Reds vs. Brewers, Game Three - News, Lineups, Pitching Matchup

Really not the best start to an important series out of the break. Losing the series is not the end of the world, as there is a lot of ball left to play, but winning this game would stop the bleeding a bit. The Reds don’t have a great chance at the wildcard so taking the division is still their best bet.

News

• Sonny Gray is going to make his return today after a short stay on the IL due to a “ribcage” thingy. I don’t know if any believes he was actually hurt and they just wanted to get him some more rest and bring up an insurance bullpen arm.
• Speaking of bullpen arms, Michael Lorenzen made his season debut last night. He also hit, played the field, and ran the bases. Sadly, he came up lame tagging up to run home in the 10th inning last night. He tweaked a hamstring. There has been no word about the severity from the Reds but the beat writers have reported some more sunny things about Lorenzen this morning. As of right now he is day to day. Though, if he can pitch I wouldn’t expect him to be the super athlete for a while. Maybe that is a good thing?
• Roster construction just got super weird as will be noted with the roster moves below. Alejo Lopez was sent down to make room for Sonny Gray on the 26 man roster. It’s weird due to that leaving the Reds with a very limited bench with a bullpen that used almost all its arms last night. It’s even more perplexing since Michael Lorenzen got hurt and Nick Castellanos was unavailable to even pinch hit after his HBP in Friday’s game. This could also mean that Lorenzen and Castellano’s injuries are not that bad. However, consider that Farmer is banged up and they still have Mike Freeman on the roster, sending down Alejo seems very weird. I could also make the quick speculation that this could mean Jose Barrero will be making a return fairly soon relegating Farmer back to a rotational role which would probably strengthen team depth. To me, it would just make the most sense to send down/cut your most gassed and/or worst bullpen arm. Either way, this limits any creativity Bell can have with the lineup today.
• It’s Eugenio Suarez’s birthday!

Roster Moves

• Sonny Gray returns from the 10 day IL. Alejo Lopez was optioned back to AAA.

Game info

1:10 pm start, Bally Sports Ohio, WLW.

Lineups

Reds:

Brewers:

Pitching Matchup

CIN: Sonny Gray (2-4, 3.19 ERA, 12 GS, 62 IP, 80 K, 23 BB)

MIL: Corbin Burnes (4-4, 2.36 ERA, 15 GS, 87.2 IP, 128 K, 15 BB)