It’s sweep day in Pittsburgh if the Cincinnati Reds don’t figure things out

Hunter Greene is the one piece on the Cincinnati Reds right now who is verifiably both the present and the future. With his newly-inked contract extension on the books, he’s the one player in whom the Cincinnati Reds have invested financially going forward, and today will be his first opportunity to show that he’s truly now the face of the franchise.

Of course, that won’t mean much if the Cincinnati bats continue to be wet noodles.

Another day of punchless offense sank the Reds to their fifth consecutive loss in Saturday’s contest with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and another loss today would wrap up a four-game sweep at the hands of a club who has been their NL Central Cellar rival for much of the last decade.

I wish there were an obvious sightline to ending this run of form. I wish the lineup was chock full of folks who’ve done this before, who’ve compiled ledgers with fun numbers and ample stats across the years. Instead, there’s the lineup listed below and a whole heaping hill of hope that a couple of them will play out of their shoes on any given day, and I’m certainly doing my best to maintain the optimism that today will be one of those days.

First pitch is set for 1:35 PM ET.

Reds Lineup

Pirates Lineup