KSReds: Cincinnati Reds Lose Series Ahead of West Coast Trip

On Sunday evening the Cincinnati Reds will head out west for a 10-day, 10-game road trip. These next 10 days are absolutely going to make or break their playoff chances. A series loss to the Toronto Blue Jays over the last three days eliminated them from the postseason for the time being. However, the larger issue is how the team has looked as of late. The starting pitching is tired, the defense is bad, and the hitting is inconsistent. It is hard to instill much confidence in a roster with that combination of struggles.

A reason for hope was supposed to be the return of Hunter Greene to the starting rotation. However, that went poorly in a hurry on Sunday afternoon. The flame-throwing 23-year-old lasted just three innings while getting shelled on the mound. That shouldn’t be a reason for concern though. His recent performance has been nothing short of excellent (more on that later). Still, it was disappointing that the return of the club’s ace was met with a blowout loss.

The Cincinnati Reds will begin their road trip in Los Angeles against the Angels. Graham Ashcraft is set to take the mound at 9:38 EST on Monday night. Left-handed rookie Andrew Abbott will have the ball on Tuesday while Wednesday’s starter remains to be announced. From there, the road trip rolls into Arizona for four games before finishing in San Francisco for three. It won’t be easy, but finishing above .500 is likely a must on this trip.

Reds Win Pitcher’s Duel in Walk-Off Fashion

There are two things that are undeniably exciting for baseball fans. One is a good, old-fashioned pitcher’s duel. The second is any sort of a walk-off win. Fans at Great American Ball Park were treated to both of those on Friday nights against the Blue Jays. The Cincinnati Reds got a great start from Brett Kennedy, excellent bullpen work, and then a walk-off home run from rookie Christian Encarnacion-Strand to end the night under the lights.

Filling in as a spot-starter, Kennedy turned in five shutout innings allowing just three hits against a dangerous Toronto Blue Jays offense. Then, when the ball was turned over to the bullpen, the Reds’ pitching staff somehow got even better. Buck Farmer, Ian Gibaut, Lucas Sims, and Alexis Diaz combined for four no-hit innings. The combined shutout performance was enough to earn Diaz, and the Reds, the victory with some bottom-of-the-ninth heroics.

With 25 outs recorded in the game and only six combined hits, Encarnacion-Strand stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning. The rookie promptly launched his fourth career home run into the left field upper deck for a walk-off win. CES’s 411-foot shot, for the time being, moved Cincinnati back into a share of a Wild Card playoff spot.

KSR Curse Strikes in KSReds Day at GABP

If you are reading this, then you likely know about the KSR curse. When Kentucky Sports Radio puts its stamp on something there far too often tends to be a negative result (all in good fun of course). That was no different on Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati as hundreds of KSR/Cincinnati Reds fans descended on Great American Ball Park for the first annual KSReds Day. Between Drew Franklin’s legendarily bad big-screen performance and the Reds’ loss, things went about as poorly as possible.

With @CM_Tomlin @themightycrixus on the big screen right before Drew was booed by the crowd after the worst Match Game performance in Reds history pic.twitter.com/SQMl6UZ6YL

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) August 20, 2023

However, while the outcome wasn’t ideal, at least fans were treated to another exciting game. The Toronto Blue Jays struck first in the top of the fourth inning. Three straight singles resulted in three straight RBI making it a 3-0 game. That wouldn’t last long though as the Reds quickly answered. TJ Friedl launched a solo home run to put Cincinnati on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Then, Elly De La Cruz delivered a play as only he can. After Matt McLain drew a walk, De La Cruz lifted a triple to the right field wall. After an odd bounce followed by a throwing error, the exciting rookie came around to score and tie the game at 3-3.

The Reds knotted the score in exciting fashion, but they would quickly get overtaken. Toronto designated hitter Davis Schneider put one into the left centerfield seats, retaking a 4-3 lead for the Blue Jays. That lead would go ahead and hold through the rest of the game as Cincinnati couldn’t get much else going at the plate. Their best opportunity came in the bottom of the ninth after a double steal put runners on second and third with just one away. However, Henry Ramons struck out and Stuart Fairchild grounded out to third to end the game.

Ugly Return For Hunter Greene, Reds Lose Series

Getting back a starting pitcher of Hunter Greene’s quality should be a positive. Before this gets taken out of context, it absolutely is for the Cincinnati Reds. Greene had posted a 2.98 earned run average over his previous 20 starts. That is actually pretty incredible. Additionally, he stuck out 151 batters versus only 39 walks in that span. So, his ability as a pitcher should not be the question here. However, we are too late in the season for silver linings and “hope.” The Reds need wins and they need them now. Unfortunately, Greene could not deliver that in his return to the rotation on Sunday afternoon.

Greene was beaten up for nine runs on 10 hits in just three innings of work against the Blue Jays. He allowed an incredible five home runs and had countless exit velocities north of 100 miles per hour. Needless to say, Toronto was putting the barrel on the bat in Cincinnati. Furthermore, the Reds committed four errors defensively that did not make things any easier.

The Blue Jays struck early and often building a 5-2 lead in the second and a 9-2 advantage after four. From there, they were able to put the game in cruise control and never look back for a 10-3 victory. The blowout win also secured the series for Toronto. They are now 68-56 on the season. In the loss, the Reds fell to 64-60 before embarking on their west coast trip.