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The Reds came into today’s game having won four of their last five games, including a split of a doubleheader yesterday.
Luis Castillo had to work out of some trouble in the second inning, with a walk and a David Bote single that was nearly caught making it first and third with two outs. Bote then stole second base, making it second and third, but Castillo was able to retire Nico Hoerner on a groundout to the mound to end the inning. Otherwise, the first three innings went well for Castillo, not allowing any runs while striking out three.
Castillo was burned by the long ball in this one, allowing three. He allowed a deep home run to Kyle Schwarber to lead off the fourth inning. Two batters later, Jason Heyward followed him with a homer of his own, making it 2-0. Ian Happ hit a wall-scraping 2-run homer in the fifth inning to stretch the lead to 4-0, though that home run did have a 71% hit probability. Notably, Castillo had only allowed one home run this year coming into today’s game. Castillo only made it through five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, including the aforementioned three home runs, with just one walk and seven strikeouts.
Heyward hit another home run in the sixth inning, a solo shot off of Robert Stephenson. Happ also added his second homer of the game in the seventh against Stephenson, another solo shot. Stephenson has now allowed five home runs in just 4 1/3 innings this season.
Joel Kuhnel pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out two.
Jose De León pitched the ninth, walking three batters (one intentional) before allowing a grand slam to Schwarber, also his second homer of the game. He then walked Willson Contreras before being taken out. He did strike out two.
Matt Davidson came in to record the final out of the ninth. He walked Heyward before retiring Kipnis on a fly ball to the warning track.
On the other side, Tyler Chatwood made it through just 2 1/3 innings before leaving in the middle of an at bat due to injury, allowing two hits without walking or striking out a batter. Colin Rea came in to finish the at bat against Joey Votto, striking him out with help of a questionable call and then retiring Nick Castellanos to end the inning. The Cubs then brought in LHP Jose Quintana to start the fourth, and he pitched three innings.
The Reds’ offense couldn’t muster any runs until the sixth inning, when Votto hit a solo homer to center off of Quintana to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Bang. pic.twitter.com/rOOFnGsJsJ
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 30, 2020
The best scoring opportunity for the Reds came with the bases loaded for Castellanos in the seventh after Ryan Tepera had walked three batters. Castellanos hit a line drive to the right side with a 72% hit probability, but it was caught by a diving Hoerner to end the inning.
Mike Moustakas was 1 for 4. Shogo Akiyama was 2 for 3 with a walk. Mark Payton and Eugenio Suárez each reached once via walk, and Votto added a walk as well.
Hardest-Hit Balls
- Mike Moustakas 106.6 MPH | Single
- Shogo Akiyama 104.0 MPH | Single
- Eugenio Suárez 103.3 MPH | Lineout
Highest Velocities By Pitcher
- Luis Castillo 98.4 MPH
- Jose De León 96.1 MPH
- Joel Kuhnel 96.0 MPH
- Robert Stephenson 94.4 MPH
- Matt Davidson 87.9 MPH
Luckiest Hit of the Day
- Shogo Akiyama 20% hit probability | Double
Unluckiest Out of the Day
- Tucker Barnhart 76% hit probability | Lineout
What’s Next?
The Reds host the Cardinals in a three game series at Great American. First pitch tomorrow is scheduled for 6:40 EST and will feature a matchup of Anthony DeSclafani and Dakota Hudson. This pitching matchup will be a rematch of August 21 in St. Louis, where the Reds beat the Cardinals. DeSclafani went 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks, while striking out just two. Hudson went 4 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out six.
