Last night the Cincinnati Reds saw history when Elly De La Cruz joined the 30-30 club. But the Reds bullpen also blew the lead late in the game as the Toronto Blue Jays came from behind for the win in the first game of the series. This afternoon’s first pitch is scheduled for 3:07pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds | Toronto Blue Jays |
| Carlos Jorge – CF | Brett Bateman – CF |
| Elly De La Cruz – SS | Nathan Lukes – RF |
| Sal Stewart – 1B | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – DH |
| Eugenio Suarez – DH | Alejandro Kirk – C |
| JJ Bleday – LF | Kazuma Okamoto – 3B |
| Tyler Stephenson – C | Sean Keys – 1B |
| Hector Rodriguez – RF | Josh Smith – LF |
| Juan Brito – 3B | Andres Gimenez – SS |
| Matt McLain – 2B | Ernie Clement – 2B |
| Rhett Lowder – RHP | Trey Yesavage – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Rhett Lowder | 127.1 | 6.01 | 1.56 | 54 | 101 |
| Trey Yesavage | 95.2 | 3.67 | 1.13 | 46 | 94 |
| Links: Rhett Lowder’s Stats | Trey Yesavage’s Stats | |||||
Rhett Lowder
After missing all of 2025, Lowder returned for 2026 and it’s been a season of ups and downs, but mostly downs. He’s making his final appearance of the year today and only one of his four starts this month have seen him record an out in the 5th inning. In September he’s allowed 21 earned runs in 15.1 innings.
Both lefties and righties have found some success against Lowder this season. Righties hit for a high average, but they aren’t walking much. They do make tons of contact against him but don’t show much power. Lefties are hitting for a high average, but they walk a bunch against him, making contact at a good rate, and when they get hits they show a plenty of power.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 221 | 58 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 35 | .282 | .324 | .432 |
| LHH | 360 | 86 | 19 | 3 | 12 | 43 | 66 | .277 | .370 | .473 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 93.7 | 93.2 | 80.8 | 85.1 | 86.5 |
| Usage | 20% | 30% | 3% | 27% | 20% |
Trey Yesavage
The rookie has had himself a good season with the Blue Jays. In his 19 starts he’s posted a 3.67 ERA. He’s just getting back on the mound after a knee injury kept him off of the mound for seven weeks. This will be just his second outing since August 4th. He only threw 2.0 innings on Monday against Baltimore.
The splits aren’t big against Yesavage this season, but there are some differences between what the two groups are doing. Neither hits for any sort of average. Both groups walk at a good rate but lefties are walking at a very good rate. Left-handed hitters show so-so power when they do get their hits. Right-handed hitters, though, show a good amount of power when they get their hits.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 170 | 26 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 18 | 46 | .178 | .268 | .363 |
| LHH | 223 | 36 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 28 | 48 | .188 | .293 | .330 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | Slider | Split | |
| Velo | 94.4 | 87.7 | 83.0 |
| Usage | 47% | 25% | 28% |
When and Where
- Game time: 3:07pm ET
- Where: Rogers Centre
- Watch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market).
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: They play in a dome
Notes worth noting
More Records for Elly De La Cruz
Last night saw the Reds shortstop steal his 30th base of the season, placing him in the 30-30 club. He joined an incredibly small list of shortstops to get there but also put himself and the Cincinnati Reds in the record books when he stole third base last night.
Division Standing
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Milwaukee | 101 | 59 | 0.0 |
| Chicago | 88 | 73 | 13.5 |
| Pittsburgh | 81 | 79 | 20.0 |
| St. Louis | 77 | 83 | 24.0 |
| Cincinnati | 74 | 86 | 27.0 |
I guess we will move on Sunday. The funeral is over
Unless they bring in some additional talent, there will another one next year.
Exactly … death leads to resurrection which leads to …
Talk about vicious cycles.
How do you suggest they do that?
The Reds MiLB system has little, if any, MLB ready talent. Their best MiLB players are at the A or High A level.
The Reds have few, if any, trade chips to offer in trades with other teams.
The Reds and GABP (or Riverfront) have never been a great destination of choice for top shelf FA.
What do you suggest?
PS the Reds have won 5* division titles, 1 NL pennant, and 1 WS championship in the past 50 years (1977 to 2026). *1 by Dick Wagner, 1 by Murray Cook, 1 by Jim Bowden, and 2 by Walt Jocketty.
I will return the volley. Are we going to try and compete with the Brewers and Cubs? Or just continue hoping McLain and Co. are going to hit 300? We both know that status quo isn’t going to come close to overcoming a 26 game deficit. I would settle for 90+ wins but even that is going to require us to change our colors imo.
IMO, for us to get to 90+ wins, as I have stated previously, is going to require a major increase in spending (mlb free agent talent) and probably non selective trading of top prospects not arriving until 2028 or later. A complete change in our colors.
I have no clue whether the front office is going to heed the advise of Larkin, Votto, McAlister, and others who also recognize the need for major change. If we are not going to try to build a real contender around Elly in the next 2 years, then we need to resign him or trade him NOW. Waiting another year or two for the prospect returns is only going to make 2029 a really ugly down year. (Might make Chattanooga really good in 2029 though.). Via my horoscope, I see almost no chance of the Reds trading Elly now. The team will get worse immediately and ticket sales will plummet. The front office can not stomach that after this 2026 debacle.
