Cincinnati Reds vs. St Louis Cardinals – April 24, 2021

The Cincinnati Reds (9-10) lost their fifth game in a row last night, but they don’t have much time to think about it as they face the St. Louis Cardinals (9-10) in an afternoon matinee for the second game of the weekend streak at the Busch Stadium.

To update: The first pitch is now set at 4:35 p.m. ET

Details:

• First pitch: 2:15 EDT
• TV: Bally Sports Ohio and MLB.TV (outside the network)
• Radio: 700 WLW or streaming via the iheartradio app and 700wlw.com
• Weather: 63 degrees, later in the afternoon the rain subsides

Start pitchers

RED

For many fans, Wade Miley was an early surprise of the season for the Reds, but not for me. I knew there was a chance he could be better. Most fans tossed him aside for missing innings and an injury in 2020. It’s not fair to him. Will he be a No. 1 or No. 2 top-of-the-rotation pitcher? No, but it can be a very useful No. 4 or No. 5 starter. Either way, Miley threw five inning shutouts against the Pirates and Giants on each of his first two starts. He fought his last start against the Indians, giving up four runs over five innings, including two home runs. One factor that could add to his success is that he is currently limiting his walks. His BB% is only 5.1%. It’s early, but that’s less than his 8.9% career rate.

Another factor in Miley’s success is that manager David Bell isn’t afraid to pull him before he faces the lineup a third time. In 2019 with the Astros, Miley’s ERA went from 2.52 for the second time by lining up to 5.61 for the third time by lining up in 33.2 innings. In 2020, Miley threw just one inning through the line-up the third time, not allowing a hit (even if only in 14.1 innings) but walking two of the five batters he faced. This season he has thrown 1.1 innings for the third time in the line-up. Given the Reds’ current bullpen problems, it will be interesting to see if Bell pulls Miley out of circulation early or lets him throw him longer in the future. Most likely, it all depends on the specific situation.

CARDINALS

Right-handed John Gant starts the season for the Cardinals for the fourth time today. He suffered a loss to the Phillies in which he threw five innings and gave up two runs with five hits with five strikeouts. He’s played five batters in that game, but that’s an indication of his entire season and, to be honest, his entire career. His BB rate is 16.7% in 2021 and 11.9% for his career.

Gant throws five pitches, but much like Miley, he often relies on his off-speed and breaking pitches. He throws the sinker the most, but also mixes in his change and slider quite often. These are the pitches he relies on to get the batters out as both pitches had a whiff rate of over 50% in 2020. His whiff rate this year is 43.3% for the switch and 41.7% for the slider in 2021. Gant’s speed was in the low 90s for his fastball and in the mid 80s for his off-speed -Pitches on average.

Constellations

Messages and Notes

• Ryan Hendrix made his MLB debut for the Reds and yesterday Doug Gray wrote about it here at Redleg Nation.
• ICYMI, Nick Castellanos’ homerun last night, was his 1,000th career hit. Not many Reds players can say they made a home run for this milestone (and I suspect this is pretty rare in all of baseball, too).

Before Castellanos last night, the last Reds players whose 1000th hit was a home run were:
Brandon Phillips 2011
Vada Pinson 1963
Johnny Temple 1959
Gus Bell 1956

– Jamie Ramsey (@Jamieblog) April 24, 2021

• If you missed it yesterday, it looks like Mike Moustakas will be back for the Dodgers series starting Monday, and Shogo Akiyama is nearing the return as well.

David Bell said Mike Moustakas (10-day IL, illness) is much better: “We can take the weekend to get him back into as much baseball activity as he needs and get him ready to go after LA to go. ”

Shogo Akiyama is expected to play in a scrimmage at the old location tomorrow too. #Reds

– Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) April 23, 2021

Mike Moustakas says he started playing baseball yesterday. He was hoping to land in the field today, but it’s raining here in St. Louis.

“I’ll be ready when I’m ready to go.”

– Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) April 24, 2021

Of the #Reds Match Notes Today: There was a rating change in the 4/14 game against the Giants, with Jonathan India being charged with a bug that was previously classified as a single. That removes a deserved run from Sal Romano’s line and lowers his ERA to 3.95 on the season.

– Doug Gray is fully vaccinated (@ dougdirt24) April 24, 2021

Final thoughts

If this is a sign of how the season is going to go, buckle up. It’s going to be quite a roller coaster ride.

The season is not even 20 games old and the #Reds Already have a 5 game winning streak and now a 5 game loss.

– Joe Danneman (@ FOX19Joe) April 24, 2021