The Cincinnati Reds picked up a walk-off win to earn a split of Monday’s day/night doubleheader. Tonight they will get back at it with the St. Louis Cardinals in game three of their 5-game series at Great American Ball Park. First pitch this evening is scheduled for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
St. Louis Cardinals | Cincinnati Reds |
| JJ Wetherholt – 2B | Elly De La Cruz – SS |
| Ivan Herrera – DH | Sal Stewart – 1B |
| Jordan Walker – RF | JJ Bleday – LF |
| Alec Burleson – 1B | Eugenio Suarez – DH |
| Joshua Baez – LF | Tyler Stephenson – C |
| Blaze Jordan – 3B | Dane Myers – CF |
| Masyn Winn – SS | Matt McLain – 2B |
| Jose Fermin – CF | Hector Rodriguez – RF |
| Pedro Pages – C | Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B |
| Kyle Leahy – RHP | Andrew Abbott – LHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Andrew Abbott | 133.0 | 4.13 | 1.42 | 64 | 102 |
| Kyle Leahy | 117.1 | 3.38 | 1.34 | 32 | 105 |
| Links: Andrew Abbott’s Stats | Kyle Leahy’s Stats | |||||
Andrew Abbott
The slow start from Abbott is long behind him now, but he’s been battling a bit here in August. In his three starts he’s allowed 11 earned runs in 16.0 innings while walking more batters (10) than he’s struck out (8). What’s saved him a much better ERA in that time is that he’s given up zero home runs. The lefty has faced the Cardinals once this season and it was just over three weeks ago when he allowed two runs in 6.0 innings against them in St. Louis in a game that Cincinnati won in extras.
The splits against Abbott don’t look very big on the surface. That’s because of how much lefties obliterated him in the first five starts of the year. Since then he’s been his usual, dominant self against them but since he faces so few of them his numbers haven’t quite made a full recovery yet. Righties aren’t hitting as well against him since then, either, but they are still hitting better than left-handed hitters are. They are also walking nearly as often as they strike out against him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 421 | 89 | 12 | 1 | 13 | 54 | 60 | .245 | .341 | .391 |
| LHH | 157 | 36 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 42 | .250 | .293 | .382 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 92.5 | 88.7 | 79.6 | 82.1 | 85.9 |
| Usage | 45% | 2% | 14% | 20% | 19% |
Kyle Leahy
It’s been an up-and-down season for Leahy. His ERA at the end of April was 5.52, then he allowed one or zero runs in four of his five starts in May. He had two so-so starts in mid-June, but since June 23rd he has allowed two runs twice, one run four times, and zero runs three times in his nine starts – posting a 1.52 ERA in his last 47.1 innings where he’s given up three homers and walked just nine batters. He’s faced Cincinnati twice this season – giving up five runs in 5.0 innings in May and giving up two runs in 6.0 innings three weeks ago.
The splits against Leahy this season are huge. What’s weird is that the number of lefties he has faced isn’t overwhelming larger than it is given that they are hitting for a very high average, walking at a solid rate, making plenty of contact, and showing solid power against him. Righties have not hit for average, have an on-base percentage that’s under .260, and hit for no power against him. Not shown below is that he’s pitched worse on the road where his ERA is 1.05 runs higher and his OPS against is 101 points higher (thanks in large part to 10 homers on the road in three fewer games than his two homers allowed at home).
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 235 | 47 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 54 | .215 | .258 | .347 |
| LHH | 263 | 75 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 51 | .319 | .389 | .481 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-sm | 2-sm | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 94.3 | 94.2 | 89.4 | 82.9 | 85.0 | 88.6 |
| Usage | 27% | 13% | 16% | 16% | 15% | 14% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market).
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 83°, sunny, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Reds roster moves
The Reds have called up catcher Will Banfield from Louisville and optioned outfielder Noelvi Marte to Triple-A. You can read more about both moves here from our piece earlier today.
