, he famously promised to bring championship baseball back to Cincinnati and stated that his goal was to put a contender on the field right away.
Since coming back up Hayes hitting .150, Friedl .140, Marte I think around .190. Just kind of crazy how some of these players can’t hit. Friedl and Marte more surprising than Hayes as they’ve shown they can hit decently in the Majors just last year.
There’s other guys in the league similar to them too. I just don’t get some of this terrible hitting. For the Reds though, a little surprising there hasn’t been maybe a question about changing the hitting coach. It’s more of a league wide problem, but with the Reds one of the worst offenders for bad hitting in the game.
There seems to be this thing in baseball that hitting .240 to .250 is considered pretty good now. if your hitting .230 its considered ok. A lot of teams have multiple guys who are hitting around .200 to .220
I don’t know what has happened to baseball other than pitchers throwing consistently in the upper 90s and around 100 mph which has to be hard to hit. Seems like there are not too many players who can hit off-speed pitches either. Baseball has just really changed wince the 1980’s. Don’t know what else to say it’s a different game now.
I sure miss the 20 game winners and .300 plus hitters in baseball.
JayTheRed, we seem to focus more on exit velo than batting average anymore. Drives me nuts!
Exit velocity is an indicator of the probability of a batted ball being a hit.
Re: “….we seem to focus more on exit velo than batting average anymore. Drives me nuts!”
Focusing more on BA than OBP and SLG should be what is driving you nuts.
@Tom
I saw someone say “sometimes OBP is more important than OPS” the other day.
The notion that getting on base could ever be more important than getting on base PLUS slugging makes the head spin. Some of these ideas live on like cockroaches. I still read every day about the Reds not hitting with RISP, as if they should when they can’t hit with runners in any configuration or none on base at all.
Bad hitters don’t suddenly turn into more successful hitters because a guy is in scoring position. At least not for very long.
As soon as I saw the lineup I was like… Sigh… Here comes a loss. the bottom 4 in the lineup area terrible hitters overall. How are you going to win a game like that.
Also, they can’t keep winning games otherwise how is Krall going to get rid of all those upcoming free agents without the fans rioting. Sometimes this team makes just poor decisions and then they wonder why they are not playoff contenders.
Trade chatter about Steer and Stephenson mostly. Some random Greene and Singer trade chatter. We should see more movement around the league soon. Possible trade partners mentioned have been the Mariners, Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies, White Sox and Blue Jays. Kind of surprised not hearing more chatter about Bleday. He’s in a similar situation as Steer. Maybe an emphasis on RH hitters. Will Lodolo be able to make a start before the deadline? How many of the 7 expiring contracts will be moved? Will the FO pull the string on a Steer or Bleday deal?
The trade chatter about the Reds right now is somewhat hilarious, particularly from writers for other fanbases. The one thing that comes thru loud and clear is how little respect many of them have for the Reds FO – we can trade for Stephenson m just offer them a promising A+ level prospect or the Dodgers 19th best prospect who is 28 and hasn’t made it yet. Similar ideas have been floated for others. As funny as some of these ideas are, recognizing that Krall loves cutting payroll tends to stifle my chuckles.
Krall is a yes man and a puppet for King Bob. All decisions come from the very top. Keep payroll down. As long as he continues to follow orders, he’ll keep his job. Enough fans will attend games.
@RedsFan. What front office DOESN’T follow the wishes of ownership? The desire to rip Krall shouldn’t betray your common sense.
The O’s may be another team pursuing Stephenson.
I was one of the fan still believing in this Reds team trying to make a run before the deadline but I realized Tito doesn’t think so when I see the lineup…Tito gave up… just wait who will be traded…
I think it doesn´t make sense Francona will come back next year to manage a maybe worse team, why will he finish his career as manager in an awful fashion?
I almost expect Tito to sign an extension mid summer like Bell did.
Hmmm. I do think from here on out, the lineup needs to consist of your best offense. Against a RHP, seems Lowe should be in there. And though Steer may suffer some against RHP, Marte/Freidl are not the solution. Maybe he thought with Greene on the mound he could get by.
I didn’t know we were facing a future hall of fame pitcher today.
What a stinker by Hunter today. I think I’d be ok trading him if we can get a haul. But I prefer to do in the off season.
Cardinals hitters with 6 strikeouts. Reds with 12 strikeouts. Pretty much sums up who has mlb hitters and who doesn’t.
I just don’t see a team giving the Reds a haul for Hunter Greene. HG has ace potential, but he just can’t stay healthy. Would you give up a haul for a pitcher who averages less than 100 innings pitched a season? I just don’t see a team doing that. The only players who could get the Reds a haul would be Elly or Chase Burns.
I think you have to hold on to Hunter and hope he reestablishes his value and if he does then trade him.
