Beat Cleveland!

Keep winning and keep hoping, that’s all the Cincinnati Reds can do.

The Reds battled early and often to claw out an 11-7 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday evening, brushing off an awful start by starter Hunter Greene (7 ER in 3.0 IP) to pound out enough homers to take home a vital win. They still sit on the outside of the National League playoff race looking in, however, with each of the Miami Marlins and Chicago Cubs needing to stumble for the Reds to sneak in.

The help they need must be a secondary focus, however, as they just need to keep winning to make even that matter. Tonight, it’ll fall on lefty Andrew Abbott to pick up the pieces and go deep into the game, giving the beleaguered bullpen a break after they needed to cover 6.0 IP yesterday (and far, far too many IP over the last two months).

Righty Shane Bieber will stand in the way of the Cincinnati offense, however, as he’s returning to the eliminated Guardians with a different purpose in mind - pitching well enough to wrap the 2023 season that he becomes perhaps the most marketable pitching trade chip out there during Hot Stove season. The former AL Cy Young Award winner is as elite as they come when he’s healthy and on, and will pose quite the tall task for the Cincinnati offense if that’s the case this evening.

Bieber’s a righty, of course, so the usualy lefty bats you see against righties are all back in the starting lineup to begin things.

First pitch is set for 6:10 PM ET.

Reds Lineup

Guardians Lineup