The Cincinnati Reds (69-76) look to avoid a three game sweep in Los Angeles tonight against the red-hot Dodgers (88-57), who are looking to win their seventh straight game. First pitch is at 10:10 EDT.
Lineups
Cincinnati Reds | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Carlos Jorge – CF | Tommy Edman – CF |
| Elly De La Cruz – SS | Will Smith – DH |
| Sal Stewart – 1B | Mookie Betts – SS |
| JJ Bleday – DH | Max Muncy – 3B |
| Hector Rodríguez – RF | Teoscar Hernández – LF |
| Juan Brito – 2B | Kyle Tucker – RF |
| Will Banfield – C | Hunter Feduccia – C |
| TJ Friedl – LF | Alex Freeland – 2B |
| Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B | Enrique Hernández – 1B |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Rhett Lowder | 116.0 | 5.43 | 1.49 | 47 | 90 |
| Yoshinobu Yamamoto | 165.0 | 2.67 | 0.90 | 38 | 161 |
| Links: Rhett Lowder’s Stats | Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Stats | |||||
Rhett Lowder
Rhett Lowder will try to bounce back from a rough outing against the Brewers last Friday night, in which he allowed seven runs, six of them earned, on six hits with four walks and only two strikeouts in four innings.
Left-handed hitters have an .823 OPS with 12 home runs against Lowder and there are three lefties and two switch hitters in the Dodgers lineup tonight. However, he might have a little bit of an advantage sine he has not faced the Dodgers yet in his career. He just has to locate well and not walk batters.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 200 | 52 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 5% | 16% | .278 | .318 | .401 |
| LHH | 322 | 74 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 12% | 18% | .264 | .355 | .468 |
Pitch Usage
| 2-Seam | Slider | 4-Seam | Change | Curve | Sweeper | |
| Velo | 93.0 | 85.0 | 93.6 | 86.4 | 80.6 | 83.2 |
| Usage | 29.1% | 26.5% | 21.2% | 20.6% | 2.6% | 0.1% |
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto holds a 2.32 ERA since the All Star break and in the month of August, he pitched to a 1.95 ERA in 32.1 innings over five starts. Opposing batters had just a .175 batting average and a .544 OPS against him in August. He did start September off on a rocky start by giving up four runs on five hits, including two home runs, against the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the most runs he had allowed in a game since July 11th. Even then, he still struck out eight batters through seven innings.
Yamamoto’s most used pitches are his split finger and his four-seam fastball; however, the sinker is a sneaky pitch in his arsenal. He uses it only 12.7% of the time, mostly to right-handed batters, but it has averaged 95.5 mph this season and he has 24 strikeouts with it.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 298 | 54 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 6% | 25% | .196 | .252 | .342 |
| LHH | 336 | 56 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 6% | 26% | .179 | .235 | .295 |
Pitch Usage
| Split | 4-Seam | Cutter | 2-Seam | Curve | Slider | |
| Velo | 91.5 | 96.1 | 91.6 | 95.5 | 77.0 | 86.9 |
| Usage | 27.0% | 26.9% | 14.9% | 12.7% | 12.5% | 6.0% |
Game Details:
- Time: 10:10 PM EDT
- Place: UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
- TV: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.TV (in market), MLB.tv (out-of-market)
- Radio: 700 WLW (Cincinnati area)
- Weather: 91 degrees, mostly sunny, 0% chance of precipitation
News and Notes
Sal Stewart: Still Breaking Records
Elly De La Cruz’s Relay Throw
In case you were sleeping last night and missed it, Elly De La Cruz threw an absolute laser of a relay throw to nab Teoscar Hernandez at home plate in Tuesday night’s game, and it had the national media talking.
The Elly De La Cruz throw last night to get Teoscar officially goes into the books as 102 MPH. Incredible.