Yes,I agree his value is only declining,trade Elly and get something decent in return that is a team player, he mentally is not into it with the Reds,he’s just pumping his chest waiting for Boras to get him and his pink shoestrings to the east or west Coast,no money here in middle America,just cheap bobblehead’s and fools that keep padding Castellini’s bank accounts by attending these AA games
I’m so tired of this stuff, man. You need a break from crying over and over about a man’s shoestrings.
If you’d like to keep posting comments here, email me in about a month if you have decided that you can do so without bringing up the color of a players shoestrings every other comment you decide to leave and I’ll consider letting you comment again.
I was foolish enough to predict this team winning 85 games this season.
Ke’Bryan Hayes is now batting .143 with a .409 OPS. I know he is an elite defensive third baseman, but come on, you have to hit at least a little.
While this team has some good young players, it’s just not enough. This team is really bad.
Was elite, less so this year. But, no one counted on so many regulars being bad at the same time: Friedl, McLain, Hayes (mostly expected), a Geno down year, Marte not coming a long, Stephenson being lousy for the first 75 games or so. Coupled with injuries, and the die was cast
My prediction was by July we would be discussing if this was the worst offensive team in the storied history of the franchise. I chuckled seeing the 90 plus win predictions. I cannot be fooled by Krall and this organization. I seen a declining team w no real track record of offense. Id like to know who we were expecting to hit this year? McClain was terrible last year. Friedl looked cooked last year. Benson? We have been through this. Steer
Is what he is, as is Hayes. Marte is a question mark. Ty Stephenson isnt going to suddenly be Mike Piazza at 29.
Who has disappointed you guys that you expecting to hit better?
Last year Friedl hit .261, had an OBP of .364, and added 14 homers. Not so bad.
“She’s real fine my 409”
“I know he is an elite defensive third baseman,”
He’s not elite this year.
Hard to pile up DRS if you aren’t playing. He’s missed something like seven weeks. To be clear, I don’t think Hayes should be starting–though, really, there’s little to lose at this point.
“Hard to pile up DRS if you aren’t playing. He’s missed something like seven weeks”
According to what I saw he doesn’t have ANY. Anyway the Hayes issue is??????…….
As I said before, he was VERY SMART for accepting the extension money the Pirates offered him. He could very well be close to retirement and he’s set for life or should be.
Unfortunately, the ACL Reds are playing like their big brother Reds tonight
They won.
Man, that Nick Martinez just keeps pitching gems for Tampa. What a comoetitor and leader. Wish we had re-signed that guy.
This philosophy of pitching and defense only works when you have a veteran pitcher like Martinez to back it up. Very durable guy.
PH 3 run HR ties it in the 8th 3-3.
Reds add another run, up 4-3 top of the 8th
I guess players on rehab assignment can play in the playoffs. Logan Tanner with a nice shutout inning in the 8th.
Reds win! Reds win!
Logan Tanner is not on rehab, he’s now a pitcher in the minors and no longer working as a catcher.
Yes he is. He is officially listed on the Dragons roster with the status of 60 day IL and on the ACL Reds roster as rehab assignment. And I know he has converted to a relief pitcher now.
Interesting. Still, he’s also pitching at the first level of pro ball. In other words, he’s at the level we would expect him to go for his first games as a pitcher. It’s not the same as if they sent Tony Santillan to rehab in Arizona during the ACL playoffs.
The first inning wasn’t entirely his fault because of an mishap by Elly but what Hunter doesn’t do well enough at times is when he doesn’t have his best stuff during certain starts he won’t try to work on his secondary pitches to escape from those jams he get into.
Putrid. Great adjective to describe this offense. The very adjective I use to describe it.
I checked on the 1982 Reds. In terms of WAR, that team had 6.1 WAR offensively. The position players only had 5.5 WAR, but the pitchers (who batted then) added 0.6 WAR to the total WAR.
The current Reds team has about 6 WAR offensively.
I want the Reds to win, but I also want them to be sellers at this trade deadline. So at least there is a silver lining. I’ve been concerned that they will win just enough for the front office to justify standing pat.
One thing about the roster being so top-heavy is you can trade Stephenson etc and still not lower the faint hope of a playoff push all that much.
Do what must be done. Do not hesitate, show no mercy.
Who’d catch? Stephenson has been hitting for a while and doing most of the catching. And the Reds would miss Singer, too. I think it’s a moot point anyway.
Trevino starts. (I think he’s pretty bad but whatever, we’re playing the long game here while hoping for a miracle in the short term.) You’d likely get a backup C back in a Stephenson trade, or a AAA starter, and either way that’s probably someone playable. If it’s the Yankees say JC Escarra or Ali Sanchez would be fine.
