Recap: Reds fall to Twins 7-3

by — September 26, 2020 in Game Recap

For long stretches of tonight’s game, the Reds appeared to be in a “ho-hum, we clinched last night” mood, losing to the Twins 7-3. The Reds are 30-29. The Brewers (29-30) beat the Cardinals (29-28), so the Reds didn’t lose any ground on 2nd place in the NL Central. The postseason seeding and pairings are way up in the air. The Reds are in, but beyond that, not much is settled yet.

The Pitching

Luis Castillo making his 12th start gave up four runs in four innings. Castillo struck out four, walked none and had a wild pitch. The 27-year-old is scheduled to pitch the second game of the first postseason series.

Anthony DeSclafani came in to pitch the 5th and was less than impressive. DeSclafani seemed like he was out there to eat innings. He pitched three innings and gave up three runs and countless hard-hit balls. He struck out two, walked one and had a wild pitch.

Robert Stephenson, who threw 12 pitches — all sliders — put up a shutout 8th inning.

The Bats

The Reds jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning with a single by Shogo Akiyama, walk by Jesse Winker and a single by Joey Votto driving in the Reds first run. After an Eugenio Suarez strikeout, Mike Moustakas hit a sacrifice fly to score the second run.

The Reds offense was silent after that until the 7th inning. Brian Goodwin and Kyle Farmer led off with two singles. An out later, Nick Castellanos, who was pinch hitting for Akiyama against a left-handed pitcher, singled to right, making the score 5-3. This is the first game of the season that Castellanos has started. Aristides Aquino was hit by a pitch to load the bases. But Votto struck out and Suarez grounded out to end the threat.

Vital Stats

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Joey Votto 109.3 mph | double
  • Joey Votto 107.5 mph | single
  • Eugenio Suarez 103.3 mph | ground out

Highest Velocities by Pitcher

  • Luis Castillo 98.7
  • Anthony DeSclafani 95.8 mph
  • Robert Stephenson 84.6 mph

xBA (expected batting average)

  • Reds .224
  • Twins .223
What’s Next?

The Reds will start Sonny Gray in the final regular season game of 2020. The Twins are throwing 40-year-old lefty Rich Hill.

Featured image: https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1140806480884621313/photo/1

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Steve Mancuso

Steve Mancuso is a lifelong Reds fan who grew up during the Big Red Machine era. He’s been writing about the Reds for more than ten years. Steve’s fondest memories about the Reds include attending a couple 1975 World Series games, being at Homer Bailey’s second no-hitter and going nuts for Jay Bruce at Clinchmas. Steve was also at all three games of the 2012 NLDS, but it’s too soon to talk about that.

1 Response

  1. kmartin says:
    September 27, 2020 at 4:02 AM

    If the Reds win Sunday they finish 31-29 and if the Cardinals lose they finish 29-29. I assume the Cardinals would then have play and win both makeup games to beat the Reds for the second spot in the NL Central. Depending on what Miami does, the Reds could theoretically be the 5th or 6th seed. Is this correct? Since San Francisco lost our worst seed is seven.

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