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Going into today’s game, I didn’t know what to expect. When looking at the players involved in the game, one could imagine a variety of different outcomes. On one hand, Luis Castillo can be an extremely dominant pitcher. On the other hand, he’s been struggling significantly this season. Zach Davies has also been a very hittable pitcher. But the Reds offense has been struggling to score runs. Today’s game could have gone a million different ways. The best word to describe it for me is: Frustrating.
A variety of things happened on the field that frustrated me. For starters, the home plate umpire seemed to have an inconsistent strike zone. Other things that frustrated me were … well, why not just keep reading.
Offense
One of my big frustrations in today’s game was the offense. It’s not that the Reds were unable to score. They just should have been able to do more, and each run through the batting order feels like a slog until Winker or Castellanos can bat.
The offense got off to a slow start. After a line drive single from Jesse Winker, the Reds were unable to get another baserunner until the 4th inning, when Eugenio Suarez singled to left field. Another baserunner was added when Nick Castellanos reached on a walk, however, the Reds were unable to bring either home as Tyler Naquin was called out on strikes and Tyler Stephenson lined out to centerfield.
The Reds were able to score two during the 6th inning. Eugenio Suarez led off with a walk. Cubs manager David Ross turned to his bullpen, bringing in Rex Brothers to face Jesse Winker. Brothers walked Winker on four pitches. With two runners on, Nick Castellanos struck out. Knowing this might be his best chance to score, David Bells played matchups, bringing in Scott Heineman to the plate to pinch hit for lefty Tyler Naquin. The move proved successful, as Heineman was able to reach on a walk, loading the bases. Two runs scored on a subsequent double from Tyler Stephenson. With runners at second and third, Max Schrock and Jonathan India popped out and struck out respectively.
Pitching
The pitching was another frustrating aspect of today’s game. I’m playing my Dad in fantasy baseball this week. It’s extremely close in every category, and going into this game, I was only losing by a couple strikeouts. In light of this, I decided to start Luis Castillo. I knew that it would be a risky move, but I can’t let my Dad beat me. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Luis Castillo, who historically has averaged over one strikeout per inning was only able to strike out three over five innings. He actually pitched fairly well through his first five, keeping the ball down in the zone and inducing a lot of weak contact. Over the first five innings, the Cubs were only able to score two runs, both on defensive errors. One of these errors was Suarez’s 8th of the season. Like I said, the theme of today’s game is frustration.
After five innings of solid pitching, Luis Castillo struggled with command during the 6th. After surrendering two walks in a row to Ian Happ and Wilson Contreras, Castillo was relieved by Amir Garrett.
Amir Garrett inherited a difficult situation, with two runners on and nobody out. After managing to strikeout Rafael Ortega on a foul bunt, Garrett walked Patrick Wisdom to load the bases. With no room on the base paths, Garrett walked in another run, surrendering the lead to Chicago. The inning started with a tie game, but four walks later, it’s a different story. Frustrating.
Tejay Antone relieved Garrett and had a very strong start, striking out Nick Martini. But then he surrendered consecutive singles to Joc Pederson and Kris Bryant after this, scoring three more. The inning ended after Antone successfully struck out Javier Baez.
Over the first six innings of baseball, the Reds walked six runners. Watching pitchers give up walks frustrates me.
Ryan Hendrix relieved Antone during the 7th inning. He managed to get the first two batters out but gave up a homerun to Rafael Ortega. He ended the inning with a strikeout.
Michael Feliz came in to pitch during the 8th inning. This inning was also frustrating, as the Cubs extended their lead through several consecutive singles. After inducing a flyout to PJ Higgins, Feliz gave up a run on three straight singles from the Cubs. Two more runs came in on a hit from Ian Happ. After this run, the broadcasters surmised that this hit would typically result in a double play, but the Reds had shifted their defensive alignment after Baez reached second on defensive indifference.
Stats
Hardest Hit Balls
- Nick Castellanos: 104.6 MPH Double in 8th inning
- Eugenio Suarez: 102.8 MPH Groundout in 1st inning
Unluckiest Out of the Day
- Eugenio Suarez: .680 xBA, Groundout in 1st inning
Highest Pitch Velocity by Pitcher
- Luis Castillo: 98.2 MPH Fastball
- Amir Garrett: 95.2 MPH Fastball
- Tejay Antone: 97.8 MPH Sinker
- Ryan Hendrix: 96.5 MPH Fastball
- Michael Feliz: 93.7 MPH Fastball
Highest Pitch Spins
- Tejay Antone: 3273 RPM, Sinker
Most Pitch Movement
- Tejay Antone: Curveball, 56 inches vertical break
- Luis Castillo: Changeup, 23 inches horizontal break
Team Expected Batting Averages
- Reds: .243
- Cubs: .250
What’s Next?
Well, if you can’t tell, I’m frustrated. I’ll get over it, but gosh darn it, this game was so hard to watch. Hopefully the Reds have more success tomorrow. Game time is 2:20 PM EST, with Tyler Mahle set to face off against Jake Arrieta.
Excellent job of conveying frustration, Micah. Both with what you say and also what you don’t say, no point in saying too much.
I started watching with the score tied at 2-2, two runners on base, and Garrett in. A pitcher who lives and dies with his slider needs to be able to throw it for a strike (called strike if batter doesn’t swing kind of strike) when he has to. (Some of you will remember Ryan Wagner.) Garrett does not have that degree of command. His walk total this year is 5.9/9.
It’s not a new problem. His walk total over his career is 4.7/9.
Watching him pitch with the bases loaded is maddening. I’ll bet he was really hearing it from the Cubs dugout.
Trying to be positive here, I’ll just make the obvious point that the season isn’t over. The Reds were 6 under several times last year, but never went 7 under, and managed to climb over .500 in a 60 game season. (Their record will NOT be over .500 after 60 games this season, but of course that’s not the point.)
This is very true. Long way to go. 110 games, two-thirds of the season left. Having Votto, Moustakas and Senzel out has crippled an already erratic offense. IF they can get close to healthy, they’ll be better. The Cubs and Brewers (and obviously the Pirates) are deeply flawed teams. We’ll get a good look at where the Cardinals are this week. Now, the front offices of those teams may patch holes. You can count on that from the Brewers, who have already started with Adames.
From what I saw on the highlights, which of course were mostly Cubs highlights, Castillo was making some nasty pitches.
I didn’t look at the heat maps, but my sense was Castillo was pitching down in the zone much more frequently than before. I’ve said from the start of his 2021 slump, the problem was he was trying to throw a high fastball (too often) when he has a low spin rate. He’s always thrown a high fastball as an out pitch. It works in that circumstance like it does for any pitcher. But Castillo needs to keep his fastball/sinker down because it has sinking movement. That also plays off his changeup better because that pitch works best when it starts toward the bottom of the zone and drops below.
Until Castillo walked those two leadoff hitters in the 6th (crucial) I thought it had been his most encouraging start of the season, box score stats notwithstanding. But he has a long way to go to get his whiff and K rates back to normal for him.
I love the safety squeeze, and don’t know why it isn’t used more often. I’ve seen a number of safety squeezes in Reds games over the last couple of years, seems like almost always by the other team. Last Reds safety squeeze I remember was laid down by Tucker Barnhart.
And it always seems to work against the Reds.