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Milwaukee | 77 | 48 | 0.0 | 100.0% |
| Chicago | 73 | 53 | 4.5 | 98.8% |
| St. Louis | 64 | 62 | 13.5 | 10.0% |
| Pittsburgh | 61 | 66 | 17.0 | 2.8% |
| Cincinnati | 60 | 65 | 17.0 | 0.2% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
Let’s get it in gear and Roast Us Some Redbird!!!
Time to kick this…
PIG!!!!
Oh Melvin …
Grilled chicken breasts tonight and some peppers. All the peppers were picked just prior to prep/cook from my very own garden … 😉
Thanks. I’ll wait at my door for the delivery. 😉
Sorry … you know the rules … pick-up only.
“Sorry … you know the rules … pick-up only.”
But you don’t have a drive thru.
Honk and I’ll bring it to the end of the driveway
REally nice first inning by Abbott… 6 pitches , 6 strikes 0 runs
You can take from here, I got stuff to do today …
How’s that for a first inning from Abbott ? (6 pitches including a K)
One fraction of a point docked for that defensive play and give it to Sal 😉
And let’s all remember … we’re talking RoY ODDS at this point. The votes ultimately tell the story.
Stewart just plain finds ways to get a hit and get on base
At least, they made him work a little bit.
The Reds just can’t seem to score in the first inning.
Oh Elly, come on man you are better than that.
Oops … #15 and it didn’t need to be one.
I know … DFA him, move him off SS, something something something.
Some of these errors could be “tired” errors? Hopefully no unearned runs as a result.
What I THINK I saw was a bit of a submarine throw that had enough on it to make it rise. Let’s just be glad Sal caught it or we’d be down 1-zip.
I think he is throwing with the wrong hand.
“I think he is throwing with the wrong hand.”
Wow. I didn’t think of that. 😉
Another zero in the books for AA..
A little redemption and a much better throw. 2 extra batters and a few pitches more. Them’s the breaks.
Abbott threw on strike his first 17 pitches and 18 out of 19 but Elly’s trhowing error complicated the inning…However Abbott prevailed…
Another error by Elly? What’s up with that? Concentrate Dude! And relax!
Nice job by Abbott to pitch around the mess caused by the E-6!
All aboard the K-Train.
Its hard for me to not believe Elly and Sal and Bleday are not tired.Guess I would have to go look at games played to see but its August and its hot and they all have played a lot.Trouble is unless Krall and Tito get on the same page regarding wins its not going to change.Tito manages to win games and those 3 will play if that remains the goal.Krall’s job may depend on 78 wins vs 72 wins but I don’t know that but could see it being that way.Marty B for what its worth said Krall rolled the dice at the deadline for that reason so we will see.
+10,000
I get they are young and athletic. But it is mid-August and the grind of a season always shows up. Add to that the heat many are seeing and you will see fatigue. They won’t suffer as much as, say, Trevino, but it’s real. You work through it but stuff happens during the “dog days”.
If Krall really did roll the dice, wouldn’t he have kept Lowe?
Well we have the KBH factor but we won’t talk about that. 😉
Good point but and again I just repeated what I read Marty said.Could be that it was more about how he didn’t trade in Tyler and Geno then who he did in Lowe.Lowe was signed as a bench bat played more while Hayes was on the IL and less when Hayes returned.We miss him for sure.
The problem is if Elly and Sal aren’t both playing the Reds have virtually no shot at winning. Elly knows it. Sal knows it. Tito knows it.
Professional at-bat.
That was a couple of highly professional AB’s that ran up the pitch count and gave AA a breather. It helps overall and now we need to take advantage of it.
CES just drew a walk his first time up tonight.He is hitting well but has 4 errors at third.Guess they will live with him throwing the ball in to the stands as long as he hits a few in the stands.Will be interesting how the rest of the season goes for him.
Many of the Reds hitters look tired especially Elly and Sal.
Reds coudn’t get on base in this innings but they manage to get 24 more pitches from Leahy to rocket his pitch count to 46 in just 2 IP… Hope this could affect him in his durability at least
Graham Ashcraft threw his second live BP session vs. hitters on Aug. 18 at Great American Ball Park while facing TJ Friedl and Will Banfield. They didn’t want to take any chances at a ball coming back at him. =)
Are you saying there was no need for the net? 😉
Banfield can hit a tiny bit. But point well taken about not needing the protective net. Poor TJ. I’m thinking he’ll end up in Asia next season.
