Reds’ offensive struggles on the road continue in 2-0 loss

by — April 24, 2021 in Game Recap

Coming into today’s game, the Reds had just a .627 OPS on the road this season, compared to .908 at home. The struggles continued today, as the Reds’ offense recorded a grand total of three hits. While there were a few unlucky breaks, the team had just a .226 expected batting average, supporting their struggles in this one. After recent bullpen struggles, the pitching was not the issue in this one, allowing just two runs.

Offense

The Reds got a baserunner early in the first inning via a walk to Nick Castellanos, but were unable to make anything of it.

The first Reds hit came in the second inning, a 98.7 mph ground ball up the middle from Jonathan India. The baserunner was quickly erased on an inning-ending double play.

Joey Votto was the next Reds baserunner, drawing a one-out walk in the fourth inning. Eugenio Suárez then hit a laser to the right side of the infield that Tommy Edman made a wonderful diving stop on, throwing to second for the force on Votto. The hit probability on that ball was 63%, though the result was the second out of the inning. Tyler Naquin then flew out to end the inning.

The next Reds hit came in the sixth inning, a bloop single by Jesse Winker that came with one out. Castellanos followed with a single of his own to make it first and second. Votto then hit a deep fly ball that was caught on the warning track, with Winker tagging and advancing from second to third. Suárez then grounded out to shortstop, ending the inning.

Kyle Farmer reached via a hit by pitch in the eighth inning, but the Reds were unable to capitalize. The Reds did not have another baserunner, with the side going down in order in the ninth.

Pitching

Wade Miley came into today’s game looking for a rebound after a bit of a rough start last Sunday against Cleveland. After two singles to start the inning, Paul Goldschmidt grounded a ball to second base that looked to be a perfect chance for a double play. However, India was only able to get one out, tagging the runner between first and second base. With it now first and third with one out, Nolan Arenado singled to right to drive in the Cardinals’ first run.

Miley was then able to induce a weak groundout and a hard fly ball to left to end the inning with only one run crossing the plate. Notably, in that first inning, the only hard hit ball was the inning-ending flyout. However, three batted balls, including the flyout, had a hit probability of at least 85%.

Miley settled in nicely in the second inning, getting a quick, 1-2-3 inning on 10 pitches. He worked around a bloop single in the third, but otherwise got through the inning without further damage.

In the fourth inning, Tyler O’Neill reached on an error by Farmer and Miley later issued a two-out walk to Justin Williams, but again Miley was able to get out of the inning.

Miley again retired the Cardinals in order in the fifth, with some help from a great defensive play by India.

In the sixth, Miley issued a two-out walk to O’Neill, and then catcher Andrew Knizner hit a double to left that was badly misplayed by Winker, giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Williams then hit a routine ground ball to Suárez, and the throw in the dirt was misplayed by Votto. The official scorer gave an error to Suárez, but as the broadcast crew noted, Votto was at least equally responsible for the error. Regardless, Miley was able to work around the error and get out of the inning with only the one run allowed. All told, Miley’s final line was six innings, five hits, two runs, two walks, and two strikeouts.

Sal Romano came in to pitch the seventh. He allowed a one-out broken bat bloop single to Dylan Carlson and a 104.6 mph single off Farmer’s glove to Goldschmidt to make it first and third. He then got Nolan Arenado to ground back to the mound, turning an inning-ending double play. Though the result was a scoreless inning, it’s baffling that one of the Reds’ worst relievers was allowed to pitch the seventh in a two-run game.

Heath Hembree came in to pitch the eighth, retiring the side in order.

Stats

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Joey Votto:  107.9 mph | Flyout in 6th inning
  • Nick Castellanos: 104.9 mph | Single in 6th inning
  • Kyle Farmer: 100.0  mph | Groundout in 3rd inning

Unluckiest Out of the Day

  • Nick Castellanos: .720 xBA | Lineout in 8th inning

Highest Velocities By Pitcher

  • Wade Miley: 91.2 mph
  • Sal Romano: 94.6 mph
  • Heath Hembree: 94.6 mph

Highest Pitch Spins

  • Heath Hembree: 2921 rpm | Curveball

Most Pitch Movement

  • Heath Hembree:  31 inches vertical movement | Slider
  • Heath Hembree: 13 inches horizontal movement | Four-Seam Fastball

Team Expected Batting Averages (xBA)

  • Cardinals: .332
  • Reds: .226
What’s Next?

The Reds conclude the Cardinals series with an afternoon game at Busch Stadium. First pitch is at 2:15 p.m. EST as Luis Castillo faces off against Jack Flaherty in a rematch of Opening Day.

For more in-depth thoughts on today’s game and a preview of what’s ahead, consider subscribing to The Morning Spin, our daily newsletter. We’ll also analyze Reds news, give you a Stat of the Day, answer your burning questions, and more. You can get three issues for free; after that, it’s just $5 per month. Join us!

Featured Image: https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1386085793278664706?s=20

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Kyle Berger

Kyle Berger is a lifelong Reds fan who has lived in the Cincinnati area for his entire life. Kyle has always been interested in the analytics side of baseball, and recently graduated from Miami University with a degree in Business Analytics. You can follow him on Twitter @KB_48, where most of his Tweets are about the Reds or baseball in general.

1 Response

  1. pinson343 says:
    April 24, 2021 at 9:26 PM

    Can’t pitch well enough to win at home and can’t hit well enough to win the read. Still, with Moustakas back I like the starting lineup (offensively anyway), it’s a good starting rotation and the bench is better than usual.

    And I liked Kyle’s analysis of the bullpen, which concluded: “The key will be turning around Garrett’s season and finding a few other arms to provide quality innings for the team. If they can do that, the Reds’ bullpen could go from the disastrous results they have received thus far to a very solid group.”
    It’s too soon to tell how much the two additions to the bullpen will help, but at least they look like major league pitchers.

    This team should be able to win games. Like most of last year, something doesn’t seem quite right.

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