Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates – August 11, 2023

The Cincinnati Reds are 1-8 since the trade deadline and have fallen out of first place. They are now tied for second plate with the Cubs, 2.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the divisional lead. Cincinnati hits up Pittsburgh tonight to start a 3-game series with the Pirates at PNC Park. First pitch is set for 7:05pm ET.

Starting Lineups

Starting Pitchers

Andrew Abbott

The last two times out for Abbott, he’s struggled. He’s given up 10 runs in 9.0 combined innings while walking eight batters. Tonight will be his first start against the Pirates.

Left-handed batters don’t get many chances to face Abbott, and when they do, it hasn’t gone well for them as they’ve not done much of anything at all against him. Right-handed hitters have not hit for much average, but they have walked at a solid clip against him and shown a bit of power, too. Not shown below is that hitters have a 160 point OPS advantage on the road, though his ERA on the road is just 3.16.

Splits

Pitch Usage

Johan Oviedo

In four of his last five starts Oviedo has allowed zero or one run, but on July 21st he got roughed up for five runs in 4.0 innings against the Angles. He’s been inconsistent this season – but when he’s been good he’s been real good.

Neither lefties or righties hit for much average against Oviedo. Left-handed hitters, though, hit for a lot more power and they also walk more often. Right-handed hitters do make more contact against him, but they haven’t been able to turn that into more production.

Pitch Usage

When and Where

• Game time: 7:05pm ET
• Where: PNC Park
• Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
• Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
• Forecast: 80°, cloudy, 5% chance of rain

News and Notes

John Fay passes away

Former Cincinnati Reds beat writer John Fay passed away earlier this week. Dan Horn of the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote about Fay’s life earlier today with quotes from friends, family, and colleagues about John and his wife.

Nick Senzel optioned, Henry Ramos called up

The Cincinnati Reds have sent Nick Senzel back to Triple-A Louisville and called up outfielder Henry Ramos. That was two of the five roster moves made today, with Eduardo Salazar being designated for assignment and the team sending Nick Lodolo and Curt Casali on rehab assignments being the others. We covered them all here.

Jonathan India has a setback

India felt pain running and is getting a second opinion on his foot. Has been shut down from running for at least 2 weeks, Bell said. That makes an early-mid September return the likely target.

— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) August 11, 2023

The Reds have 5 Top 100 Prospects in baseball

MLB Pipeline has updated their Top 100 prospect list for the first time in 2023 since the regular season began. The Reds have five players in the Top 100 and the crew at MLB PIpeline also updated Cincinnati’s Top 30 list. We wrote about them both here if you wanted to check it out.

Standings