The Evil Empire is heading to Cincinnati for a 3-game series this weekend. The Reds will don their city connect uniforms tonight for the first time of the season as they welcome in the New York Yankees. Cincinnati will look to continue their home magic, where they are 12-9 on the season, and take advantage of the Yankees road woes (9-10 on the season). Tonight’s first pitch is set for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Starting Pitchers
Ben Lively
It’s been a good season for Ben Lively between Triple-A and the big leagues. He’s come back to the US after spending time in Korea and he’s throwing six different pitches and mixing them up well and it’s led to good results early on.
This season right-handed hitters have had more success against him – walking more often and hitting for a little bit more power in the process. Left-handed hitters haven’t done much of anything against him as they are hitting .171 and have an OPS against him of just .502 so far.
Splits (AAA & MLB)
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 86 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 13 | .237 | .314 | .342 |
| LHH | 44 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | .171 | .209 | .293 |
Pitch Usage (AAA & MLB)
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 91.4 | 91.3 | 88.8 | 75.7 | 80.5 | 84.4 |
| Usage | 32% | 20% | 12% | 11% | 19% | 6% |
Clarke Schmidt
It’s been a tough year for Clarke Schmidt as his ERA currently sits above 6.00. His May had gotten out to a good start after allowing just two earned runs in 10.1 innings over his first two starts, but his last time out saw Tampa Bay put up seven runs against him in just 4.2 innings.
This season he’s pitched fairly well against right-handed hitters. They’ve hit for a little bit of power against him, but he’s not walking any of them, limiting contact, and they are hitting just .250. Left-handed hitters, though, are absolutely crushing the ball against him. They’re hitting .369, drawing walks, and hitting for tons of power against him. Historically he’s had big splits with lefties doing plenty of damage, but not quite as much as they’ve done so far in 2023.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 91 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 27 | .250 | .286 | .441 |
| LHH | 96 | 31 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 21 | .369 | .438 | .667 |
Pitch Usage
| 2-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 94.8 | 92.4 | 84.1 | 86.8 | 90.2 |
| Usage | 26% | 22% | 20% | 29% | 3% |
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: 76°, cloudy, 15% chance of rain
News and Notes
Matt McLain’s rise
In today’s Reds Notebook we talked about how a swing change has helped lead to the rise of Matt McLain, going from a solid hitter with some issues in Double-A to the guy who destroyed Triple-A and had the best OPS in minor league baseball before being called up.
Elly De La Cruz is awaiting his call up
After getting on base three more times last night in Louisville, Elly De La Cruz says he’s ready and just waiting for his call up. He’s hit .360/.453/.733 in his last 95 plate appearances for the Bats after a 1-21 start to the year when he came off of the injured list.
Is Nick Senzel having a true breakthrough?
Matt Wilkes looks at Senzel’s season so far over at Reds Content Plus to see if he’s having a real breakout or not. There are some good signs and some not so good ones, but it’s also still quite early in the year, so it’s tough to know if signs in either direction are real or just noise at this point.
Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Brewers | 24 | 19 | 0.0 | 66.3% |
| Pirates | 23 | 20 | 1.0 | 13.3% |
| Reds | 19 | 24 | 5.0 | 1.8% |
| Cubs | 19 | 24 | 5.0 | 14.7% |
| Cardinals | 19 | 26 | 6.0 | 40.9% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
