Winning Streak Comes to an End in Arizona

by — April 10, 2021 in Game Recap

I have a confession to make. Just before the second game of the season, I bought a new Reds cap. It’s a throwback style, with the scarlet Reds logo featured on a muted blue background. Since purchasing it, I have worn that hat during every single game and the Reds never lost. Clearly, I had stumbled across some sort of enchanted hat that granted good luck to the Reds. As the Reds winning streak stretched on, I kept wearing my good luck hat. I guess the luck was in limited supply. Today, I am disappointed to announce that the magic of that hat has worn out. The Reds winning streak has come to an end.

Offense

The red hot offense was cooled off in the Arizona desert, with Cincinnati scoring only three runs over nine innings.

After a first inning featuring three straight groundouts, two of the Reds three runs came in the second. After a walk from Eugenio Suarez, Moustakas doubled to right field. This was followed by an RBI single to right center by Nick Senzel, scoring Suarez. Moustakas was knocked in by an opposite field single from Jonathan India.

The Reds had a good opportunity to score during the 4th inning. The inning began with Suarez reaching first on a weakly hit infield single. Moustakas then hit a bloop towards short. They let it drop, to try to land a double play, but both runners ended up reaching. After Nick Senzel flew out, advancing Suarez to third, Jonathan India grounded into a double play ending the inning.

After being unable to score during the next three innings, the Reds scored their final run of the night when Suarez homered in the 8th inning to bring the score to 8-3.

Pitching

Overall, the effectiveness of Reds pitchers was not as sharp as past games this season. Over an eight inning stretch, Reds pitchers surrendered two home runs, ten hits, seven earned runs and only struck out six, while walking four.

Jeff Hoffman started the game for the Redlegs. The first inning went by fairly quietly. Tim Locastro started off by singling to center but was called out when he over-slid the bag on a pickoff. Locastro was followed up by Kole Calhoun and Christian Walker, who respectively grounded out and flew out.

The second inning started to show some of the chinks in Hoffman’s armor. While he did not give up any runs, Hoffman walked Asdrubal Cabrera and surrendered a four pitch walk to Nick Ahmed.

The Diamondbacks got on the board during the fourth inning, in which Asdrubal Cabrera led off with a line drive home run over the right field wall. While Cabrera’s home run was the only Diamondback hit of the inning, Hoffman surrendered a third walk to catcher Stephen Vogt.

The 5th inning is where things started falling apart for the Reds. It started with speedy Tim Locastro reaching on a bloop single over second base. After a popout from Calhoun, Hoffman gave up an infield single to Christian Walker. With two runners on base, only one out, and facing his third time through the order, Jeff Hoffman was pulled.

Cionel Perez followed up Hoffman in the 5th inning, but he had great difficulty finding the strike zone. He ended up loading the bases by giving up an infield single to David Peralta. With the bases loaded, Perez issued a four pitch walk, tying the game. Eduardo Escobar followed this with an infield single. Arizona blew the doors open when a combination of a Vogt single with an error from Nick Senzel resulted in three more runs.

Carson Fulmer entered the game during the 6th inning. While striking out two hitters and not giving up a walk, Fulmer did give up an earned run, extending the Diamondbacks lead.

Sal Romano took the mound for the 7th inning. After inducing a groundout from Asdrubal Cabrera, Romano surrendered a home run to Eduardo Escobar. 8-2 Arizona. Romano looked sharper during the 8th inning, in which he struck out the first two hitters he faced.

Stats

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Tyler Naquin: 110.0 mph groundout
  • Eugenio Suarez: 106.5 mph home run
  • Joey Votto: 105.7 mph single

Unluckiest Out of the Day

  • Tyler Naquin: .690 xBA | Groundout

Highest Velocities By Pitcher

  • Cionel Perez: 97.1 mph
  • Cionel Perez 96.7mph

Highest Pitch Spins

  • Cionel Perez: 2,673 rpm | Slider

Most Pitch Movement

  • Jeff Hoffman: 65 inches vertical break| Curveball

Team Expected Batting Averages (xBA)

  • Diamondbacks: .259
  • Reds: .303
What’s Next?

Well, you can’t win them all. Tomorrow, the Reds face the Diamondbacks in game three of the series and hopefully start a new winning streak. First pitch will be at 4:10 EST, with Jose De Leon facing off against RHP Luke Weaver. In the meantime, does anyone know where I can find a new lucky hat?

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Mike Perry

Mike is a lifelong Reds fan who grew up watching games at Cinergy Field with his family. A recent MBA graduate, Mike has always had a passion for data analytics and uses his understanding of big data to better understand and appreciate what is happening on the baseball diamond and in the front office. When he's not watching baseball, you can find Mike and his wife frequenting different restaurants and coffee shops in the area. For questions and inquiries, please reach out to [email protected].

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