The Reds and Guardians are back at it tonight at Great American Ball Park, with the winner claiming the series and the Ohio Cup trophy after Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader split. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Cincinnati will send Brady Singer to the mound against Cleveland left-hander Joey Cantillo in the finale.
Singer has been rolling over the last two months. In nine starts since the beginning of June, he’s put up a 2.92 ERA across 52.1 innings, with 16 walks and 52 strikeouts.
His only rough outing in that stretch came June 28 against Pittsburgh, when he allowed five runs in 4.1 innings. He also faced Cleveland in May while dealing with some minor injury issues and gave up five runs in 4.0 innings during a 10-3 loss.
The matchup gets interesting when you dig into the splits. Right-handed hitters have done a decent amount of damage against Singer when they connect, while left-handed hitters have reached at a high clip and produced plenty of power. He’s also been much better at home, where he owns a 2.98 ERA compared with 5.89 on the road.
Singer’s pitch mix leans heavily on the two-seamer and slider, with the cutter and four-seamer used sparingly.
Cantillo’s season has been a roller coaster. He was sitting on a 2.05 ERA through his first 11 starts, but since then that number has climbed to 5.03 thanks to a mix of strong outings and several poor ones. When he faced Cincinnati in the middle of May, the Reds got to him for four runs in 5.0 innings in a 7-4 win.
His splits are there, but they’re not dramatic. Right-handed hitters have been a little better overall, mostly by collecting more singles.
The gap in average is about 30 points, while the on-base and slugging numbers are fairly close between righties and lefties. Teams also haven’t sent many left-handed bats his way.
Cantillo’s arsenal is built around the four-seam fastball, curveball, and changeup, with the slider and cutter filling smaller roles.
On the roster front, Matt McLain continued his rehab assignment last night and went 2-for-4 with a walk. Through four games with Louisville, he’s 5-for-14 with a walk, two doubles, two runs, an RBI, and four strikeouts.
The Reds also had a busy day in the minors, promoting four of their Top 10 prospects amid a flurry of more than a dozen transactions.
And there’s a schedule change coming later this summer: the August 30 game against the Chicago Cubs, originally set for 3:10 p.m. ET, will now be the NBC Sunday Night Baseball game of the week and start at 7:20 p.m. ET.
In the division picture, Milwaukee leads at 67-40, followed by Chicago at 61-46, Pittsburgh at 55-53, St. Louis at 53-54, and Cincinnati at 50-56. Fangraphs gives the Reds a 2.0% shot at the playoffs.
In Other News...
Reds Just Got Another Trade Deadline Reminder They Cannot Ignore
A catcher swap out West offered another reminder of how quickly the market can move for a position the Reds have been watching closely. The Angels sent Logan O'Hoppe and reliever Chase Silseth to the Rangers for infield prospect Angel Arredondo, and for Cincinnati it was the kind of deal that underscores the value of young, controllable catching whenever it surfaces.
The Reds have been looking for more depth behind the plate now and beyond, with Tyler Stephenson moving closer to free agency and the internal answers still not looking like starting-caliber solutions. O'Hoppe fit the profile of the sort of catcher Cincinnati could use, which is why a trade like this lands as more than a transaction elsewhere. It is another deadline-era signal that help at that spot does not stay available for long. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Fans Wont Like This Trade Deadline Outfield Possibility
The Reds are expected to be active before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and some of the names in play could come from the kind of roster spots that always draw attention this time of year. That usually means expiring contracts, but it can also mean controllable players who have enough value to interest other clubs, especially if theyve shown real progress at the plate and can help a contender right away.
JJ Bleday fits that second category, which is why his name is worth watching even if Cincinnati would prefer to keep him around. He has been one of the clubs better offensive pieces this season, and with two more years of team control, he brings the sort of cost certainty teams like to covet. The problem for the Reds is that they also need outfield help of their own, and moving a player who has become more reliable would only sharpen the question of how they plan to fill that depth. [Read more 🡒]
One Reds Infield Decision Suddenly Feels Impossible To Avoid
When the Reds summoned Edwin Arroyo in June, the move made sense as a short-term answer with Elly De La Cruz sidelined. Arroyo got thrown into a tough spot, learning on the fly at the major league level while trying to help stabilize the infield, but the longer this has gone on, the clearer it has become that Cincinnati is facing a decision it can no longer keep kicking down the road.
Matt McLain is nearing the end of his rehab assignment and has looked sharp enough to make the next step feel inevitable, especially with his glove at second base giving the Reds a steadier option. Arroyo, meanwhile, has struggled to make much of an impact in either phase of the game, and once McLain is ready, the club will have to decide whether to keep riding with the rookie or send him back to Triple-A Louisville and reset the infield picture. [Read more 🡒]