The Cincinnati Reds got another nice start from Chase Anderson in September and used a 3-run 5th inning to grab a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish as they picked up a 5-1 victory and earned a split of the short 2-game series with the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.
Cincinnati’s only hit in the first two innings was when Kyle Farmer was hit by a pitch. But they were able to string together two singles in the 3rd inning with Jonathan India’s 2-out single bringing Stuart Fairchild in to score to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. The Reds Sox tied the game up in the next inning, but the Reds got back to work in the 5th. Fairchild started things with another single and moved to second on a walk by TJ Friedl. India came through with an RBI single to give Cincinnati a 2-1 lead. He would then steal second base before Kyle Farmer blooped a single into the outfield for a 2-run single that broke an 0-18 slump he had been in. Three innings later it was Donovan Solano playing add on with a solo home run that extended the lead to 5-1.
Chase Anderson hit Tommy Pham with a pitch to lead off the game. He was the only baserunner that the Red Sox would get until the 4th inning, but that’s when Boston would put together a little rally. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts had back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners to lead off the inning before Alex Verdugo followed up with a sacrifice fly to tie the game up at 1-1. Anderson would strike out J.D. Martinez and then Chuckie Robinson threw out Bogaerts as he attempted to steal to end the inning. Anderson returned for an easy 5th inning before turning the game over to the bullpen.
Fernando Cruz and Reiver Sanmartin made it look easy in the 6th and 7th innings as they held onto a 4-1 lead. Derek Law tossed a scoreless 8th inning before returning for the 9th. That’s when things go dicey as he allowed back-to-back 1-out singles to Devers and Bogaerts, resulting in David Bell going to the mound and calling on Alexis Diaz to come into the game and try to get out of the jam. He did just that as he got Alex Verdugo to ground into a game-ending double play.
Milwaukee Brewers vs Cincinnati Reds
Thursday September 22nd, 6:40pm ET
Brandon Woodruff (11-4, 3.26 ERA) vs Hunter Greene (4-12, 4.97 ERA)
Doug Gray is the owner of RedsMinorLeagues.com, Redleg Nation, and as you guessed it, passionate about the great sport of baseball. He's been writing about baseball since 2006 (contributions formerly at The Athletic and currently at Baseball America). You can keep tabs with him on twitter @dougdirt24.
Looking forward to Greene’s second outing back from his rehab. Hoping Woodruff completely implodes.
Always fun to watch Greene pitch.
Its been an uneven year for India, but hopefully he’ll get it together. Unless he starts walking more then it feels like he should be a Rbi man in the middle of the order instead of top of the order.
Fairchild is feeling it so move him up in the order already! They’ve got to find some sleepers somewhere that can produce or they’ll never turn it around. Derek Law might be another one? He seems to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate.
Law has pitched well, but he’s older and his track record is spotty. Been a nice grab from the waiver wire, but I think he could be exposed over a full season.
Check the ERA and walk rate, don’t worry too much about age. They are only pitching one inning for this management.
ROY India battled thru some injuries this season and was bitten by the sophomore jinx! I have faith he will return to his ROY form and be a key member of the 2023 Reds!
{Sarcasm} Fairchild doesn’t fit in Bell’s world because he is a batter whose OPS+ is >100 versus both LH and RH pitching. Then to top it off, he is a RH batter who hits RH pitching better than LH pitching, better in fact than either Fraley or Friedl, LH batters, are hitting RH pitching. {sarcasm off}
Boy, Diaz is probably worn out having thrown 4 pitches tonight! Probably won’t be available for tomorrow’s game against the Bernies! That’s sarcasm for those on this site who are humor challenged.
No offense, but sarcasm isn’t so much a sense of humor as it is 1) “…a cutting…remark intended to wound. 2) a form of ‘wit’…intended to make its victim the butt of contempt.” [American Heritage Dictionary].
I’m not really trying to be a downer or thin skinned, and I get (and sometime share) yours and JWs frustration…I’m just trying to point out the difference.
Lots of push back on Aquino and some personal attacks so I’m pushing back again. I dont hate Aquino. I want the reds to win but dont think hes part of the winning solution. Anyone who does make an argument. Hes 0-19 and hitting .199 in 2022.OBP .244. OPS .608
I stand my ground. Aquino had his shot and hasn’t done anything at the plate in 4 years. DFA him and move on
There is nothing to be gained by DFAing Aquino or anyone else at this point. Their salary is a sunken cost. There is no need for a 40 man roster spot. Bodies are needed to finish out the dozen games or whatever and as the Senzel injury and Siani called up demonstrated the cupboard is bare of anyone legitimately ready to be called up.
Just wait and non tender guys in the fullness of time.
Magic number is 4. Number of wins needed to avoid triple digit losses.
It’s early with Cruz, but he seems to be pretty legit. I feel like the core of the 23 bullpen is starting to take shape. Diaz (Fireman) SanMartin, Moreta, and Cruz. IF we have some luck with healthy returns of Antone, Santillan, and Sims, we’d only need to sign a closer.
Agree 100% MBS with your assessment!
I’d really like the reds to hold onto Buck Farmer but if they go the free agent path then let’s get the brothers together in the back of the pen. Edwin Diaz is a free agent!
Agree, but I’d add Buck Farmer to the list of productive arms, and wouldn’t want to dismiss Jeff Hoffman either.
I like Farmer to, but he’s a FA, and since he’s not a lock to remain a Red, I didn’t include him.
Fairchild’s stock is continuing to rise. Fraley seems to be struggling. Could his issues relate back to being beaned last week?
