Cincinnati Reds vs. Arizona Diamondbacks – April 10, 2021

After an exciting 6-5 win last night in additional innings, the Cincinnati Reds take the field tonight and currently hold the best record in baseball. It will be Jeff Hoffman versus Riley Smith in the second game of the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. First place will be thrown at 8:10 a.m. EDT at Chase Field in Phoenix. You can watch Bally Sports Ohio or listen to Tommy Thrall and cowboy Jeff Brantley on 700 WLW or stream on the IHeartRadio app.

Statistics of the day

The Reds lead all of baseball in barrel% through the first week of the season. You’re definitely crushing baseball.

Barrel% by team so far this season. #Reds Crush baseball. pic.twitter.com/eQd2aaxEE8

– Daren Willman (@darenw) April 10, 2021

Start pitchers

RED

Right handed Jeff Hoffman He did very well against the Cardinals on his Reds debut on Sunday, allowing only one run in five innings while scoring six hits and not running a batsman. If he plays like that again tonight, the Reds won’t be able to make him the odd man out of the rotation when Sonny Gray comes back.

I think the key to Hoffman’s continuing good pitch will be how often he throws his breaking pitches. If he can use these places as he did on Sunday, he will continue to thrive. Last year Hoffman didn’t throw his slider at all. In 2019, he only threw it 12 times throughout the season. On Sunday he threw his slider 16 times, all against the right-hander, and more often than his exchange and curve ball. This resulted in a whiff rate of 60%. And his slider isn’t even his best pitch. Historically, Hoffman has had a higher whiff rate and better results with his curve ball than any other field.

DIAMONDBACKS

Arizona countered with right-handed Riley Smith, a selection from the 24th round in the 2016 MLB draft. Like Widener last night, Smith made his Major League debut in 2020. He had an excellent (shortened) rookie season in which he allowed only three runs and hit 18 in 18.1 innings from the bullpen. His first appearance in 2021 was last Saturday when he threw five innings out of the bullpen. He gave up two well-deserved runs with five hits but did not allow a home run and hit four. Although Smith is not unfamiliar with starting games, having done so for most of his minor league career, tonight will be his first major league start.

Smith relies on four pitches: a sinker, a slider, a curve ball, and a change. He’s throwing the sinker about 61 percent of the time and will use his slider as a secondary pitch, usually about 20 percent of the time. In his only appearance in 2021, he threw his curve ball eleven times and has a 100% whiff rate, according to Baseball Savant. Smith throws his change very rarely, but has thrown it five times this season, compared to four times in his 18.1 innings in 2020. The speed averages between 92 and 93 mph on his fastball and 83 Miles per hour on its slider.

Statistics are from 2020.

Constellations

Messages and Notes

Jesse Winker from the lineup, but available

Jesse Winker is off the line-up after experiencing cramps in both calves last night that resulted in his being removed from the game. Manager David Bell said ahead of the game that he would be available from the bench tonight.

Sonny Gray is ready to return

Sonny Gray threw a simulated game in Arizona this afternoon and appears ready to return the rotation in the coming week. More details can be found here in our report tonight.

Final thoughts

Obviously, people who know me online know that I love baseball. You probably wouldn’t be following my Twitter account if I didn’t. However, people who know me in real life know that I love baseball too. This week I’ve noticed that more people are commenting on the Reds than usual. Last night one of my roommates asked what I thought of the Reds this year. On Thursday at work one of my employees made a statement: “The Reds are playing really well and are currently winning.”

These are people who casually follow the sport of baseball so they may have lost touch with the sport in recent years. But I’m here to tell you that these casual fans are already paying attention. If the Reds keep winning these fans will really come back, especially in this city. The reds may lose the casual fan’s attention in bad times of the year, but when the reds are good they keep coming back. It also only confirms my opinion that Cincinnati will forever be a baseball city.