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This is a preview of the upcoming game between the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers, but it’s kind of impossible to ignore the elephant in the room at the moment. That, of course, was yesterday’s complete disaster of a game against the San Francisco Giants, one that saw the Reds lose 19-4.
Beyond just losing 19-4, it was a 19-4 loss in a game that seemingly should’ve had the Reds backed into a corner and ready to fight. They’d already lost the first 3 of the 4-game series, all of which were at home, and in Tyler Mahle they had the guy who’d been their most potent starter so far this season on the bump. Instead, pretty much everything that could’ve gone wrong did just that.
It’s still fresh on my mind, and yours, I’m sure. How quickly the Reds can flush that game, that series down the tubes and move on will be one of those moments we look back on later this season, as it does feel like we’re at something of a crux. Joey Votto, Nick Senzel, and Mike Moustakas are out injured, the shortstop situation still has yet to be solved, the starting pitching has hit a rotation-wide slump, and at 4 games under .500 the Reds are another bad series away from seeing this season go sideways in a hurry.
Enter the Milwaukee Brewers, who are in something of a similar state in the NL Central. With Christian Yelich banged up for weeks and a litany of issues with their infield personnel, they’ve slipped down the standings, too, and at 21-22 sit just a hair ahead of the Reds after a recent 4-11 slide. On top of that, they’ll be tussling with the Reds this series without their one-two punch of aces, as both Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes just made starts and aren’t on the docket for GABP this weekend.
Tonight, it’ll be Adrian Houser and Jeff Hoffman on the bump, respectively, hardly the guys either club would consider ideal stoppers for their respective slides. Someone has to win, though, and hopefully it’s the Cincinnati bats emerging from their recent slumber that help do the deed.
First pitch is set for 7:10 PM ET.
Reds Lineup
Tonight's lineup for the series opener against Milwaukee. Watch exclusively on @FS1. @PNCBank pic.twitter.com/lXXqoVdNRy
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 21, 2021
Brewers Lineup
Brewers Starting Lineup 5/21
— LineStar MLB DFS (@LineStarMLB) May 21, 2021
Wong 2B
Cain OF
Yelich OF
Narvaez C
Vogelbach 1B
Shaw 3B
Bradley OF
Urias SS
Houser SPhttps://t.co/9qdcv6EMaO