Hoped for a low scoring win and got a stinky blowout loss. After a loss like this I question the saying it counts as 1 L on the record. It should count more than 1 L.
Just saw this. I’ll give Arroyo some slack but Friedl, Marte, and HAYES in the same lineup is not ever likely to produce good things. Tito just doesn’t have much to work with.
He had Lowe and 1300 OPS against Pallante, but didn’t start him. Our CF and RF options against RHP are not good.
Time to try HRod? I don’t know.
In my mind it’s definitely time to cut Hayes for good. Friedl is not far behind. I don’t have a lot of confidence in Marte either.
I still don’t understand how Sal Stewart is not playing third base nearly every game.
Sure seems the line up should have had Lowe and Steer in there. Suarez 3rd, Sal 1st, Steer RF. Myers in CF. Sink or swim with that. Marte can get his AB’s if and when the sell.
Kind of what a few of us have been saying since March. Different verbage from your end. This is a poorly constructed roster that is too short on talent to compete for a playoff spot. And you forgot McLain who fortunately is on rehab. How many of those guys were in our Opening Day starting lineup? 3-4 counting Benson? Awful. “Putrid.”
Wonder if anybody had any reaction to the Nats trade of Mead for Connerly Early? Lots of control years on both ends. Young pitcher for young hitter. Early is on (short term?) IL. Probably compares favorably with Lowder or Lodolo. 7-5 with a 3.25 ERA. Mead is hitting like 255 with 17 HRs. Not far from Sal/Steer. Red Sox offense is like 25th and almost as putrid as Reds. But they give up a pretty talented young starting pitcher for a much needed bat. Hhmm. What team does this sound like? Wonder if Mr. “We are checking in on everybody” even thought about wading in on Mead? The Nats certainly made it known that they wanted controllable starting pitching. Whether it was Lowder or Lodolo, Mead would have been a strong add to this offense for no $.
Mead plays 3rd, where we are already crowded. If he were a RFer then there you go. But I get your more general point…go get a MLB player (OF or 2nd baseman) for one of our pitchers.
Correct that was my point. Young pitcher for young hitter. And agreed, Mead is not the right guy position ally. We are constipated with 3B guys. But if there is a 23 year old CF with Stewart like stats, we ought to be talking 25 hours a day. If there is object is improvement, then we need to acquire a guy who can hit like Sal or Mead and play a solid CF.
“Putrid”.
Perfect word choice.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/padres-connected-reds-star-ace-232905152.html
Greene for Miller and Salas?
Dumb article written for clicks.
First, the title says Padres CONNECTED to Greene. There’s no such connection. Certainly not from the either front office. Only a suggestion from the “always reliable” Jim Bowden. [insert sarcasm font here].
Second, the Padres farm system is depleted. They are at the very bottom of the rankings.
Third, you don’t trade your #1 starter for a bullpen ace no matter how good he is.
Correct. Closest Reds came to doing that was Milt Pappas (et al) to ATL for Clay Carroll (et al). Those were the two most prominent names in that 1968 trade.
From a cost perspective, Miller is dirt cheap. There you go Nick. From a trade perspective, it would cost you the farm. Literally. I think the Pads gave up like 3 top 8 prospects to get Miller. His value certainly hasn’t diminished. He is very affordable for the next 3 years but it probably will cost you 3 top prospects. With this anemic offense, a wipeout closer would be worth quite a few wins.
It’s killing me, the hardest thing to find or buy for small mkt teams is good starting pitching and the Reds have that!!! No defense up the middle and way too many holes in this lineup. Suarez had 4 K’s and no one seems bothered. .
Mark Cuban is now a minority owner of the Las Vegas A’s.
Sure would have liked his influence (and cash influx) in the Red’s org.
I had the exact thoughts when I read the story. I have wanted him to buy the Reds for years.
Putrid steaming kettle of Stink. Fish. Pot!!!
Getaway Sunday … complete crap shoot.
HG just isn’t consistent enough to be an ace. he’s lights out in many starts but he has games like last nights, and then is hurt for much of the season.
The biggest benefit to the team is his contract. Reds have invested time and patience in him, but I’m not convinced he will ever put it together.
Wish he had a mentor.
I know the writing is on the wall for all to see. But, a win on Sunday, takes the series. Take ’em one at a time. I know some will call me naive or worse an apologist for the FO, but I would like the team to finish strong, playoffs or not. and will root for them to do so..
