KSReds: Cincinnati Reds Lose Two Before All-Star Break

Heavy rain on Sunday afternoon caused the Cincinnati Reds to start their All-Star break a little bit early. After losing twice in St. Louis on Friday and Saturday, Sunday’s washout sends the Reds to the break with a 34-57 overall record. The game has been rescheduled as a doubleheader on Saturday, September 17th at Busch Stadium. While the pair of losses undid some of the positive momentum from the last two weeks, the Reds still have played near-.500 baseball since the historically bad 3-22 start to the season.

When the Reds return from the All-Star break they will face off against the St. Louis Cardinals once again. However, this time, the National League Central rival will visit Great American Ball Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. EST on Friday, July 22nd. Neither ball club has announced the starting pitching slate for the weekend series.

While we await the return of Reds baseball in the second half, be sure to support Luis Castillo in the MLB All-Star game on Tuesday night. Castillo is 3-4 on the season with a 2.77 earned run average and 82 strikeouts in 78 innings pitched.

Hunter Greene Struggles Continue, Reds Lose Game One

The Cincinnati Reds struck first on Friday night in St. Louis as things appeared to be going their way. Kyle Farmer drove in a pair of runs with a single to left field in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. However, by the end of the bottom half of the frame, it was back to a tie ballgame. Two walks by Hunter Greene allowed the Cardinals to score on back-to-back sacrifice flies, tying the game at two runs apiece.

Greene would go on to allow four runs on five hits in five innings of work. He also walked three batters and needed 106 pitches to labor through his outing. The star rookie enters the All-Star break with an ugly 3-11 record and a 5.78 earned run average.

After a Joey Votto single in the third inning made it 3-3, designated hitter Nolan Gorman hit a solo home run off of Greene in the fourth to make it 4-3 Cardinals. They never looked back from there. Additional insurance runs off of the Reds bullpen in the sixth and seventh innings set the eventual final score of 7-3.

Goldschmidt, Cardinals Power to 11-3 Victory

Cincinnati Reds fans have nightmares of Paul Goldschmidt and for good reason. The veteran first baseman turned designated hitter was 2-5 at the plate with three runs batted in on Saturday evening. He also blasted his 300th career home run in the bottom of the second with a 391-foot shot into the left field seats. That put the Cardinals on top 4-1 as they would go on to cruise the rest of the way. However, that was after Jonathan India gave Cincinnati a brief lead via a leadoff home run.

St. Louis starting pitcher Miles Mikolas dominated the Reds offense, tossing seven innings of three-hit, one-run baseball. Conversely, rookie left-hander Nick Lodolo was knocked around for five runs on five hits in just two innings of work. Things simply didn’t go well for the Reds on this trip to Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals went on to win the game 11-3.