Now thats funny DWCT.I was available but never got a call.Guess those two guys were good enough.
Runner up for the ROY strikes out in the top of the 3rd for St. Louie.
None whatsoever.
H-Rod has been a little unlucky…
Hector stroked that one. Good to see.
Yeah. HRod with a very good hit but nothing to show for it that time. Hopefully he’ll be playing most every day now and feel more comfortable.
WBH strutting his stuff.
So far this seems like a game a person has to feel a need to watch to stick with it all night.
Jeopardy will be on our main screen soon and likely getting most of attention since the TOC is in full swing.
Aren’t those reruns of the ToC? That’s why we’re not watching live.
I am not sure. The one they played tonight was definitely a rerun but I was thinking the quarterfinals from earlier this week were not.
“Accomplished Hitters” for a thousand Alex!
Man! Sometimes Hayes really puts a nice swing on the pitch and looks like a decent hitter!
HRod had a decent AB. Swung at strikes and smacked a couple. KBH – happy AB.
OK, Elly, time to shine.
KBH with a knock.Steal second and let somebody bring you in.
First time through the lineup, 5 Reds had exit velocities over 100. To no avail so far.
Make that 4 and Sal’s single.
It will even out.It may be a flare or a duck snort or a dribbler that gets us some runs.Keep putting bat on ball fellers.
A gork, a flare, a ground ball with eyes …
Baltimore Chop. Texas Leaguer.
Ok I think Stewart has this guys number and will get a nice hit this at bat
No score with 3 in the books. Abbott 43 pitches. Leahy 65.
Very good play by Elly there. Stewart too.
Great focus cutting behind KBH. Not a lot of SS make that play.
Nope. When the adrenaline is flowing is when he’s at his best.
Abbott is freaking on FIRE tonight. Got them way off balance.
Abbott 52 pitches, 42 strikes. Whoa!
First pitch strikes at that.
Abbott has been sharp today so far…nice control…
Elly no contact.Bleday no contact and both fan.Tired for sure,no doubt.
Six Ks already. Only the Pirates have more than the Reds.
Leahy is no slouch out there either, but others made contact to run up the count, so it can be done.
Let him off the hook a bit. Still close to 20 per inning, so he’s probably nearing the end of his day. Both bullpens are running on fumes a bit. Let’s chase him and support Abbott through a full 7+.
TySteve swung at ball four well away… Leahy has been battled but the Reds weak offense hasn’t been able to figure him out
Tyler chases ball 4 and fans.Abbott not getting any support at all.Sad
Two hopper but it gets the job done. We’ll take it.
Stewart fielded that grounder by Ell perfectly. hahaha It took three hops from deep short.
And there it is …
Abbott made a mistake and paid for it immediately …
Nobody on but even one run is a big deal for the Reds this year.
I’ve been reading the old Bill James Baseball Almanacs, and one thing it stresses is that you have to score to win the game.
Kind of fundamental, ain’t it?
I’ll have to remember that. You mean great pitching and defense are NOT enough? 😉
Who said it was?
Ground breaking insight in it’s day.
Now Abbott seems to lost his focus a bit after the unexpected homer
A little loss of focus … calm him down a bit and finish them off. Bike Helmets would be perfect here.
AA seems rattled. Come on, it’s only one run.
Time to fake a pitch com issue.
What? I can’t hear you. Time!
Okay. Get your pitcher some runs.
Dane Myers remains our #4 OF for the next couple of years. At minimum.
Yep. Problem is of course our #4 outfielder is the often the best we got.
Nice heads up tag by Myers. Probably some credit to Cowgill as well.
Cardinals outfielders not with great arms.
Myers playing solid baseball
And it dies (along with another tiny piece of my baseball soul) … 🙁
KBH was one bite of spinach short.