There is a legitimate concern that the team may currently be at its strongest. I hear Krall’s mumbo jumbo that he will be trying to improve the team. IMO, it will be very hard to improve upon guys like Singer and Stephenson at their current salaries. Younger could move us further backward. We all know the issues with this team and the guys names are not Singer and Stephenson. Your team improvement can be made around guys with the initials KH, MM, TJF, and WB. I can’t foresee us getting better without trading starting pitching and prospects. I don’t see where any of the recent Louisville adds – Dunn, Arroyo, Friedl, Johnson, and Marte – have moved the dial on our offensive production. Are we getting more wins and scoring more runs since June 1?
Since Hayes has returned he has reached base 3 times in 18 plate appearances while having just 10 total chances at third. If you still think his defense is worth the automatic out i guess you will never be convinced. At least stop wondering how this team has such a lousy record.
When Elly is leading the league in errors the last couple of years the excuses that people make are ironic. Same with Steer and him being “gold glove” first basemen who needs to have that defense in the lineup. But, McClain needs to go because he is all defense and no offense?
Guys, up the middle defense is where it matters most. You sacrifice a little defense to get big bats in the lineup on the corners. Its a no brainer. Yet the arguments about Hayes defense continue. An OPS of under .400 gets into civilian territory.
Defense is important but guys with less than 600 OPS don’t qualify. Give Hays and his $35M back to the Pirates. No return required. How long is Krall’s going to go without bringing in some offense? Geno is having a down year but his 690 OPS is servicible. McLain, Hays, and Friedl are offensive zeroes. Trade some starting pitching and prospects and get some mlb OFs in here. Ridiculous that Tito keeps playing these guys. Put your foot down. Duno is 2+ years away and may end up at 1B. Build around Elly.
It’s often said that defense up the middle matters the most, and it may. But Hayes, playing third, has consistently ranked near the top of all defenders at any position in DRS. The point gets made that a lot of fielding chances are routine, and this is true. Sometimes those get botched, but not usually. What doesn’t get discussed is that BA, OBP, OPS and HR don’t differentiate between hits that impact the outcome of the game and hits that don’t. If we’re going to downgrade the importance of defense because of the routine plays, let’s also downgrade the importance of offense because of the large number of meaningless hits.
While following Atlanta, I was surprised to see ‘ole CES playing 3rd base in Baltimore. Looks like he just got called up this week and in 26 PAs he’s got an OBP/OPS of .400/1.192. Well, of course it’s early and maybe the AL hasn’t thoroughly scouted him so no need to worry. Besides we have Hayes and CES has already chalked up one error. If curious, tune in at 1:35 today to see CES batting 5th.
Yeah, CES is on a heater right now, same as he was with the Reds once. And yeah, AL pitchers haven’t seen him yet, but clearly you think that irrelevant.
Nothing wrong with rooting for a former Red. I’m sure this isn’t about bashing the Reds front office … oh wait … there’s a mention of Hayes.
I get it now.
All of the above, Richard. Sure, I was glad to see CES doing well and I don’t question the Reds selling him off. I also believe it likely he will revert to a lesser state. That being said, I have never understood the Hayes trade (and salary) so I just injected a little irony into the situation but without your level of prose and acerbic commentary.
No reason to start Hayes, Marte, and Friedl at same time if at all. All of them should be at AAA for the remainder of the season. Friedl is done as is Hayes. Marte gets one more chance in spring training next seasonl
Not sure Tito has not thrown in the towel and will retire at the end of the season with another slow rebuild on the horizon. Bring on Larkin and the Cowboy to shake things up next season!
BTW I would try to resign Stephenson and Singer as replacing them will cost just as much. Dunno is not ready to catch in the majors and Banfield is just a backup. There is no other potential Stater or innings eater in the reds minor league system either.
Get what you can for Gino , Ferguson, and Johnson.
Bring in Larkin and Cowboy to fix things????
You mean, Larkin, who said home runs kill rallies?
Or Brantley, who continues to bash analytics with a fanaticism bordering on the absurd while shilling for a managerial and front office hitting approach that is the opposite what most of the rest of baseball is doing?
No thanks.
White Sox made radio announcer Ken (Hawk) Harrelson their XVPBO in 1985. He fired Dave Dombrowski (later a pretty good GM) and Tony LaRussa (HOF manager). He traded Bobby Bonilla for Jose DeLeon.
He went back to the radio booth in 1986. He made HOF in 2009 as a broadcaster.
Also, Larkin wanted to give Kyle Farmer a long term deal and make him team captain.
Also Jeff Brantley thinks baseball is a form of warfare with all of his “intestinal fortitude” nonsense.
I want players who can perform. That should be the criteria for judging a player.
And what we have been doing so far has worked so well??
The Reds likely trade will Suarez, Lowe, Stephenson, Singer and a few members of their bullpen in the next couple of weeks.
The Reds will then spend the month of January (after the most sought after Free Agents have already been signed) to re-fill all these roster spots with the cheapest one year contacts possible. Then they will go through the same process a year from now.