Cincinnati Reds vs Atlanta Braves – April 11, 2023

Last night saw heartbreak for Cincinnati and jubilation for Atlanta. The Reds battled back to tie the game up in the 9th and send the game into extra-innings where they took a lead in the 10th. But the Braves hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the innings to pick up their 7th win of the season. Tonight the two get back at it for game two of the series. First pitch is set for 7:20pm ET tonight in Atlanta.

Starting Lineups

Starting Pitchers

Luis Cessa

The Reds will turn to Cessa tonight for his second start of the year. Since he moved into the Reds rotation late last year he’s thrown 48.1 innings with a 3.72 ERA. They could certainly use more of that.

Last season it was right-handed hitters who found plenty of success against Luis Cessa. There wasn’t much difference between how lefties or righties hit for average or got on base against Cessa, but there was a big difference in the power that righties and lefties hit for against him. Right-handed batters had 10 home runs compared to just four by lefties in just 16 more plate appearances. That led to a slugging percentage that was 103 points higher for righties.

2022 Splits

Pitch Usage (from 2022)

Kyle Wright

Last year’s National League wins leader – Wright went 21-5 – is making his season debut tonight. He’s coming off of the best year of his career, and really the first full season in the big leagues he’s ever had. He got the decision in 26 of his 30 starts last year and most of them were on the correct side of the ledger. in the four starts that he didn’t get a decision, the Braves went 3-1.

Not shown below are the home and road splits from last year for Wright. He was better at home, where his ERA was 2.86 (3.64 on the road), and hitters had a .625 OPS against him (.676 on the road). When it comes to platoon splits, he’s better against righties than he is against lefties. Lefties draw more walks and hit for a lot more power than righties do against Wright.

2022 Splits

Pitch Usage (in 2022)

When and Where

• Game time: 7:20pm ET
• Where: Truist Park
• Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
• Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
• Forecast: 70°, sunny, 0% chance of rain

News and Notes

Back to rehab

There are five Cincinnati Reds players currently rehabbing with the Triple-A Louisville Bats. Joey Votto (.143 in 7 games) and Nick Senzel (.294 in 5 games) are playing every day. Tony Santillan (0.00 ERA in 2IP) is scheduled to throw an inning tonight in Toledo (where the Bats are beginning a series). Lucas Sims (0.00 ERA in 1IP) is scheduled to throw an inning on Wednesday in Toledo. And Luke Weaver, who threw 4.0 hitless innings on Sunday against Indianapolis, is scheduled to start on Friday and throw 5.0 innings in Toledo.

Standings