St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds – September 9, 2023

The Cincinnati Reds are hoping for a better result tonight than they had last night when St. Louis jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back. Cincinnati, chasing a playoff spot with 19 games left, is in must-win mode from here on out and facing the team with the worst record in the division is a good place to be – at least in theory. Tonight’s first pitch is set for 6:40pm ET.

Starting Lineups

Starting Pitchers

Carson Spiers

This will be the second big league start for Carson Spiers. He made the jump into the big leagues from Double-A as a Covid-related injury replacement player. Spiers had been pitching well for Chattanooga when he got the call. He struggled early on in his debut, but settled in during his final two innings (he only threw four) and picked up seven strikeouts on the day. He’ll look to build upon that.

His splits aren’t all that reliable, at least in terms of the numbers, because they came against Double-A batters. What probably is reliable, though, is that righties won’t fare as well against him as lefties do. That kind of split does tend to hold true.

Splits (AA & MLB)

Pitch Usage (MLB only)

Zack Thompson

A reliever much of the year with the Cardinals, Thompson joined the rotation three weeks ago and has made four starts in a row. His last start was a 7-inning, 3-run performance against the Pirates where he walks no one and struck out six batters.

With only 46.0 innings thrown this year, his splits aren’t all that reliable, either. The sample is small and just doesn’t give enough data. That said, like with Spiers, the overall trend is probably true. Lefties probably don’t hit for as much power as righties do against him.

Splits

Pitch Usage

When and Where

• Game time: 6:40pm ET
• Where: Great American Ball Park
• Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv (out of market)
• Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
• Forecast: 77°, cloudy, 15% chance of rain

News and Notes

Roster Moves

The Reds called up Alejo Lopez from Triple-A. The club placed Stuart Fairchild and Alex Young on the Covid-19 injury list.

The #Reds today added IF/OF Alejo Lopez from Triple-A Louisville as a substitute player, placed OF Stuart Fairchild on the COVID-19 injured list and transferred LHP Alex Young to the COVID-19 injured list, retro to Friday. pic.twitter.com/J22CixbCDc

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 9, 2023

Rehabbing Reds

Last night Jonathan India, Joey Votto, and Kevin Newman all played in Louisville. Here’s how they did:

• Jonathan India: 1-2, BB, 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBI.
• Kevin Newman: 3-5, run, RBI.
• Joey Votto: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2K.

Wild Card Standings

Division Standings