Reds still can’t figure out Tigers, lose 7-2

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Austin Romine is basically Johnny Bench. Spencer Turnbull a modern day Cy Young. At least to the Redlegs of Cincinnati.

The Reds just can’t seem to figure out these Detroit Tigers, and they’ve lost their third in a row to a team with... basically no expectations on this season at all. The Reds have expectations this season. Or they did; those expectations are beginning to disappear quickly, now already 10+% through the schedule.

Oh, I’m supposed to pick a good Red here. Hmm, Nick Castellanos hit a double against his old team. Nick Senzel drove him in. Tucker Barnhart had an RBI.

Cool. Whatever.

See you tomorrow.

Key Plays

• In the bottom of the third, the Tigers got the scoring started first. After a Christian Stewart fly out, Luis Castillo walked Austin Romine on four pitches. Romine moved first to third on a Jacoby Jones double down the left field line, and scored on a sac fly from Niko Goodrum. That’s all Castillo would allow, though. Big Cats up, 1-0.
• In the top of the fifth, Nick Castellanos did something he’s pretty accustomed to do in Comerica Park; he hit a double to lead things off. Jesse Winker struck out, but Nick Senzel laced his own double down the left field line, scoring Castellanos. Freddy Galvis grounded out for the second out of the inning, but moved Senzel to 3B. Which was important, because Tucker Barnhart served a little bloop single to left, scoring Senzel from third. Shogo Akiyama grounded out to second to end the inning. But, good guys take the lead, 2-1.
• The Tigers came right back in the bottom of the frame, with the bottom of the order given Castillo issues again. Victor Reyes grounded out to begin the inning, but Stewart hit a ground rule double into left. Romine hit his own double to score Stewart, before Jones singled sharply to center, scoring Romine. Jones was thrown out trying to advance to second base. Goodrum struck out, but the Tigers got their one run lead back, 3-2.
• Basically, all that up there happened in the bottom of the 7th. Reyes hit an infield single, Stewart singled to center, and then Romine beat the shift, a nine-or-so hopper to RF to score Reyes and chase Castillo. Nate Jones came on in relief, and promptly struck out Jacoby Jones for the first out of the inning. And then struck out Goodrum. Unfortunately, a 1-2 offering bounced in the dirt and off of Tucker Barnhart’s chest protector, and just far enough away that the pinch runner at 3B, Travis Demeritte, scored. Jonathan Schoop then laced a single into center. Miggy Cabrera grounded out to end the frame. Tigers up two more, 5-2.
• Raisel Iglesias came in in the bottom of the eighth. Promptly gave up a smoked ground rule double to CJ Cron. Harold Castro struck out, before Reyes reached on an error by Joey Votto, sending Cron to 3B. Reyes would end up taking 2B, before Demeritte smacked a double of his own over Eugenio Suarez’s head, scoring two. Iglesias would get two more outs, but Tigers up, 7-2, and everything does, indeed, suck.
• The 9th inning sucked, too! Reds lose, 7-2.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Luis Castillo was throwing absolute gas at Tigers hitters to begin this one, regularly dialing up 98 and topping 100 several times. I can’t say I remember seeing a lot of that in the past.
• His final line: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. A really, really frustrating day for Castillo, because his stuff was better than that line indicates. The Tigers found all of the holes.
• At least two players from the Cardinals tested positive for the coronavirus today, prompting the Cardinals and Brewers game for this evening to be postponed. These positive tests were the result of testing on Wednesday, when the Cardinals were playing the Twins. The Twins are currently playing the Indians... who play the Reds starting Monday. Meanwhile, Rob Manfred is threatening union chief Tony Clark that if the players don’t start doing better to stop the spread of the virus, he could shut down the season.
• What I’m saying is... enjoy watching baseball this weekend, because things are getting bleak (bleaker?).
• Reds and Tigers will play for the fifth time already in this young season tomorrow. The game time has been moved up to 1:10 PM to accommodate some crappy weather in the forecast for later in the day. Easier to reschedule when, you know, there’s no fans to consider. Trevor Bauer will face Michael Fulmer, for a few innings at least (he’s still getting stretched out from offseason Tommy John Surgery).
• Tunes.