RC+ Recap: Gray loses no-hitter in 7th as Mariners come from behind again

I was lucky enough to take this one in from the friendly confines of T-Mobile Park. At least for the first six-plus innings. The seventh inning featured top prospect Kyle Lewis homering again in his 2nd career game in the big leagues. Prior to that, Sonny Gray had thrown six innings of no-hit baseball at this point and was holding on o a 2-0 lead. The Reds scored once in each of the third and fourth innings. Votto may not have played well on his birthday, but he came back tonight with a nice double to right to plate the first run. Phillip Ervin played add-on with a solo dinger in the 4th. After 200 plate appearances this year, Ervin is still at a 118 wRC+. I doubt he can sustain that for a whole season, but any pop off the bench he can provide could be useful next year.

Back to Gray, he obviously had been cruising. But what can you say about a kid just two days into his career who not once but twice, with the second one to break up a no-hitter and give your team the lead. Sonny Gray still had a great outing with four 1-2-3 innings and 9 strikeouts total. If that one at-bat goes differently, this is a different ball game.

Reds Most Valuable Players

  • Phillip Ervin  (.109 WPA) Win Probability Added
  • Tucker Barnhart (.101 WPA)

Reds Most Valuable Hit

  • Joey Votto (.128 WPA) 1-run double

Reds Least Valuable Players

  • Alex Blandino (-.113 WPA)
  • Aristedes Aquino (-.118 WPA)
  • Sonny Gray (-.254 WPA)

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Phillip Ervin (105.6 mph) home run
  • Joey Votto (103.1 mph) double
  • Freddy Galvis (99.9 mph) double

Unluckiest Out of the Day

  • Curt Casali (60%hit probability) 93.2 mph lineout

Highest Pitch Velocities by Pitcher

  • Kevin Gausman (96.4 mph)
  • Sonny Gray (95.1 mph)

Links

Matt Habel

Matthew Habel was born and mostly raised in Cincinnati and was always a Reds fan growing up. Ironically, he did not become die-hard until moving to Pittsburgh after college and experiencing the 2013 Wild Card game behind enemy lines. While the "Cueto Game" is one of the worst sports moments of his life, he became enamored with the analytics side of the game after reading Big Data Baseball and watching the Pirates organization end their postseason drought. He started writing for Redleg Nation in 2017 and has enjoyed continuously learning more about the sport. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon where he loves exploring the great outdoors. Find him on Twitter @MattadorHeyBull