— Mike Petriello (@mikepetriello.bsky.social) 2026-09-09T18:22:51.480Z
Elly De La Cruz!!This throw was 102.0 mph, per Statcast ?By FAR the fastest assist by an infielder under Statcast (2015), surpassing his own 99.8 mph Only 10 *outfielder* assists have been faster in span, including playoffs
— Sarah Langs (@slangsonsports.bsky.social) 2026-09-09T18:21:42.829Z
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Fangraph’s Playoff Odds |
| Milwaukee | 90 | 56 | – | 100% |
| Chicago | 81 | 65 | 9.0 | 97.7% |
| Pittsburgh | 72 | 73 | 17.5 | 0.9% |
| St. Louis | 72 | 74 | 18.0 | 0.2% |
| Cincinnati | 69 | 76 | 20.5 | 0.0% |
“In case you were sleeping last night and missed it, Elly De La Cruz threw an absolute laser of a relay throw to nab Teoscar Hernandez at home plate in Tuesday night’s game, and it had the national media talking.”
Yeah. I noticed it on the Fox News headline page earlier today.
Elly is a superstar. Hes an MVP candidate. He hits 440 foot home runs (longest) in Dodger stadium this year against the best pitcher in baseball (longest against him) and throws guys out at home plate from cf with 102 mph howitzer. Hes top 2 in WAR positionally in NL. Hes on the cusp of 30/30 which would be only the 4th player ever in the oldest franchise….But…he wears pink shoelaces and upsets some old men who scream at the clouds.
I don’t care what color shoes or shoelaces he wears! Just enjoying watching this truly remarkable athlete play my favorite sport for my favorite team! Sad to know he won’t be a Red much longer! He will be greatly missed!
Since last night’s game ended so late, I had to review the “highlights” this morning! Reds played well enough to win (if you ignore the 0-5 with RISP) but Lodolo’s imitation of Mahle’s habit of nibbling as evidenced by 97 pitches in 4.2 innings probably was too much to overcome! When you SP issues 3 walks plus 2 HBPs it’s hard to limit scoring against a team as good as the Dodgers!
Doesn’t get any easier tonight as the Reds take on the Dodgers best pitcher now that Ohtani is just a position player! Hoping the Reds can salvage the last game!
haha I see Friedl and Hayes both in there tonight. For those who like WAR if you check and scroll ALL THE WAY down you’ll see both of them near the very bottom at -.9 each. Hayes @ BA .151 and Friedl @ .165.
Sometimes I think Tito sends Krall a message, “Okay If you’re going to give me these guys I’m gonna play em”.
Let’s have fun and win anyway. 🙂
That is an unusual lineup. Jorge leading off. Hector hitting fifth. Then the real fun begins: Brito, Banfield, Friedl and Hayes.
And Banfield catching too. 2-5 in the lineup need to rake big time tonight as I don’t think the Dodgers are going to settle for only 3 runs in this game.
If the Dodgers have their equivalent of the free LaRosa’s pizza when Reds’ pitchers strike out at least 11 opposing batters, you have to like their chances.
I thought the mantra was pitch to contact. I was pulling out my hair at the pitches Lodolo was throwing. Don’t know if they don’t trust their stuff or if they think they can outsmart the hitters by throwing off the plate. I am ready for a new pitching philosophy.
ELDC has a zero probability of winning the MVP.
EDLC*
I thought maybe ELDC was his cousin? 😉 haha
If he was his cousin, we need to sign him up.
“If he was his cousin, we need to sign him up.”
Yep. If he’s got even half the talent. 🙂
A Will Banfield sighting tonight. 2027 opening day Catcher for the Reds potentially?
On the roster possibly.
Elly is red hot but let’s be real folks he is not an MVP candidate.
He will get MVP votes. Rather than eviscerating him and Tito all season, maybe acknowledge they arent the problem.
Good grief dude.
Hey dude show me a place that has Elly listed as an MVP candidate. Your problem Kevin is just because someone is a realist you think they are against the Reds. That could not be more false.
PCA might be a unanimous MVP this year.
So yeah, if your point is that he’s not going to win and realistically has no shot (because no one else has a shot), then yeah, you’re right.
If your point is that he’s not among the absolute very best players in the NL (he is currently the 2nd most valuable player in the National League according to Fangraphs version of WAR), then you are incredibly incorrect.
And given your posting history, it really feels like you are in the second camp rather than the first.
