Reds at Cleveland, Game 4 - Preview and Lineups

Cleveland sports a good baseball team. These Cincinnati Reds, while they haven’t yet clicked on all cylinders, are a good baseball team. Toss in the rivalry that is the Ohio Cup and ice that cake with a hyperconcentrated season, and it’s no surprise that the first trio of games between these two have been hotly contested.

Of course, the fact that both clubs sport elite starting pitching has kept the games perilously close, too, and that’ll be on display tonight in a big, big way again. Cleveland will turn to rotation stalwart Carlos Carrasco in the series finale, while the Reds will roll out the splendid Luis Castillo to help salvage the series.

After a brilliant first start of the season, Castillo had a classic ‘stuff was much better than the results’ outing last time out, and hopefully he and his Bugs Bunny changeup can keep the Cleveland bats on edge.

Earlier today, we learned that the Reds optioned pitcher Tejay Antone and IF/OF Josh VanMeter to their Prasco practice facility, as MLB rules dictated that the 30-man roster clubs had operated on thus far neededC to be reduced to 28. There was a slight bit of hope that optioning the man who had been filling in for Mike Moustakas at 2B was a sign that Moose was ready to return, but he’s still out of the lineup tonight. Kyle Farmer will get a run in his stead this evening.

It’s an odd 6:10 PM ET start again tonight, so plan accordingly.

Go Reds.

Cincinnati Lineup

Cleveland Lineup