Sweep of Rockies puts Reds above .500

by — June 13, 2021 in Game Recap

Two big innings of offense were enough for Tony Santillan and the bullpen, and the Reds got the brooms out for the second time in three series completing the sweep of the Rockies in a 6-2 win. The Reds have won 10 of their last 13 games, which has propelled them to a 32-31 record and gives them a winning record for the first time since April 21st. We have a winning ball club in Cincinnati again!

Offense

The Reds’ offense kept rolling as they have all weekend against the Rockies. While not reaching double digits like the prior two games, the Reds put together two big innings to provide the run support needed for the 6-2 victory.

The Reds came out hammering the ball as Jonathan India opened the bottom of the first with a 110.1 mph single to center. Unfortunately, Jesse Winker’s 103 mph line drive found the Charlie Blackmon’s glove in right field, and Nick Castellanos’ 101.4 mph groundball went straight to the third basemen for a 5-4-3 double play.

Tyler Naquin kept the hard hits coming in the second with a 100 mph double off the wall in right field. Joey Votto stopped the 100+ mph streak slicing a single down the left-field line scoring Naquin from second. Eugenio Suarez got the Reds back on track, blasting a line-drive home run to left field (106.5 mph 380 feet) to put the Reds up 3-1. Ultimately, the Reds had 10 balls with exit velocities over 100 mph throughout the game.

The Reds offense added on some insurance in the seventh to give the bullpen a little breathing room. Kyle Farmer was hit by a pitch before Shogo Akiyama drove a double over Blackmon’s head in right field off the base of the wall. India walked to load the bases with no outs, and MVP candidate Jesse Winker came to the plate and delivered. While it was not the line-drive double off the wall from earlier in the game, the ground ball that bounced through the infield with an xBA of .050 scored Farmer and Akiyama and Winker’s hustle put him at second base with his second double of the game. Naquin added one more run with a sac fly to center, putting the Reds up 6-2 where it would stay.

Pitching

Tony Santillan turned in a solid performance in his major league debut. While it got off to a rocky start, Santillan struck out five through four and two-thirds innings, and most importantly, left with a 3-1 lead. Our own Matt Wilkes gave us a breakdown of what we could expect from Santillan and provided a layout of what we ultimately saw today. Santillan relied heavily on his fastball and slider in combination and, at times, struggled with control as he walked four and hit two. The game was full of high-pressure situations, but Santillan found a way to work out of the jams.

The Rockies opened the game with two hard hits, a single and a double, putting runners on second and third only three pitches into the game. Blackmon then hit a sac fly to score Raimel Tapia from third, giving the Rockies an early 1-0 lead.  Santillan got his first career strikeout on Trevor Story before inducing a flyout to end the inning.

The second inning brought another threat when a one-out four-pitch walk to C.J. Cron followed by a Dom Nunez single put men on first and second. Antonio Senzatela tried to get a sac bunt down to move the runners but popped it up behind the plate. Tucker Barnhart found the ball and made a great sliding catch into the warning track for the second out. Santillan got Tapia to ground out to end the inning.

The third inning saw the continued trend of baserunners as Yontahan Daza was hit to open the inning. A Blackmon seeing-eye single put runners on first and second with no outs. Santillan went his slider for back-to-back strikeouts of Story and Ryan McMahon. A Brendan Rodgers walk loaded the bases, but C.J. Cron flew out to end the inning.

After only giving up a single in the fourth, the fifth brought more danger for Santillan. With one out, Story was hit by a pitch. Then, after striking out McMahon for the second time, Santillan issued back-to-back walks to load the bases, which brought out David Bell and ended his debut. Ryan Hendrix came in to strike out Dom Nunez on six pitches, leaving the bases loaded.

Brad Brach entered in the sixth getting two strikeouts before issuing a walk to Daza. Bell went to Amir Garrett for the lefty on lefty matchup against Blackmon. Garrett only needed three pitches, all sliders, to retire Blackmon.

After Heath Hembree pitched the seventh, giving up a solo home run, and the Reds added three runs in the bottom of the inning, Lucas Sims entered in the eighth. Sims retired the Rockies in order in the eighth and ninth, tacking on two strikeouts to close out the game and the sweep.

Stats

Most Valuable Players

  • Eugenio Suarez: .131 WPA (Win Probability Added)
  • Ryan Hendrix: .097 WPA
  • Shogo Akiyama: .082 WPA

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Jonathan India: 110.1 mph | Single in 1st inning
  • Eugenio Suarez: 106.5 mph | Home run in 2nd inning
  • Joey Votto: 106.2 mph | Ground out in 7th inning
  • Jesse Winker: 103.9 mph | Double in 5th inning

Unluckiest Out of the Day

  • Nick Castellanos: .590 xBA | Groundout in 1st inning

Highest Velocities By Pitcher

  • Tony Santillan: 97.2 mph
  • Ryan Hendrix: 95.5 mph
  • Brad Brach: 93.9 mph
  • Amir Garrett: 86.1 mph
  • Heath Hembree: 96.9 mph
  • Lucas Sims: 97.2 mph

Highest Pitch Spins

  • Lucas Sims: 3,131 rpm | Slider

Most Pitch Movement

  • Tony Santillan: 49 inches vertical movement | Curveball
  • Brad Brach: 17 inches horizontal movement | Changeup

Team Expected Batting Averages (xBA)

  • Rockies: .163
  • Reds: .285
What’s Next?

The Reds head to Milwaukee for a three-game series starting Monday. First pitch is at 8:10 p.m. EST as Vladimir Gutierrez faces off against Eric Lauer.

Featured Image: https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1152002035077640192

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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.

2 Responses

  1. Mike Adams says:
    June 13, 2021 at 6:35 PM

    Hope for a sweep at Milwaukee but that is not realistic.

    I would be happy with 2 out of 3 that would gain one game on the Brewers.

    I read on another blog that Hembree’s first 9 innings with the Reds he had a zero ERA.

    The last 9 innings he has an ERA of 11.57, and has given up 6 homers in 8.2 innings.

    To me in this game he looked like he didn’t want to be out there, pacing around, grimacing, taking deep breaths.

    He looked like he didn’t know where the ball was going. Some call it nibbling but I don’t think he could locate the ball.

    I think most of the home runs he is giving up now are pitches unintentionally over the plate. I wonder if he is hurt and trying to pitch through it to stay on the ballclub.

    • Steve Mancuso says:
      June 14, 2021 at 11:59 AM

      He might be hurt. Or he might be the same pitcher he’s been all along and it’s just normal variance.

      1st 9 appearances: 0.00 ERA, 3.68 xFIP, 11K, 2BB
      2nd 9 appearances: 11.57 ERA, 3.75 xFIP 17K, 4BB

      ERA used to be one of the best stats for evaluating pitchers, but now we have many that are much, much better. Look at how close the two xFIP numbers are. His K and BB numbers are the same ratio, too. That argues for Hembree being the same pitcher all year. The same guy other teams cut this spring. Can’t be seduced by small samples of ERA. They are wildly unrepresentative.

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