Good opportunity for Lowder to make a statement for next year’s rotation against a more than quality lineup even without Ohtani. Love to see him finish strong.
If he was his cousin, we need to sign him up.
Here is an example of low baseball IQ. I know some folks don’t believe in such an occurence.
https://x.com/TroyRenck/status/2097467412442734628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2097467412442734628%7Ctwgr%5Ee213b820a710de31e03172049bd0c2486ea1968a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yardbarker.com%2Fmlb%2Farticles%2Frockies_hunter_goodman_has_the_stupidest_blunder_of_the_season%2Fs1_127_44279612
That’s not low baseball IQ. That is someone not paying attention.
Well, isn’t IQ part of paying attention? It’s a pretty important part of playing the game.
No, it’s not.
I wish the Reds would have traded Stephenson. He’s had a pretty good year, at 2.5 WAR, and a solid career with the Reds with some ups and downs. But they were highly unlikely to get in the playoffs this year. I also think it would have been kind of fun to see him play for the Yankees for a few months potentially.
Signing him to a fairly large contract in the offseason doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, with the hope that Duno is the starting Catcher in 2028. Although personally, I’d move Duno off of Catcher to 1B, maybe just a DH. It sounds like he may have to big of a frame to be great defensively. We’ll see.
Unless Stephenson is just super loyal to the Reds, absolutely loves Cincy. But, I think he’ll take the chance to get paid more than the Reds would offer, or play for a team that has a better chance for the playoffs.
But my main reasoning…we could have seen Banfield maybe catching a lot over the last month to see if he could be a starter/backup/bridge Catcher for 2027. I’ve read he’s considered very good defensively.
Resigning him to a 3 year contract makes no sense if you are waiting for Duno. But the Reds are infamous for their waiting. Plus Duno may not arrive before Elly is ready to head out. Crazy mathematics this GM comes up with. Most of us thought 2025-2026 was our best shot at a Division championship. Now we are down to a labor disagreement and only 2+ years of Elly. It is just awful. If your championship run is not going to be in the Elly reign of 2027-2028, then you make your bed this winter. Pay Elly for another 10 years or trade him.
Back to Stephenson. We absolutely know the Yanks were negotiating but there may have been other teams as the White Sox. I have no idea why you wouldn’t take a mid to higher level prospect in trade. I recognize Nick felt we were in a playoff chase (2-3%) but you also absolutely must consider 2027 in your thinking too. Replacing Lowe and Stephenson will not be easy or cheap. Both are 750+ OPS guys on a feeble offensive team. Only a fan. Not my job to put a winning product on the field in 2027. He better have a lot of money to fill all these holes.
I don’t really understand the ins and outs of qualifying offers, but could they offer it to Stephenson. Wouldn’t that offer a one-year bridge to Duno if he accepted. And if Tyler rejected it, and he would probably get a big enough offer to make it worth his while to reject it, then the Reds would get a comp pick. Isn’t that how it would work?
Paying Tyler 23 Million would not be wise.
If he’d take it I’d like to see him offered 3 years 35-40 million
Sal smacked that pitch.
And then gets picked off.
Looking at the replay, it looked like Sal jammed his ankle getting back. I hope it’s nothing.
And hurt oh man no
I for one am sick and tired of all the walks by Red’s pitchers.
We may have ourselves a centerfielder.
Oh man Carlos Jorge shows he can play freaking centerfield! Lowder owes the man a steak dinner!!!
That was a great catch by Jorge.
Not saying others couldn’t have made it, but he was fluid and in control….Unlike Myers when he tracks balls.
Carlos Jorge had it all the way. Great catch.
Hopefully these young outfielders can show out the rest of the year and maybe provide some hope for the future. HROD looks like he belongs and is getting better defensively.
Bleday fought the good fight, to no avail.
It could be a long night for Redleg hitters.
Is Teoscar hitting a 1.000 against the Reds. Seems like it.
One – nothing. It could have been worse.
I cannot wait to see Yamamoto and Misiorowski hook up in the playoffs.
Yamamoto seems terrified of the Reds lineup. I know I am …
Obviously terrified. He has decided to pitch to no-contact.
