Royals at Reds, Game Two; Preview and Lineups

The Reds finish up their slate with the American League tonight, taking on the Royals one last time. A win tonight will give the Reds the season series with the Royals, 3-1. They’ve dominated the Royals in the three games played so far, scoring 15 runs to KC’s 5, but the Reds offense has been asleep at the wheel for the better part of two weeks so, you know. Who knows?

Interleague play for the Reds in 2018 consisted of a stroll through the American League Central, outside of their usual Ohio Cup match ups with the Indians. As things stand currently, they’re 10-9 against their AL counterparts, so tonight’s game will determine if the Reds come out of Interleague play with a winning record. Considering how bad some of the teams are in the AL Central, more wins would’ve been nice. Then again, four of the nine losses came directly at the hands of the Cleveland Indians, which is the one bright spot in that division. I’m not sure anyone would be particularly surprised if they’re winning a pennant in the next couple of weeks.

Heath Fillmyer will start tonight for the Royals in their final road game of the season. On the season, Fillmyer’s pitched 75 innings of 4.56 ERA ball, with a 4.89 FIP. In his last outing, against the Pirates, Fillmyer gave up only two runs in seven innings, though he allowed eight hits. In September, he’s sandwiched two good outings around a pair of rough ones (particularly his September 7th start in Minnesota where he lasted only 2.1 IP and gave up 6 earned runs). He’s facing a listless Reds lineup in this final week of the season, so I’m sure he’ll look like Cy Young tonight.

The Reds have Cody Reed going. And man, Cody Reed is going. Since being reinserted into the starting rotation, Reed has pitched 3.65 ERA baseball, that includes really only one craptastic outing versus the Pirates where he gave up six earned over five innings. In his last two starts, Reed hasn’t allowed a run in 11 innings. He’s struck out 16 and walked two. Sure, one of those starts was made against the AAA Miami Marlins, but the other one was against the Cubs, who are pretty legit.

Reds lineup

Royals lineup