Reds vs. Pirates, Game 1 - Preview and Lineups

After the fireworks of this past weekend, the Reds are 2-1 and head into a 3-game set against the Pirates at GABP. The Pirates come off of an opening series at Wrigley Field in Chicago where after winning on the first day of the season, they dropped both weekend games to the Cubs.

They’ll continue their road trip without their exciting young third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who injured his wrist over the weekend. That certainly should make things easier for the Reds pitchers, who are pretty banged up themselves.

Jose De León will make his season debut tonight, coming off of an impressive spring in his second season with the team after coming over from Tampa Bay. There’s a little more pressure on him this time around, although it’s not as much as it could be, since he was given an extra option year. With the injury issues that have plagued Sonny Gray and Michael Lorenzen so far this year, De León will have his chance to start for the Reds. After coming up as a starter, he hasn’t made a start in the big leagues since his debut season with the Dodgers in 2016, and has been more of a swingman since then.

JT Brubaker is starting for the Buccos, and comes to a familiar spot in Reds country. He’s from Springfield, Ohio originally, and attended the University of Akron, so I’m sure he’s no stranger to seeing a GABP full of fans. He did face the Reds here last year, in a more empty stadium, and gave up the only run of the game in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings in a game where Luis Castillo threw 7 scoreless. Let’s hope he gets the same amount of run support in this game as he did then.

A bit of a lineup shakeup for the Reds today, as Jesse Winker is out with flu-like symptoms that he would like to make clear are not COVID-related, thankyouverymuch. Tyler Naquin moves up to the leadoff spot and will play LF today, and Nick Senzel is back in action after missing the last two games of the weekend after landing on his shoulder on Opening Day.

Go Reds! They’re my favorite team!