The way Hayes misses the outside pitch, it looks like he can’t see it. Wonder if he has a vision issue that isn’t showing up in normal eyes exams. It’s like he has a blindspot.
Nick Krall had that same blindspot when he made the Hayes trade.
That’s funny!
Pretty cool play by Sal there.
Good news for Reds fans. Giants trailed 6-1 before they exploded with 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th against St. Louis.
Just checking back in! Noticed the Reds have 5 SOs in the first 3 innings! Wouldn’t want to hurt the ball by hitting it with the bat!
Elly hurt one well over 400 feet.
Elly is going to hit a home run in every game left in the season.
EDLC = HOT as in smokin at the plate.
Elly on a mission.
Elly is white hot….hotter than the sun.
Elly the most exciting Reds player I’ve seen since Eric Davis.
<<<<<<This guy
9-pitch walk for Bleday. Kudos.
JJ has had two 9-pitch ABs.
Hector has had two 1-pitch ABs.
Lowder is pitching a lot of meatballs today…absolutely disappointing this season
Someone asleep in the dugout?
Need to stop the wagons and tighten the wheels?
With Yamamoto on the mound, this is wrapped. I’m heading off and hoping y’all see a miracle.
No miracle in summer. Reds are overmatched today
If only Elly got six or seven more atbats
What a “miss” Lowder has been thus far in his Major League career. (Though he’s been quite a hit for opposing batters!) The Reds simply can’t afford to whiff on top draft picks. Maybe the Reds can find a new pitching coach this winter who can get him on track.
Is this only the 4th inning? 🙂
Is it just me or is this not looking good? haha…for us as in the Reds.
Down 8…but 5 more cracks at it.
TJ and Hayes comeback in the cards?
Of course. 🙂
When Ke’bryan Hayes plays, the Seattle Seahawks win.
🙂
Maye and the Pats choked that one away.
The question has to be does this team win 4 more to avoid 90 losses, which would make this season one the most disappointing in Reds history. I think they will win 4 more but not many more.
The Dodgers may score more than the Patriots and Seahawks game tonight. One big issue is the Reds starting pitching is going to need a complete makeover just for us to be competitive in 2027. They are limping to the finish line in 2026. Very disappointing in 2026.
I really don’t see the point of running Friedl out there anymore. Long past embarrassing for all involved. Marte might not be much better but there’s at least a sliver of hope that he still has some promise.
Why doesn’t someone not Elly or Sal try to bunt for a hit maybe get something going?
I can’t help but wonder what Elly is thinking during times like this….if you could read his mind: “when am I gonna get out of this clown show”
Pinch running Trevino for Sal… there’s strategy from the dugout. He’ll be pitching the next inning…
Can you believe the Dodgers are paying Kyle Tucker an average of 60 million a year for four years, and he is batting .221?
Reds with double digit SO’s …shocking
Tucker has a 240 million dollar contract for four years guaranteed.
Pulling Elly and Sal. Francona giving up in the 7th inning. Got an early day at work tomorrow so for first time this season I’m packing it in. …oh looks like should have pitched Trevino by the way…
This a run-rule game. Call this one after 7 innings, and send everyone home. Dodgers players get popsicles.
Would it be fair to describe the Reds as a “once proud franchise”?
Once upon a time….like a fairytale
I didn’t realize Ohtani or Freeman didn’t even play! That’d be like De La Cruz and Stewart not playing for the Reds, and the Reds scoring 13 runs.
If they got to face Reds pitching maybe they would!
I can see it now after the Reds sale…The 2029 Nashville Reds playing in Taylor Swift Stadium.
Or maybe George Strait Ballpark.
Does he have “buy the naming rights to a stadium” kind of money?
McLain constantly hits the ball in the air for easy outs…it’s maddening, but at least they dodged a bullet when he refused to sign that big money extension a while back….then the reds would be stuck with 2 deadbeat contracts (him & Hayes)
I would have like to see Stewart stay in to get another RBI chance, but good move overall to take he and De La Cruz out. Francona should give Stewart a day off occasionally. He slumps a little occasionally like all hitters. Hoping he can hold onto the RBI lead. Heading off here though, night to everyone.