Attention Redlegs: Lunch has been cancelled due to lack of winning

Eury Perez did not turn 20 years old until after Opening Day this season, and on the 1st of July, he yielded 6 earned runs and a pair of dingers in a tough, tough 0.1 outing against the mighty Atlanta Braves. These are two points that would, in theory, make you think that him starting tonight against the Cincinnati Reds in Great American Ball Park was something that would make the Reds salivate.

Think again.

Perez’s tough outing against Atlanta aside, he’s been perhaps the single filthiest pitcher on the planet this year. After racing through AA with Pensacola with a 13.3 K/9 over 8 starts, he ripped off a 9 start run in the big leagues that featured just 7 ER allowed in 47.0 IP, that sample including an absurd month of June where he fired 28.0 IP and allowed just one - 1 - earned run at all. He also bounced back to allow just a single earnie against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 6.0 IP outing after that Atlanta clunker before being shut down in the minors for a bit as Miami monitors his pitch count.

I say all of this as a preface, really, because it’s what the Reds will have to go through tonight to end their dismal 6-game losing streak, one that has torpedoed much of the goodwill they had generated around Cincinnati as it has coincided directly with their inaction at the trade deadline.

Fortunately, the Reds can lay claim to having a pretty impressive rookie on the mound tonight, too. After struggling to get his feet under him at the big league level, Brandon Williamson has settled in as a pretty vital cog to the Cincinnati machine, his last start against the Chicago Cubs aside. During the month of July, he made 5 starts and cleared 25.2 IP, pitching to a 2.45 ERA in that span. Another outing akin to those this evening would certainly help given all that Perez will be bringing to the table.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM ET. Go Reds.

Reds Lineup

Marlins Lineup