Just a nibble … maybe even a drop of juice from an empty can …
My wife asked why haven’t the Reds gotten a new hitting coach, I have no answer.
Yeah … I got nothing either.
Reds are wasting another quality start by Abbott if the offense doesn’t come alive!
Focus is back. Pitch count still manageable. Let me text Tito and suggest he run him back out for the 7th.
Waiting
He never texted back, but I assume he got it 😀
I’m sure Tito would NEVER leave you hanging. 🙂
Is it me, or do the Reds hang a lot of goose eggs on the scoreboard.
It sure not you
It’s just you. I haven’t noticed it. 😉
It sure is not you.
Seem like the team didn’t get much momentum from last night.
Not sure it matters that Abbott gave up a single solo shot with the way our offense is MIA yet again. Holy cow we stink it up way too often. Offensive…
Masyn Wynn is playing on Beast Mode.
Brutal!!! 3XBH for Wynn tonight. At least it stayed in the park.
BLOWN CALL!!! Should be reviewable as “in the outfield”.
What’s that gonna cost us?
Answer – another run.
Yeah. I’m not so sure about that. Looked foul to me.
Larkin has implied or said twice in recent weeks that Elly is backing up on balls that he should come in on, making it a tougher throw from short infield grass. Sometimes the plays that look impressive from Elly using his arm strength he’s actually making harder not taking the better route.
Then he makes the really good play though too. I think like others he looks tired . Reds would be wise to have a plan where they’re at least DHing Elly a little more, having McLain or someone else in future be backup SS for 15-20 games a year.
One problem with that move and this roster … you take a HUGE step down at 2B for defense.
But I generally agree … something needs to change.
Good effort, AA. You didn’t get any support from your teammates.
Yep. Sad. No way to have to pitch knowing you may get 0 run support. That can’t be fun.
It has to be deflating for a Reds pitcher to only give up two runs and know you’re probably not going to win?
Abbott as usual gets zero offensive support and pitches well once again ….. I mean he gets NOTHING almost every single time ….
Stephenson has slowed since the Deadline. I think all the excitement, nervousness of thinking he may get traded was actually boosting his play a bit. Not saying he’s not trying his best, but like when you get a kick in the pants at work a bit from your boss, or trying to prove yourself for a particular reason to others, sometimes you just put in extra effort kind of subconsciously, or consciously. Will be interesting to see if he picks it back up a bit.
This is what I was waiting for….to renew my enthusiasm for the Reds
The return of Baby Huey and his sparkling era under 10
Cowboy called that last pitch … 😮
Maxwell a good job that inning.
Positive for the Reds continues to be Abbott, Burns, and I think Lowder is coming along. Their only hope I see for the near future is Abbott, Burns, Lowder, Lodolo being pretty good in 2027, with a shrewd Free Agent SP signing or trade. A solid bullpen could still occur and just enough Offense. That’s our hope for the future!…unless there are some other unforseen major organizational changes
I don’t think you can count Petty out. He’s got talent, we know that.
Hopefully so, but I think more so Williamson or maybe Aguiar could be a #5 starter than Petty.
That’ll do, Pig.
Run support anyone??? Anyone??? Bueller???
Good job by Maxwell. I am not sure they can score one let alone two. Let’s just call it as it is, this is the worst offense in baseball.
On a positive note there are five teams that have scored less runs than the Reds. 🙂
This team just grinds me down. Can you imagined what it does to be a starting pitcher?
Rally. This is the inning.
I’m rooting for Rodriguez, but man 3-30 starting out. You’d think you could bring over a couple of the best college baseball hitters currently and they’d accidentally get 5 hits in their first 30 at bats or so, or hit for better average than Hayes, Frield, etc.
I don’t understand this current version of MLB where players like Raleigh are hitting .156, or guys that are good in MLB are worst hitters than pitchers hitting 10 years ago. Doesn’t make sense!
…guys that are in MLB
NOT a good night for T.S.
Not a good night for the offense. I think you can say that almost every night.
Three hits. One BB. Seven Ks.
