Tyler Mahle and Offense Excellent in 5-2 Win Over Cardinals

by — June 5, 2021 in Game Recap

Home runs from Jonathan India and Eugénio Suárez helped the offense back up a strong game from Tyler Mahle and the bullpen to give the Reds an important 5-2 win over the Cardinals. With the win, the Reds improve to 27-29 and are now just 4.5 games back in a very competitive NL Central.

Offense

The Reds’ offense really struggled to figure out Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo to begin the game. Through 2.2 innings, the Reds could muster only a walk while striking out four times. With two outs in the second, however, Jonathan India continued his hot streak with a home run into the left field stands (EV 105.1 mph, 419 ft.).

In the fourth inning, the Reds were threatening again. After a Nick Castellanos groundout, Tyler Naquin hit a groundball up the middle past the outstretched glove of Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter and hustled into second for a double. Tucker Barnhart would then hit an almost identical ball up the middle to bring home Naquin and get himself into scoring position at second, 2-1 Reds.

Next, the Reds got a little lucky as Eugénio Suárez hit a soft groundball back to the pitcher Oviedo, who got a little greedy and tried to catch Barnhart off second base. The throw was late, however, and both runners were safe. A Kyle Farmer groundout would advance both runners and an intentional walk of Mike Freeman loaded the bases for the pitcher Mahle who grounded out to end the inning.

In the fifth inning, India continued his fast day at the plate with a lead-off double, but two groundouts and a pop out would strand him at second.

The sixth inning began with a Barnhart lead-off walk before Suárez crushed a fastball into the Reds’ bullpen for a two-run home run (110.1 mph, 409 ft.) that gave the Reds a 4-2 lead.

Naquin would reach second later in the inning, but was stranded there.

In the seventh, the Reds two best hitters finally showed up. After Jesse Winker drew a lead-off walk, Castellanos extended his hit streak to 21 games with a groundball single into left field. After back-to-back strikeouts, the Reds once again got a little lucky. Cardinals’ reliever Genesis Cabrera threw a fastball high that got past catcher Andrew Knizner, which caused Winker to try and advance to third. The ball, however, bounced off the back wall right to Knizner, who tried to throw out Winker at third. But the throw was off target and went into left field, allowing Winker to score and giving the Reds a 5-2 lead. Suárez would fly out to end the inning.

Pitching

On the mound for the Reds was right-hander Tyler Mahle, who was coming off a good start against the Cubs on Sunday where he pitched five scoreless innings, only giving up a hit and a walk.

The first inning got off to a bad start for Mahle, as he gave up a lead-off double to Tommy Edman. After striking out the following two batters, it looked like Mahle would get out of the inning without any major damage. But Nolan Arenado poked a Mahle slider into right field, scoring Edman from second, before Yadier Molina struck out looking to end the inning on a generous call from the home plate umpire.

Through three innings, Mahle looked very impressive, striking out six batters while only allowing a single batted ball with an EV of 90+ mph.

In the fourth, Mahle gave up a lead-off triple to Paul Goldschmidt on a bloop hit down the right field line, that landed just past the glove of a sliding Castellanos. Next, Arenado would hit a single into right which was almost identical to the one he hit in the first, scoring Goldschmidt. Tyler O’Neill then rocked an inside fastball into left field for a double advancing Arenado to third, before a four pitch walk of Carpenter would load the bases for Edmundo Sosa. Mahle struck out Sosa and induced a flyout from pinch hitter John Nogowski to get out of an inning that looked grim for the Reds.

After a rough fourth, Mahle bounced back nicely, throwing perfect innings in the fifth and the sixth.

Mahle came out for the seventh inning having thrown 89 pitches and retired the side on just six pitches. Mahle was pinch hit for in the top of the seventh, ending his day.

In his seven innings of work, Mahle gave up five hits, two runs and one walk, while striking out eight batters. On the day, Mahle relied on a slider/fastball combination that worked extremely well for the right-hander. Even the hits he gave up were pretty good pitches, as the image below shows.

Mahle limited hard contact with an average EV of 85.8 mph while keeping the ball in the zone and throwing strikes, as his CSW% of 37 and his lone walk indicate. CSW% is the percentage of a pitcher’s pitches that are either a called strike or a whiff.

Taking over in the eighth for the Reds was right-hander Tejay Antone. Antone did not record a strikeout, but nevertheless got three quick outs to take a 5-2 Reds lead into the ninth. Antone threw his sinker, which reached 97.7 mph, and his curveball.

In the ninth, it was up to right-hander Lucas Sims to get the final three outs. After a lead-off single from Arenado, Sims was able to strike out Knizner on three beautiful breaking balls. Things got dangerous after this, however, as O’Neill hit a ground rule double to right field that gave the Cardinals runners at second and third with only one away.

Sims hunkered down, as he struck out Carpenter on another great breaking ball. Sosa lined a ball into shallow center (.560 xBA) that would have easily scored both runners had it dropped, but Shogo Akiyama made a phenomenal sliding catch to seal a great win for the Reds. Sims threw his curveball, 4-seamer and slider, the latter of which he only threw two times, but got two whiffs and recorded one of his two strikeouts.

Stats

Most Valuable Players

  • Eugénio Suárez: .230 WPA ( Win Probability Added)
  • Jonathan India: .216 WPA
  • Tyler Mahle: .127 WPA

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Eugénio Suárez: 110.1 mph | Home Run in 6th Inning
  • Jonathan India: 109.2 mph | Double in 5th Inning
  • Nick Castellanos: 104.1 mph | Single in 7th Inning

Unluckiest Out of the Day

  • Nick Castellanos: .810 xBA | Flyout in 1st Inning

Highest Velocities By Pitcher

  • Tyler Mahle: 95.9 mph
  • Tejay Antone: 97.7 mph
  • Lucas Sims: 95.9 mph

Highest Pitch Spins

  • Lucas Sims: 3,286 rpm | Curveball

Most Pitch Movement

  • Tejay Antone: 56 inches vertical movement | Curveball
  • Tejay Antone: 17 inches horizontal movement | Curveball

Team Expected Batting Averages (xBA)

  • Reds: .254
  • Cardinals: .231
What’s Next? 

The Reds finish up this series against the Cardinals tomorrow, where they hope to complete the four-game sweep over the rivals from St. Louis. Pitching for the Reds will be left-hander Wade Miley, and for the Cardinals it will be right-hander John Gant on the mound. First pitch will be at 2:15 PM EDT.

[Featured Image: https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1015291812678897664]

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Steffen Taudal

Steffen has been a huge Reds fan since watching his very first baseball game during the 2018 season. Despite the Reds finishing 5th in the NL Central for the fourth season in a row, he found himself drawn to the team's storied past and infinitely likable players such as Eugenio Suárez and Joey Votto. Since then, his love of baseball has led to a deep interest in the game's analytics and advanced statistics. Steffen is from Denmark and recently graduated from Aarhus University. You can follow him on twitter @TaudalSteffen

1 Response

  1. pinson343 says:
    June 6, 2021 at 5:35 AM

    On Saturday, Votto was a HR short of hitting for the cycle.

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