Reds look to celebrate independence from first-place tie in Washington today

At 45-39, the Cincinnati Reds find themselves in a tie for first-place in the National League Central with their rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers. The Reds and Brewers will play each other for six consecutive games in the near future - the three games prior to the All Star break as well as the first three after the break - and the hope is that they don’t look past the series against the Washington Nationals the way I just did.

The Reds are in DC to take on the Nats, winners of six of their last ten games while still mired in last place in the National League East.

Luke Weaver and his not-nice 6.96 ERA will toe the rubber for the Reds in tonight’s series opener, and he’ll do so sharing the mound with righty Jake Irvin. Weaver allowed 24 ER in 21.0 IP during the month of June, and there really isn’t any way to manipulate his game logs to find a stretch of the 2023 season in which he’s not been terrible. ERA? Bad. HR allowed? Bad. FIP? Woof. WHIP? Double woof.

Maybe, just maybe, they’ll luck into a good start from him in a road game against a Nats club that sports only a 93 wRC+ as a unit so far this season. The 68 homers they have socked on the season ranks second to last in all of baseball (ahead of only Cleveland), and only 27 of those have come within the confines of their home park (also second fewest in the game).

First pitch is set for 6:05 PM ET.

Reds Lineup

Nats Lineup