I like TS. We should resign him because there’s no good hitting catchers available. But we need to also remember that what we are seeing tonight is really what TS has done for around 60-70% of this season. Last year wasn’t very good. What we’ve seen the last 4-6 weeks is really more of an outlier. But if he could hit 240 with a dozen HR per year, guess that’s pretty good for a catcher.
Warning track power for McLain tonight. 3 times.
Not only has Cincinnati not dented the scoreboard, they haven’t gotten 2 people on in the same inning.
I guess sliding into Second to break up a double play is a thing of the past…..wow
I was hoping Burns would get win #15 tomorrow but that might be impossible.
Would have taken an immaculate throw to get Walker. I’m thinking that was the final fastener in the lid of tonight’s deceased receptacle.
3-0 looks hard at this point counting on the awful Reds offense… We’ll see…
I think everybody on the board is really disappointed in the team after an exciting win last night. However as a long time Reds fan that has been a trait for years, exciting win and a bust the next day.
On the bright side, a lot of Reds hitters are due.
One run, two runs, three runs! It doesn’t matter with this offense that can’t string together more than 2 hits in a row!
I hate to point out the obvious but Winn is a better short stop than Elly.
Great play by their SS. Another should have been a hit by HRod.
It’s Mason Wynn’s world tonight … we’re all just spectators.
Winn … pardon my mistake
Prediction for the rest of season ….
Per Mr. T………”Pain”
hahaha “Prediction?”…”Yes prediction”….”Pain”. 🙂
Not the year for a Red’s consistent offense. Two more wins needed for the Red’s to take the series.
I wonder if the players ever get embarrassed by their performance? Seriously. They are on the verge of scoring 34 runs over the last 12 games. Less than 3 a game and they erupted for 9 runs in one of them.
It’s unbelievable how no one is hot neither hitting well consistently in this team right now just gusts or flashes in some games.. it’s frustrating and embarrassing
Living near St. Louis this is just hard to take. The Reds have played 2nd fiddle to the Cardinals for way too long. I really don’t look for another win in this series, this offense is the worst.
NOT good when an umpire can’t see. 🙂
Good job by Maxwell overall… saved the bullpen through 2.2 ip…
The only silver lining is the JJ “ROY Runner up” went 0 for 5.
Reds need to clone Sal Stewart.
How many shutouts will this probably be for the year ? … I’m sure they lead MLB in that too
Bleday is pursuing Friedl in pop outs recently…
Farthest thing from a number three hitter in the lineup as could possibly be ….but then again Reds probably don’t have one on their roster either …
3 hits last night.
Do people even attempt to pay attention anymore?
1 game don’t mean SQUAT ! Come on .
I think that was Va,s point
For the record … I stuck it out tonight. It’s definitely a rollercoaster pit after last night. But we soldier on and look for tomorrow.
Ghost Rider out …
RIP. I’d like to say it was exciting, but it wasn’t.
Another pathetic game on the offense…horrible…The more hateful is that is happening against this overperforming Cards team…
That was painful to watch! I truly feel sorry for the Reds starting pitchers!
Tito does what he can with what he has to do with.He does not set the roster.This mess is not on him when they win or not on him when they lose.Look on the field and on the bench.Two back up catchers,Toglia, and Friedl.Look on the field.Two rookies,two players that haven’t hit for 3 years a back up in Myers,Bleday that other teams didn’t want, a 35 year old DH, Elly and Tyler.Thats it and the mess is on the people that draft and develop and set the roster.It amazing they are 60-65.Throw in ownership that will not spend to improve this roster and hold on where does the improvements come from next year and beyond.Guys that do it for a living bash the Reds leadership and folks that know nothing do the same.
It’s a shame. Reds fans are so hungry for winning.
They truly don’t deserve this Melvin … I’m not from Cincinnati , just a fan from afar all my life . Best baseball town in America when they are successful and winning . I feel bad for the fans that actually show up and attend games . SELL THE TEAM TO SOMEBODY WHO CARES MORE ABOUT BASEBALL THAN FIREWORKS AND
BOBBLEHEADS !!!