Reds cannot complete the sweep, lose 6-3 to the Indians

by — April 18, 2021 in Game Recap

The reigning AL Cy Young winner, Shane Bieber, kept the Reds bats at bay, allowing three runs through 8 innings pitched with 13 strikeouts. Joey Votto stayed hot, going 3-4 making it 7-11. The Indians four long balls produced all six runs, which were plenty for Bieber and Emmanuel Clase as Cleveland takes the last game of the series.

Offense

After Jesse Winker flew out and Nick Castellanos chased a slider for strike three, Joey Votto got his day going with a single over the shift before Suarez popped out to the first basemen. The bottom of the order extended Bieber in his only lengthy inning in the second. Tyler Naquin started the inning with a nine pitch walk, followed by a Max Schrock strikeout. Tucker Barnhart drew a four pitch walk before being stranded after Kyle Farmer and Wade Miley strikeouts.

Bieber then cruised through the third and fourth inning with the exception of a Votto double down the third base line against the shift. The 62.8 mph ball off the end of the bat had an xBA of .040 and was fitting justice for the many hard hit line-outs from Votto that have found a glove this season.

The Reds got to Bieber in the fifth as Mark Payton, pinch hitting for Miley, singled up the middle. Jesse Winker followed with a line drive to center field. Payton hustled from first to third, forcing a throw that pulled Ramirez off third base, allowing Winker to move to second base. After a groundout to third by Castellanos, Joey Votto ripped another double, this time down the right field line scoring both runs.

The Reds went three up and three down in both the sixth and seventh. Votto and Suarez struck out to start the eighth before Tyler Naquin jumped on a fastball to deep center field (109.6 mph 428 ft), good for the hardest hit ball of the day. Bieber finished his day by striking out Schrock to end the inning.

Emmanual Clase came in to close the ninth, but Tucker Barnhart started the inning beating out a ground ball up the middle to a diving Hernandez. However, Clase then settled in, striking out pinch hitters Nick Senzel, and Jonathan India as well as Jesse Winker touching and eclipsing 100mph from the mound throughout the inning.

Pitching

Wade Miley went five complete innings with five strikeouts giving up five hits, but two mistake pitches led to four runs for Cleveland. Miley again relied heavily on his cutter and changeup, throwing 78 out of his 83 pitches as one or the other. Cleveland got on the board early in the first inning when Miley left a 3-0 cutter over the middle of the plate that Jose Ramirez sent 420 feet to left field (106.4 mph) to make it 1-0.

After cruising through the second, picking up his second strikeout of the day, potential trouble came in the top of the third. Yu Chang hit a single into left but reached second after Jesse Winker mishandled the ball. Miley got Shane Bieber to ground out to short, keeping Chang at second, before striking out Jordan Luplow and Cesar Hernandez to get out of trouble.

Miley got two quick outs to start the fourth, but then gave up a line drive single to Eddie Rosario to right field. Amed Rosario followed up with an infield single after Kyle Farmer’s diving stop and throw was offline. With two men on, Miley had his second big mistake pitch of the day, giving up a 3-run home run to Roberto Perez (103.4 mph, 423 ft.) to dead center. Miley induced a fly out by Chang to end the fourth. After a fly out from Bieber to start the fifth inning, Luplow walked, but Cesar Hernandez grounded into the 4-3 double play as Luplow ran out of the baseline to avoid Max Schrock’s tag.

Sal Romano entered in relief in the sixth inning getting Jose Ramirez to fly out to center. Franmil Reyes then drove a ground rule double to left center, but Romano retired Eddie and Amed Rosario to end the inning. With one out in the seventh, Chang again singled with another mishandled ball by Winker that moved him to second base. After a Bieber strikeout Jordan Luplow sent a home run to dead center (104.6 mph 418 ft.). A walk to Cesar Hernandez closed the book on Romano’s day.

Cionel Pérez entered and got Jose Ramirez to fly out to end the seventh inning. He then cruised through the eighth inducing a groundout from Reyes, getting Eddie Rosario to chase a slider for a strikeout, and rolling over Amed Rosario to groundout to Suarez to end the inning.

Carson Fulmer pitched the ninth looking solid. He struck out Roberto Perez before a hard hit line out by Jake Bauers. Josh Naylor flew out to right to end the inning.

Stats

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Tyler Naquin: 109.6 mph | Home Run in 8th inning
  • Tyler Naquin: 100.5 mph | Flyout in 5th inning
  • Jesse Winker: 99.9 mph | Flyout in 5th inning

Unluckiest Out of the Day

  • Kyle Farmer: .450 xBA | Flyout in 4th inning

Highest Velocities By Pitcher

  • Wade Miley: 89.0 mph
  • Sal Romano:  94.4 mph
  • Cionel Pérez: 96.5 mph
  • Carson Fulmer: 93.8 mph

Highest Pitch Spins

  • Wade Miley: 3,005 rpm | Changeup

Most Pitch Movement

  • Wade Miley: 61 inches vertical movement | Curveball
  • Sal Romano: 19 inches horizontal movement | Sinker

Team Expected Batting Averages (xBA)

  • Indians: .249
  • Reds: .163
What’s Next?

The Reds have the day off tomorrow before starting a three game series at home against Arizona. First pitch on Tuesday is at 6:40 pm as Luis Castillo faces off against the Diamondbacks #1 starting pitcher Zac Gallen.

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Chris Duzyk

Chris began his Reds fandom with family trips from central Kentucky to Riverfront Stadium. At a young age, he had to learn to swing a wiffle ball bat left handed to properly imitate Ken Griffey Jr. and Sean Casey in backyard games against his brother. A graduate from Centre College, he was able to combine his love of baseball statistics and analytics often into his statistics and econometrics courses. He currently is living in Northern Kentucky where all it takes is a simple walk across the bridge to enjoy the games. Find him on Twitter @cduzyk.

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