Reds vs. Pirates, Game 2 - Preview, Lineups, Notes, Things

Last night was fun. Good, old fashioned fun at the ballpark. Dingers socked, an early deficit overcome thanks to a dingerrific rally, bullpen success, and a giant serving of one Joseph Daniel Votto.

Ol’ Joe Dan swatted a pair of homers to help lead the Cincinnati Reds past the Pittsburgh Pirates and keep the very, very slim playoff hopes alive around these parts. On Tuesday, we’ll be watching to see if he can do it once more.

Joey and the Reds will be up against Mitch Keller, who’ll start for Pittsburgh with a 4-11 record, 6.14 ERA, and 1.74 WHIP on the season to date. Joey is 3 for 6 lifetime against Keller with a double and a dinger to his credit, while Nick Castellanos has owned Keller by going 6 for 17 with a double and 2 dingers against him in his career.

Tyler Mahle will go for the Reds in opposition. At the moment, Mahle’s been worth a brilliant 5.1 bWAR on the season, tied with Lance Lynn for the 9th most by any MLB pitcher this season. He’ll hope to continue to climb that chart with an outing against the Pirates akin to the last time he faced them - the 6.0 IP, 0 ER outing just last week.

First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET, and the Reds will be rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers to finally put an end to the 9-game winning streak of the St. Louis Cardinals, too.

Reds Lineup

Pirates Lineup