St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds will start up a home stand tonight as they welcome in the first place St. Louis Cardinals. Chase Anderson will be making his 2022 big league debut after signing with the Reds last week. St. Louis will be sending Miles Mikolas to the mound. First pitch is set for 6:40pm ET. Update: The game is set to begin at approximately 8:10pm ET

Here are the lineups for tonight's game:

Chase Anderson

It's been more than a year since Chase Anderson last pitched in the big leagues. On August 4th of 2021 he threw 4.0 innings against the Washington Nationals while he was still with the Phillies. He's been in Triple-A with them, the Tigers, and Rays since. Technically also with the Reds, though he never actually spent time in Louisville as he was added to the taxi squad with the big league club when he signed over the weekend.

In the minor leagues this year he's spent time both starting (Tigers) and reliever (Rays). His splits have both lefties and righties having almost identical averages and on-base percentages, but right-handed hitters are hitting for a lot more power against him this season.

Splits (AAA)

Pitch Usage (MLB in 2021)

Miles Mikolas

After having an absolute disaster of a start on August 9th where he allowed 14 hits and 10 earned runs in 2.2 innings in Colorado, Miles Mikolas has returned to form since as he's allowed just six earned runs in the 22.2 innings since.

Neither lefties or righties are hitting much against against Mikolas. Right-handed hitters are finding a few more singles, which has resulted in an average that is 22 points higher, which basically carries over into the on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Splits

Pitch Usage

Max Schrock designated for assignment

With Chase Anderson needing to join the big league roster today the Reds designated Max Schrock for assignment and optioned reliever Dauri Moreta to the minors. We wrote more about all of the moves in detail here.

Tom Browning is in some trouble

Former Cincinnati Reds All-Star Tom Browning arrested for OVI, other charges https://t.co/VqT4WFLX8j

— Enquirer Sports (@ENQSports) August 29, 2022

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.

I took the Cards minus 1.5. Cards aren't great on the first game of a series, but this should be an easy lock. Does anyone think that the Red's bullpen has been at least average to good since the all star break? Would love to see what the numbers show. Strickland had his problems, but has settled down lately. Diaz has been really good all year.

The game will be delayed by rain.

I don't understand how Mr. Perfect can be arrested. Isn't he supposed to be perfect?

Perfectly under the influence it would appear

Not surprised with the delay. We had The Weather Channel on for a bit and that's some nasty stuff rolling through that whole region. We may not even get the game in at all.

This is one of those crazy Ohio weather days. As a bird would fly, I am maybe 45 miles north and just a tad east of GABP, We haven't had a hint of rain all day; and, and when I logged on here I was surprised to see the rain delay,

It was actually brighter here 30 minutes ago than it had been all day to the point of being mostly sunny, It does seem to be darkening some now but no real threat of rain just yet. The Google Assistant and Alexa both agree it probably won't rain here before 10pm if even then.

Something to chew on while it rains in Cincy:https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2022/08/29/joey-votto-injury-first-baseman-wants-to-remain-with-reds/65463012007/

Votto did a media opportunity this afternoon, He basically said he is all in for finishing his career with the Reds be that a year or2 or whatever.

Love his attitude but I think he's being overly optimistic. Maybe he’ll surprise everyone. We’ll see.

Votto is one of a kind.

8:10pm first pitch

And the wind is whipping up here and sky darkening like that 10pm rain is going to be here any time

Weird Lineup tonight. No Friedl or Lopez – 2 guys that can hit lefty against a crafty righty in Mikolas. Also no Barerro – Bell giving up awful quick on the youngster.

I’m sure he's just "resting" 😮

And Fraley doesn't hit LH’ers. Bell is inexplicable

Mikolas is a RH pitcher. Fraley should be in there.

Why let facts get in the way?

The site I looked at had him listed as LH. My bad. But then I’m not particularly happy with any Reds OF. And the porcelain doll hasn't played since the 25th. It's time to IL him and call someone up.

Whom are you calling up?

Steer is one option. Gilliam is another. My expectations of Senzel have waned considerably. So IL him and let's check out someone new. Trade him in th3 off season.

Would love to see you go face to face with Senzel to tell him you’re phantom ILing him.

Why are we starting our prospects clocks early in a lost season? Especially since Sept call-ups are like 2 days away.

Hm, I misspoke, it seems the way they accrue service time has changed and it counts now in September.

2020, as I’ve said before, I don't like the service clock games. If a team has candidates in the minors that are worth looking at, play and pay them.

Or maybe I’m confusing service time and rookie eligibility under the old rules. No matter, the rules are different now.

At least you have some names in mind, lotta people here like to just say "call someone up" with no one in mind. Same for lineup complaints.