So in my view, you have to recognize 2027-2028 as very possibly your last rodeo with Elly and the opportunity to build this championship team around him. (Should have take a major step this year but we opted to roll with Benson, Hinds, Marte, McLain and Hayes as our offense. Last in mlb.) I 100% agree with you that the minors will offer very little help in the next 2 years, especially on the pitching side. So ignore the situation and give up?
Again, no clue on what path the front office is going to take. We could see Brito, Arroyo, McLain, Hayes, Bleday, Banfield, and Dunn as part of our 2027 offense. Great, OK …..but that isn’t going to come close to winning 90+ games imo. Krall created this mess via his big trades for Marte, Arroyo, Steer, CES, Phillips, Hayes, Benson, Petty, etc. He is also going to have to dig his way out of it and I don’t think giving several of these guys another chance is going to pay dividends. It is a shame but every year he had his rules around not trading prospects. Well now he has amassed a bunch of them and many of them appear to be dry wells. Again, ignore the performance data and hope for better?
Gonna stay positive again today to the greatest extent possible. Trying not to think about the weirdness of last night (including leaving Cabrera at SS when Matty was available late) or that deflection by the broken bat piece. Won’t even mention the unmentionable free bases given at crucial times.
I want to see Sal walk away with the RBI title outright. RoY takes a vote, but RBI is a definitive metric. I think he may be “trying too hard” in addition to being pretty much exhausted at this point. But this is what the game demands at this level.
Let’s Pluck These Jays in their own Birdhouse!!
The missed 2024 season affected a lot the control of Lowder …kid had elite control in college
Ken Broo on WLW 700 Reds pregame show today wondered if the absence of the Reds P coach Derek Johnson since May hurt his 2025 results.
In general, his absence makes a difference. The Reds P were good in 2025 but not so good in 2026.
Tuned in just in time to see Bike Helmets save the inning. Nice work on the right side getting that done.
Rhett flips the switch and scrambles out of danger. 8 straight balls to start the inning, and then 8 straight strikes to end it.
Hurray Bleday! 1-0
He launched that ball 125.9 meters.
Lowder is still a rookie. I did not realize that.
Two shutout eggs in the basket. Nice start.
Walk to McLain. A single by Jorge. Reds are in business.
Double steal. 2 ducks on the pond for Sal. And he brings one home.
The rally continues. Geno doubles. Second and third. 3-0.
Divided attention here. Notre Dame is at half time so we put the Reds up on the TV. Can hardly believe what we just saw happen … but I like it.
Meanwhile, Tennessee claws back to the point of ALMOST knocking out Texas. Wondering how Texas stays at #1 after that sloppy showing.
Let’s keep adding on here.
TySteve is slumping in last two weeks…still looking for his hit number 100 if I’m not wrong
Nice play by Stewart …
OK … settled back in after some technology changes. Hooked up my portable monitor and the ND game is on that. Reds are still on the TV. Commenting here plus the Ole Miss v. Florida game on the regular laptops screen.
First World problems, but life is good 😀
Bue Jays.
I wrote Bue Jays in the headline.
It’s been a rough weekend for me, folks.
Keep traffic on the bases and good things can happen. Back to Lowder and the defense.
This lineup may be telling
Tito said the other day Jorge screams lead off CF- paraphrasing
Brito at 3b as well
Bleday has become a strong side platoon player . Hes terrible against lefties. Steer crushes lefties and myers is the perfect 4th OF
I could see Reds going very cheap roster with OF of bleday myers Hrod Jorge and Steer as LF against righties
Brito and Steer are versatile infielders and depth pieces
Suarez has been better than Schwarber 2nd half
I can see a reunion with both stephenson and Suarez and all other $$$$$ go to bullpen and SP depth
@oldschool. I think that would be a great starting point and then tweak the lineup as the season progresses
Sal’s legs are definitely tired. He would have had 2nd a couple months ago.
HRod has been on a roll thr last 5-6 games after a long slump. Good sign
I love it when the opponent gives us extra outs and base runners.
A handful of excellence from Lowder today. Good to see. It has been a while.
+50,000
A half a dozen walks for Redleg hitters so far in the game.
Nice work today from Lowder. Way to finish strong. With a little help from his friends, of course.
Good things can happen when pitchers pitch rather than trying to strike everybody out.
+25,000
First Wife is a little peeved at Bleday for wasting challenges.
No idea why Phillips who is like Mey yesterday can not throw strikes is in the game.So I will check in and check out by saying its been a great year and good luck to all the others that have commented.Wish the best for all of you until we get together next spring.Thanks Doug for all you do and put up with at times.
Jon evidently woke up and decided we needed a history lesson on the origin of the font the Jays use … MUTE!!!
And this one belongs to the Reds.
Back for one more tomorrow. I’ll dig around in the cushions to see how many points I have to dole out.
Later, friends.
Hopefully the Reds Marketing Dept. Has been promoting TeeJay Antone among the beat writers for Comeback Player of the Year.
Nice win by the boys.
@DOUG. WILL YOU STILL KEEP THINGS ROLLING ON THIS SITE DURING THE FALL AND WINTER? If not what a bummer
We appreciate you Doug!
The real Rhett Lowder finally showed up. Excellent outing, Mr. Lowder.