Ah dang, the Cincinnati Reds lost again

The positivity from proving that in a 3-game series the depleted Cincinnati Reds won’t always be worse than the perennially inept Pittsburgh Pirates was refreshing. We all needed that desperately, to be quite honest, and it made for a fun reset of a weekend.

Last night’s win over the Milwaukee Brewers was downright fun, even. The Reds put the screws to some Milwaukee meatballs and walked away the better thumpers for a night.

Tuesday was a different story, however, one that we’re going to probably have to revert back to accepting for the near term. Despite the best efforts of young Hunter Greene and a 2-run double by Tyler Naquin in an 8th inning rally, the Reds fell to that same Milwaukee club fronted by Freddy Peralta in 5-4 fashion.

Greene struggled with wildness and, therefore, a run-up pitch count, but he still had only yielded a lone run when he departed after his 100th pitch of the night - a pitch, mind you, that went for a single off his own glove, the second time on the night where the Beers had reached base by simply smacking balls back up the middle of Cincinnati’s brightest young arm. That runner promptly came in to score, of course, because that’s just how the Reds bullpen operates on its league-lightest budget.

All told, it was still a solid outing for Greene, the Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game - 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K. His fastball velocity was back up to 98.5 mph on average and he hit 100 a number of times. Unfortunately, Peralta’s dealings were just a little bit better to a lot worse lineup, and despite the late rally, them’s just the breaks these days.

Tyler Stephenson did what he could as the big batsman in the middle of the order, going 2 for 3 with a double and a ribbie, even if he struck out with the bases loaded in that Bottom of the 8th rally. Tyler Naquin socked a 2-run double that inning to bring life back to the box score, doing so against the same Devin Williams who has been mostly unhittable his entire MLB career.

Still, the end result was another Reds loss. They’re now 6-24 through 30 games.

Tony Graphanino (link)

Other Notes

• Mike Moustakas, freshly back in the lineup after a one-day ‘mystery IL’ trip, had another 2 hits and a walk. That kind of moosing will surely land him on the trade block in short order, I’d imagine.
• Vladimir Gutierrez will try to throw the brakes on his skid in tomorrow’s series finale, as he’ll get the start for the Reds opposite Milwaukee’s Adrian Houser. It’s an early one - 12:35 PM ET - so tune in or out accordingly.
• Tunes.