But you’re a fan of IL games? Seems contradictory. Are you saying that for the players sakes, or for your own personal fan sakes?

Like most everyone here, I had high hopes for Senzel. But his high injury frequency and the decline of his hitting, leaves me doubting he’ll ever be a major contributor. So find a buyer and give him a chance elsewhere. The only thing that gives me pause is that he was a better hitter before Ward started pushing him to change. And I remember him stating he was going back to his "old stance", expressing some frustration with Ward's changes. I think that was 2019. Regardless, something needs to change.

I dont have a great deal of confidence in Senzel either, but why you’d just cut loose someone young, cheap, and flexible defensively just to call up a AAA player who may or may not be ready is crazy talk. Not the kind of message I’m sending to my young players. Senzel is fine as a bench player, and who knows maybe something finally clicks.

Maybe it does. We’ll see. Maybe he’d have done better had they not changed his position so often. I’m not a fan of a utility/platoon strategy. So it goes. There's always next year, and the year after that, and so on until we all realize we’re the modern incarnation of the Cubs fans. What's 100 or so years in the grand scheme of things?

Theres lots of examples of players that play multiple positions and hit fine, I dont subscribe to that theory personally.

And I have no idea what Cubs fans have to do with anything, I’m more confused why people so desperately want the Reds to be a AAA team if you ask me.

Cubs fans went 100+ years (1908 & 2016) between WS victories. I’m not buying 8th the Reds will be competitive in 2024 after Votto and Moustakas contracts come off the payroll. The problems appear systemic and start with the owners. Thus going another few decades without winning the WS wouldn't surprise me.

I mean, you can be needlessly negative if you like. I have the same concerns about ownership, but I still dont see a reason to give up entirely. There are holes in the coaching staff too, but same opinion. Only 1/30 teams walks with a ring each year, its not easy to do for anybody.

I’ve been a Reds fan since the 60s, unlikely to change now. My biggest complaint is that there's no accountability in the organization. We never tolerated persistent failure in the corporate world. The Reds organization, unlike numerous other clubs around the league, seem perfectly content as long as they can keep pocketing the green and fielding a lousy product. Such behavior is inexcusable.

MLB is the corporate world….

Yes and no. MLB has largely divorced itself from market forces at the club level. The Reds, Nats, et al can tank without suffering too much. The owners still get their revenue share, the big media contracts, etc. Oh well, this game is over. And my wife is giving me "the eye". Have a good evening and we can disagree more tomorrow.

haha indeed

Where are you playing Lopez and who are you sitting thats a worse choice?

If we can't muster a win tonight … maybe we can give up a few HR's to Albert to move him closer to 700.

Krall has made a lot of good moves

Two that dont make sense are signing Minor at $10 million in the middle of a fire sale of far better players making less and bringing up Jose Barrero while he was struggling mightily at AAA

Im all for the young uber prospects but only when they are firing on all cylinders. Barrero ‘s numbers since his 2 hr game frightening . 37 k 2 BB

Hes overwhelmed and needs toGo back to AAA to get rhythm and confidence back

Agreed on Minor.

I think the Barrero genie is already out of the bottle. Sending him back down might cause more harm than good.

That's what I think too. Maybe give Barrero a few games off and do some work in the cage

Pressure to perform well in the bigs and coming off injuries is a bad combination. Reds can afford to be a little more patient with him.

It is a tough situation but I think Barrero has to be put into a situation where he can build back his confidence.

It might be best if he came up with a minor health issue, or maybe say what just might actually be true, that his hamate isn't right yet, and was shut down for the season.

Just as big of a problem is having no one but Famer to fall back on because that creates the impression he is the 2023 SS going into camp, presuming he is still with the Reds then,

If you want him to get on the right track, why are we shutting him down? Makes no sense to me.

Well, no Canadian commercials for me tonight … but at least I’m back on the big screen (until my wife and I decide to watch something else there).

Time to Kick This Pig!!

finally able to watch games again

+5,000

Without extreme gyrations

I like Anderson already better than Minor. He gets the ball and throws. Minor is excruciatingly slow.

15 pitches and a K of Goldy? I’ll take that as his first offering. Welcome to the Queen City, Chase!

So no senzel… any word…. or has he been demoted to the bench

DH

Easing him back in it would appear.

wow, silly me for not looking closely enough at the lineup

You are forgiven, sir 😀

You made me look again. I thought maybe he got pulled during the delay.

Anderson must have a VERY short leash. Bullpen action already.

SO yea, I think this experiment might be short lived

Well thst was a waste of time. 32 pitches is all he can throw? Why not just bring up Williamson.

