Simon gets clobbered; Offense quiet again; Reds fall to Cubs 9-0

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Honestly I'm not really sure who to give this to, since this entire game was a dumpster fire, and I was going to give it to Hoover before he loaded the bases in the 8th. Since we only had 3 hits all game and nobody is deserving, as Nuxy would say, "We'll get em tomorrow". (Of course, I'm not old enough to have actually heard Nux say this, so I'm just trusting Wick on this one.)

The Cubs absolutely dominated this game, and that all started with the stellar pitching of Jason Hammel, who gave up only 3 hits over 6 innings and essentially mowing down everything in his path. This was just a pathetic game overall, although the Cubs are showing why they are the World Series favorites, as they are the only team who is yet to lose back to back games this season.

Its almost comical how poor the Reds pitching has been so far this season, and Alfredo Simon kept it coming. He gave up 9 hits and 8 runs within the span of only 2.2 innings before he had to be pulled. The bullpen was surprisingly okay today, giving up only 5 hits and 1 run collectively. I don't think Simon has much time left here in Cincinnati, especially with the return of Homer Bailey growing closer and closer.

Key Plays

• Anthony Rizzo homered twice today, once in the first, then in the third.
• Alfredo Simon just looked gawd awful today, and there isn't much more to say about that.
• As I said earlier, the bullpen actually looked really decently mediocre today, which is a nice break from the absolute disaster they have been thus far
• The Cubs pitching was just amazing, and the Reds hitting was just awful
• I don't know this was just a bad game

FanGraph ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes

• Reds fall below .500 for the first time this season at 9-10
• JJ Hoover wasn't that bad, but people on Twitter still like to blame him for everything
• In some positive news, it appears Homer Bailey may be returning as early as this week, as he was in the dugout today.
• Also some positive news, the Reds don't have to play the Cubbies again until late June.
• Iglesias will take on flame-thrower Noah Syndergaard tomorrow in New York, kicking off a 6 game road trip for our Redlegs.
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