Reds vs. Royals, Game 1 - Preview and Lineups

The Reds are back in action tonight in Cincinnati after a rare off day Monday.

Tonight, the Reds will face the Royals and Kris Bubic, who will be making the third Major League start in his young career. He’s allowed two earned runs in each of his first two starts, the first in four innings vs. the White Sox, and his second in six innings vs. the Cubs. He’s struck out nine and walked only three in 10 innings of work.

Bubic was a first round pick by the Royals in 2018 out of Stanford. In 2019, between A ball Lexington and A+ Wilmington, Bubic pitched 149.1 innings of 2.23 ERA ball, with a SO/9 of 11.1. He parlayed that (his first professional season) into the top 100 spot on Baseball Prospectus’s prospect list and, apparently, a spot in the 2020 Royals rotation. Until July 31st, Bubic had never thrown a single pitch above A+. In two starts, that doesn’t seem to matter much.

He’s a lefty, to expect a righty filled lineup for the Reds - one that includes the return of Nick Senzel, fortunately.

For the Reds, Luis Castillo will toe the rubber. He’s looked good to start the season, though the actual results have been a bit mixed. The Tigers dinked and dunked him two starts ago, and he just simply ran out of gas against Cleveland his last time out. The 4.76 ERA doesn’t look great, but his velocity is up and he’s still featuring one of the nastiest pitches in Major League Baseball.

You gotta figure Castillo is going to be just fine, over the long haul.

Reds lineup

Royals lineup