Well, he left his last start with an injury over the weekend. But also, Williamson has struggled to throw strikes most of the year.

Thanks Doug. Is Lively out for year or is there a chance he could come back?

Because why in the world are we starting his clock in a lost season with meaningless games? Injury and performance notwithstanding.

Fraley isn't a good outfielder. Reds have all 4th outfielders and infielders are all utility infielders except India.

Time to watch something else and switch this to my laptop screen. I seriously doubt we crawl back from a hole this deep. Oh well. Hopefully Albert hits 1 or 2 out and runs up his numbers.

Later all …

Yep. Clete is calling.

What the heck happened? Late dinner and wife hijacked the tv for HGTV and its 6-0?

They aren't playing Washington .

Donnie Bats doin his thing. I remember people pining for Lopez or shrock instead of him…

The Reds dumpster diving pays off about as often as those penny stock purchases I made as a teenager.

well there is pulios HR for the day

OK, I saw what I wanted to see in lieu of a win. Oppo wrist flick GABP dinger by Albert.

Time for a full Clete. Catch you all tomorrow.

Heck, Albert might get to 700 this series.

Ha! I thought the same thing. I want him to get to 700 before he hangs it up so why not against us. We keep rolling out these garbage starters he could easily hit 7 more by mid September. They have 7 games remaining against our 4A Reds Club.

I have the feeling that this is a 20 nothing game comming up

that escalated quickly

So ends the Detwiller myth. A little reversion to the mean. Career ERA is 4.53 and he's back to 4.50 this year. Not many 37 year old discover new success.

Especially not against a team and line up like the Cardinals. He did really well for long time. His ERA is still well below most other relievers on the team.

Goodbye, Anderson. Happy retirement (hint, hint)

Anderson could be more an option to the bullpen than the starting staff I think… It seems there is no a pitcher can fill the Graham rotation spot ….the options are bad to horrible…

Are Reds fans at the bottom? Have we officially reached the bottom.?100 losses. Votto surgery. Castillo traded. Unrecognizable starters and bullpen guys. Moose on his 18th IL stint and still owed $22 million . Senzel is maybe a utility guy. Greene has 2 pitches and still an ERA over 5 recovering again from injury. Stephenson has screws and plates in his bone that goes to his right shoulder. Barrero cant hit. India sophomore slump.Cardinals blowing out the Reds against a FA pick me upBullpen horrific

Did I forget anything?

Bell( for LDS)

Thanks for the call out Old-school, but I don't think I’m the lone voice on that subject.

India 12 game hitting streak; seems to be getting in groove post injuries.

Friedl, Fairchild with another HR each.

Kuhnel with another shutout frame.

Chuckie with his first ML home run.

Seems to me there are some bright spots. I could care less about all the negatives, especially those posted repeatedly, when it's already conceded that this season is toast. I’m looking for bright spots. I’m also enjoying seeing some of the young guys showing something now given a chance.

What does this accomplish? Pitching this Has Been and potentially stressing the bullpen? Guess I would ask why not pitch Greene for 3-4 innings….as part of his rehab? Or just leaving Anderson in for 4-5 innings? WTF. Just seems like a losers mentality to me. Waste your bullpen. Also think we should have saved Lodolo for a day and ask him to pitch against the Cards, rather than the Nats? Who cares about the Reds Nats game? Just not fair to the Brewers, Phil's, Braves, and other playoff contenders when you have a softball pitcher. Probably lose 12-1 or something embarrassing. Stupid. And they say they are trying.

Detwiler after has for a long time an ERA below 3.80 has been lately jumping close to the 5.00 ERA club of the Reds bullpen…

Late to the party gents! Noticed there was a walk just before Pujols HR! Imagine that!

At the rate this game is going we’ll probably see Friedl on the mound soon!

I’m like others and would like to see Aquino try it.

Absolutely! We need Bob Uecker as a guest play-by-play announcer! Just a bit outside!

Or Aquino. We know he has an arm.

Maybe this is why Lopez isn't starting? 🙂

Maybe that's why Lopez isn't starting? 🙂

Wrong article but I was sad to hear about Max. He had a .776 OPS last year in around 160 ABs for the Reds and about the same for Louisville this year. I think he also tore up SP with something like a .600 average. Well, a calf injury shouldn't be too bad and he seemed to have a late blooming but possible good future with the Reds.Didn't know about the broken knee cap. Never heard of this injury in baseball. Terrible luck and maybe that kind of injury is just not amenable to complete recovery for a baseball player. Anyone know anything about this, is his career likely finished?

