The Reds have a chance to wrap up their weekend series against the Marlins after opening it with a 1-0 win behind another sharp Chase Burns start. Cincinnati now turns to Brady Singer as it tries to keep that momentum rolling at Great American Ball Park on Friday night, with first pitch set for 6:40pm ET. Miami, meanwhile, is trying to get back on level terms after getting blanked in the opener.
Singer has settled in since the calendar flipped to June. Over his last 12 starts, he’s worked to a 3.54 ERA, and while he hasn’t been untouchable every outing, the recent trend has been strong: back-to-back quality starts and five quality starts in his last six.
The home-road split is hard to miss, too. He’s been much better in Cincinnati, where his ERA sits at 3.53, compared with 5.75 away from home.
The matchup numbers show a clear divide in how hitters have handled Singer. Left-handed bats have done the most damage, posting a .297 average and .494 slugging percentage against him.
Right-handers have made plenty of contact, but the results have been far less damaging, with just a .232 average and .399 slugging percentage. His pitch mix is built around the sinker-slider combination, with a two-seamer at 49% usage and a slider at 42%.
Ryan Gusto gets the ball for Miami, and his season has bounced between Triple-A and the majors. He opened the year with just one relief outing for Miami while spending most of the time in Triple-A Jacksonville, then returned to the big leagues in June and has stayed there since.
He’s been used mostly as a starter, though he has also logged a few relief appearances. Only two of his starts have gone at least five innings, and both came in his last three outings.
Gusto’s big-league splits this season also lean toward left-handed hitters. They’ve hit .261 with a .437 slugging percentage against him, while right-handers have produced a .250 average and .400 slugging mark. His arsenal is more varied than Singer’s, with a four-seam fastball, two-seamer, cutter, curve, slider and changeup all in the mix.
The lineups feature the same kind of talent that made Burns’ and Elly De La Cruz’s recognition stand out this week. Both players landed on ESPN’s Top 50 players in baseball list, and both were in the top 25. They were the only Reds to make the cut.
Milwaukee continues to control the division at 75-48, with Chicago right behind at 72-51. Cincinnati sits at 59-62, 15 games back, and its playoff odds are listed at 0.7%. Miami enters the night looking to avoid letting the Reds take the series outright.
In Other News...
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Stephenson is also moving toward free agency, which makes the timing awkward for the Reds. With Duno sidelined and no obvious immediate successor ready to take over, the front office suddenly has to think beyond the next few months and decide whether to keep Stephenson in place, add a veteran stopgap, or both. However they handle it, the injury has turned the catching position into a much bigger offseason question than it looked like a week ago. [Read more 🡒]
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The roster fallout came quickly after the game, too, as Cincinnati moved on from Kent Emanuel and filled that spot with Zach Maxwell. It is the kind of mid-doubleheader shuffle that can get overlooked in the rush of a long day, but for a team trying to sort out its pitching picture, it adds another layer to a loss that already raised more questions than it answered. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Just Showed How Thin Their Pitching Depth Has Become
The Reds had to dig deep for pitching help ahead of their doubleheader against the Cardinals, turning to Zach McCambley as the 27th man while also making room on the staff for another arm. With injuries stacking up and minor league roster constraints tightening the options, Cincinnatis depth has been stretched to the point where even the next-man-up list is starting to look pretty thin.
Kent Emanuels arrival underscores how far the Reds have had to reach for coverage. The 34-year-old left-hander has big league experience, and he was just coming off a six-inning start for Triple-A Louisville, a reminder that Cincinnati is leaning on experienced stopgaps to get through the day while the pitching situation continues to test its depth. [Read more 🡒]