Fraley is 7 – 18 (.389) the last 4 games he’s played in.
In those 4 games> No BB and 6K’s. K% of 33.33 versus 20.9% for the season as a whole. BB% for season 10.4 vs 0%. Seasonal BB/K ratio .50 vs 0.0, ISO power .056 vs .212 on the season.
Perhaps “struggling” was not an ideal word choice by me; but, he doesn’t look like the same hitter as prior to me. Also, while even more subjective, he looks to me to be not as on top of his defense.
Then he should be mildly beaned again to keep up this improvement 🙂
Fairchild looked good these last couple of games. Came in for Senzel and made the most of his opportunity. Hit well and made a pretty strong throw home. Let him keep showing what he can or cannot do. Enjoyed being in the park for this series.
Reds will have to make some tough decisions regarding several position players, including Aquino, Senzel, Moustakas and Barrero. They won’t contend yet in 2023, but a few prospects will be knocking the door very soon.
I would be fine with none of those four on the team next year. Barrero could get another shot with a healthy offseason, but I’m not convinced he’s a long-term solution and I’d have a short leash. Complete pass on the other 3.
Some of you guys are making demands for dfa’s on players that make no sense. You do realize the reds lose the players they dfa and no tender, right? So what is the hurry to do that? Even if such players are eventually released what advantage is there for an earlier than necessary dismissal.
I know some of you that make these calls for players you apparently don’t like-whether it is Barerro, AA, Senzel, etc. You really come off as un knowledgeable about baseball, especially with repeated calls for players who there is no particular hurry to release.
I could see bringing Senzel and Barrera back but no thanks on Moose or Aquino.
What I think will happen is all 4 will be back. Moose is un-tradesble and this ownership isn’t eating 18 mil, Senzel has shown flashes of being a serviceable player. They also have a lot invested in him. Barrera is coming off a injury. Aquino will be back because the lack of outfield depth in the system. Plus until Moose and Votto are off the books ownership is committing to any other FA’s.
Aquino could be part of a trade in the offseason. Time will tell.
If you forced me to make a decision, I would choose Aquino over senzel after this year. Reasoning- senzel does nothing extremely well. He is average or below average at everything. Matt reynolds is a more useful bench piece.
Aquino certainly has his flaws. But he does 2 things very well. His right field defense is elite. And his slugging is very good. And he is still cheap – which matters in Cincinnati.
I would dfa Moose after spring training and five barerro another 2 month trial at short in beginning of season but also send him to instructional to work on CF and hitting this off season.
Interesting take.. its okay if a player strikes out more times than not. Yet his slugging keeps him on the team. Interesting take.
Reynolds is not better than Senzel though. If anything, they are similar.
Reynolds was a better hitter than Senzel in 2022, without question. I thought Senzel would have been the better base stealer, but again not in 2022.
I struggle how to rate Senzel defensively, so I’ll leave the comparison with offense.
Where did Chase Anderson come from? Was he part of a trade?
Who would have thunk it? 😉 Maybe 2 strong starts away from being offered a 2023 MLB contract. Just from a quick look on BBRef, he does seem to have been a viable 5th starter type through the 2019 season.
Agree – and all of a sudden Reds look to have a decent pitching staff. With the return of Ashcraft who is the odd man out? Minor, Anderson or Cessa? Please let it be Minor… It would be geat if Anderson makes a nice piece at nexts year’s trade deadline.
At least in the short term does Fairchild becomes a fixture in the starting lineup? Poor Aquino has gone from a K-machine to the master of the pop up. Is he upper cutting everything? Unfortunately, he and Senzel both look like a change of scenery might be good for all involved.
@Pete>> Coming to agree about Aquino and Senzel. It certainly didn’t help AA that he started (and played virtually all of) 15 games in 13 days prior to the off day Monday and crashed in the last 3 games of the run.
Even including those last 3 games, in that stretch, just short of 10% of a season, AA’s OPS was .977 with a OBP of .328, a K rate down to 28%, and a walk rate up to over 6%. Fair to say he was essentially the best offensive player on the team during that run.
It makes a person wonder how a hitter can turn on a dime like that. I highly doubt that after AA ravaged the Cardinals pitching in the first 2 games of the series that they suddenly figured out how to shut him down cold and implemented the scheme literally overnight.
I tend to believe he could be a high maintenance guy in terms of his batting mental state and mechanics because he has experienced multiple feast and famine flips like this.
Maybe a different local can help him avoid the deep valleys.
@Jim, my guess is Aquino presses, and presses to hit homers in particular thus the upper cut. When he was hot he was hitiing scorching line drives.
When Votto was doing the game Tuesday night he harped on hitting line drives. He said it should be a hitters singular focus. I’m not going to argue with him. Every time a Red hit a popup or weak ground ball, he would make a point to call it “soft”.
I enjoy Joey’s commentary. When AA came up with the bases loaded, JV said it was a perfect opportunity for Aquino to hit the ball hard. AA walked on 5 pitches. Votto called it basically a give away walk not an earned one – I liked the differentiation. I don’t believe Aquino has hit a ball square since Friday night.
Being a gluten for punishment, I still watch or record every Reds game. I never thought Chase Anderson would last but here he is pitching well again. I have more faith in him than Mike Minor.
Never want to see someone get injured but with Senzel out, Fairfield gets more PT and let’s be honest: he delivers! I enjoy watching him play. I doubt he’s part of any long term plans but maybe he should be in the conversation.
Yeah, my wife keeps wanting me to go gluten-free. But I tell her I wouldn’t be able to watch the Reds anymore. 🙂
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