Know nothing of how 40 man roster works or service time or a bunch of other stuff.What I do know is first Moran being added then Chase Andersen and both starting a big league game has to be the most obvious tanking job ever seen.Reds have no one they would rather have in those spots that may just warrant a few at bats or a few starts?At least when you play younger players it appears you are trying to look at your prospects and at the same time protecting the game.

+1000000

lol, what purpose does protecting the game have? Especially when I really dont think theres much better in AAA. It really doesnt matter who they play now, there's youth littered throughout the roster already and guys can still learn in AAA.

Reds are at rock bottom. Hope they win that 10% chance for #1 pick.2023 is another lost year.

Friedl and Fairchild both homered in the same inning? Mikolas has to be embarrassed.

And now Chuckie? Hilarious.

I confess I m cleaning my eyes!!!

Milwaukee is fading fast and Josh Hader has been a disaster in San Diego! What on earth is going on?

I guess you can't pick up a random guy and have him "eat innings" against a major league team. Hmm. #bringbackBronson :p

Leadoff walk by Reds relief pitcher to start the top of the 6th inning! Situation normal

But Barry said that Bell has faith in that over 7 ERA

Seriously! Double, home run, walk and then a single! Strickland is a joke and Bell is a clown in allowing this debacle!

Somebody posted within the past day that Strickland seemed to be coming around. I thought he meant coming around in a good way. Silly me!

The most perplexing question is how is it possible there are four teams with a record worse than the Reds?

Because they’re better than those teams?

Looks like the rain is returning. Can the Reds simply "give up" on the game if a lengthy delay ensues? It would probably be a good move considering their chances of winning this game against the wear and tear on their pitching staff.

Going one inning is not too much wear and tear. Relievers should be able to pitch two innings, especially the middle relievers.

H Strickland again. Reds equal insanity by doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. When are they going to DFA him???

The Reds veteran presence came up big for the Cardinals in the bottom of the 5th and top of the 6th.

After Reds kids put a scare into the Birds by scoring 4, Farmer and Solano went quietly with 2 men on, and for an encore messed up a GIDP chance then Strickland finished the job

I hope Chuckie Robinson hits enough to stick with the Reds behind Tyler Stephenson. He checks the box of being a large framed target like TS which seems to matter with the Reds and appears to be a more than competent receiver.

When you watch this team and think about next year things seem really bleak. The only hope is that they hit on at least 5 or 6 of the young kids, if not more, to start the climb to respectability in 2024. Regardless they have a long way to go.

If they aren't going to spend money on good free agents, they have 3 choices. 1) Dumpster dive to just fill the roster. 2) Trade some of the MiLB talent for MLB established guy(s). or 3) Force feed the hottest MiLB prospects at AA this season into MLB.

When I realize that six months ago the Bengals were, unbelievably, in the Super Bowl, I do not see 2023 as bleak. If needed organizational changes are made, 2023 could be a surprise for Red's fans.

Lopez rocked for a 4 bagger! Better get Aquino warmed up.

Left to take my roommate to work, heard the 4 runs on the radio as I headed to the Gym, jumped off during the rain delay and came back to Lopez pitching, tells me all I need to know. lol at least i got my gains in

I’m still watching not being too tired and curious to know who the (inevitable) position player pitcher was going to be. Lopez, should have known that and he didn't do all bad just giving up 1 dinger. They showed that guy who caught it in a crowd of probably less than 2000 people and he has quite a story to tell. Somebody owes him an autograph for validation as we forget how much of an embarrassment this night was for the Reds as he tells this story much later.

I have watched Senzel carefully. If he were playing for Tennessee or playing in AAA, he would do well. He has a difficult time hitting major league pitching with consistency. I think it is his swing. He does not choke. He is just average at best at the major league level. He is not a star, and Idoubt he will ever be one. He should have changed his swing. The hitting coach the Reds fired was right about him. He has a hard time against top quality MLB pitchers. That said, I am for playing Senzel until the Reds have someone better. No one is above average in that outfield. My bet is all of the outfielders will be good in 2025. I doubt they are on the active roster right now. One will probably be a free agent that we will all like.

The biggest difference on offense between Senzel and Aquino is that Senzel manages to roll over pitches for harmless outs more often than he strikes out.

Aquino's K rate gives Semzel cover. If Aquino was slugging even as well as he did in 2021 (.408), let alone 2019, with a combination of HRs and doubles, Senzel wouldn't be sliding under the radar as much as he has.

Nice PA for Fairchild in the 9th. That leg hit to go with the HR is going to give him a .500 OBP on the night to go with the slugging bump from the HR.

Small steps but maybe he is getting his feet under himself to make a run at his AAA career OPS of ~.900 (we can always dream. .800 in MLB would be great).