Cardinals at Reds, Game 2: Preview and Lineups

As far as ‘bright spots’ go for this 2018 Cincinnati Reds season, well, perhaps it’s better categoriezed as ‘bright spot.’ Tyler Mahle held the Chicago Cubs scoreless in the Reds 1-0 victory over their NL Central rivals, and while that already feels like centuries ago, it’s more or less the one really awesome thing that’s happened this year.

Mahle will get another chance to shine on Friday, as the Reds host the St. Louis Cardinals for the second game of their home series. Luke Weaver will get the starting nod for the birds.

Despite it not being a school night, this game is also scheduled for a 6:40 PM ET start. So, if you’re still putting yourself through watching the team on a nightly basis, set your alarms accordingly.

Cincinnati Lineup

St. Louis Lineup

Other Notes

• Thirty-something minor league free agent signee Cliff Pennington gets the start at 3B again tonight. Alex Blandino will watch, because that’s how rebuilds really get in gear.
• Joey Votto is back in the lineup after a rare off-day. He’s still looking for an extra-base hit, which is a whole can of worms concept I don’t even want to begin thinking about.
• Nick Senzel, though, is not in the lineup despite today being the cutoff for having team control of him for six years in addition to this one should the Reds have chosen to call him up. With just 266 PA above A+ ball to his name and this Cincinnati season going absolutely nowhere, there’s no real sense in calling him up now, securing his Super-Two status down the road, and doling out perhaps as many as ten million additional bucks down the road just to have him as a Red for an additional month. Bring him up in late-May when that threshold has been cleared.
• The Reds did bring up Dylan Floro earlier today, though, so you’ve got to satiate your baseball desires for the time being.