Home sweet home, or at least that’s what the Cincinnati Reds are hoping for. The Reds are 1-9 on the road, but they are 6-6 at home. Tonight they’ll welcome in the 14-7 Texas Rangers with the hopes that they can get back to winning some ballgames after being swept by the now first place Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend. Tonight’s first pitch is set for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Starting Pitchers
Nick Lodolo
After a strong start to the season, Nick Lodolo had the worst start of his career the last time out as he allowed 12 hits, hit three batters, and walked a batter while being charged with eight runs in 4.2 innings against Tampa Bay. He’ll look to put that behind him this evening against the Rangers.
The splits are heavily weighted by his last outing when he was shelled, but the story is generally the same as it’s always been: Lefties don’t find nearly as much success against him as righties, and they also don’t get many chances to even try.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 87 | 26 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 24 | .342 | .407 | .526 |
| LHH | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | .250 | .294 | .438 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Change | Slider | |
| Velo | 93.6 | 93.8 | 87.5 | 79.7 |
| Usage | 39% | 11% | 12% | 38% |
Nathan Eovaldi
It’s been a bit of a tough start to the season for Nathan Eovaldi as he’s given up 28 hits in 21.2 innings and has an ERA of 5.40. Much of that came in one start on April 12th when he gave up 10 hits in 5.0 innings and was charged with six runs against Kansas City. That was the only start he allowed a home run in. In his next start, also against the Royals, he held them to two runs in 6.0 innings.
This season the splits for Eovaldi favor right-handed hitters in a big way, but the sample size is still rather small. They’ve crushed him thus far, though. Over the past two seasons righties have still outperformed lefties, but the difference was much smaller and they hadn’t exactly crushed him, either.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 43 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 13 | .366 | .395 | .561 |
| LHH | 50 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 11 | .277 | .300 | .447 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | |
| Velo | 96.0 | 91.6 | 77.0 | 84.9 |
| Usage | 36% | 22% | 13% | 5% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 51°, cloudy, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Jason Vosler out, Henry Ramos in
Around 2pm this afternoon the Cincinnati Reds announced that they had designated Jason Vosler for assignment and called up outfielder Henry Ramos. After just 11 games in Triple-A where he was hitting .314, Ramos joins the big league club after Vosler’s hot start turned into a long cold stretch at the plate. You can read more about both moves here if you’d like.
Matt McLain is impressing in Louisville
We led off the week here at Redleg Nation by looking down on the farm and at the impressive start that shortstop/second baseman Matt McLain has had for the Bats this season. He’s got a .996 OPS through 20 games with Louisville so far and has stood out for his production among the team’s top prospects.
A stronger bullpen
Over the last 11 games the Reds bullpen has posted a 2.42 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 44.2 innings.
Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Pirates | 16 | 7 | 0.0 | 19.4% |
| Brewers | 15 | 7 | 0.5 | 68.2% |
| Cubs | 12 | 9 | 3.0 | 24.3% |
| Cardinals | 9 | 13 | 6.5 | 48.2% |
| Reds | 7 | 15 | 8.5 | 0.2% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
