Cincinnati Reds rocked by Cardinals in 11-6 opening day loss

Joe Nuxhall Commemorative Game Star of Honor

Let’s get that out of the way here – it was a lousy lousy Cincinnati Reds game today. Poor defense, basic blunders, injury, a rare poor start from Luis Castillo and the Saint-Louis Cardinals made them pay. In most cases, we’re hoping this will be left as a single loss in the season’s ledger, but damn it, it sure won’t be a loss they want to see a lot of again.

That said, the bats have finally come to life, a welcome change from how the 2020 season failed. Chief among them was Nick Castellanos, who pulled off a first home run and later added a double and a single, too, picking up on the scorching start he owed last season. Hopefully this is a start that will continue a little deeper into the year this year.

Honorable mentions are due to: Jonathan India, who doubled up for his first major league success and went on to smoke a single 109.7 mph from the start; Jesse Winker, who has singles, doubled, walked and scored twice; Sal Romano, who mopped up well with a pair of raised aimless PIs; and Carson Fulmer, who also tied Sal with a pair of these.

Key games

• The fourth pitch of the season was pushed by Paul Goldschmidt over the RF line for a solo homerun against Luis Castillo at the top of the 1st, clearing the yellow line at the top of the fence by the smallest margin. The Reds were trailing, 1-0 … UNTIL THEY DIDN’T GET IT. After a lengthy review, it was considered a single double to the delight of Reds fans around the world, and the game remained 0-0 … UNTIL IT IS NOT. Two soft derpy singles later and Goldschmidt scored, and after Castillo forced Tyler O’Neill to charge the bases, Yadier Molina hit a slow roll at the opening day shortstop Eugenio Suarez [TM], who started it to allow another pair of runs to score. Dylan Carlson then attacked a meatball from the pole just in RF for a 3-point blast, and this season was kind of a start (/ wagging middle fingers to heaven). The Reds trailed, 6-0.
• The Reds, to their credit, recovered one quickly. Jesse Winker started off with a brace in RF, and after scoring to take 3B on a productive flyout, he scored on wild Jack Flaherty ground. The reds trailed, 6-1.
• Goldschmidt was behind another Cardinals run in the Top of the 2nd, releasing a single after a grounder deep in the short hole and advancing to 2B on another error by Opening Day Shortstop Eugenio Suarez [TM] – this one of the throwing variety. He then scored on a Nolan Arenado single, and the Reds lost 7-1.
• Tucker Barnhart hit base in the bottom of the 3rd when a breaking bullet from Jack Flaherty didink him, and that left a runner on base for the Castellanos blastellanos in the LF stands, a 2 point shot that came out of the bat at a rockin ‘109.7 mph, making it a 7-3 game.
• Castillo was still in the lead of 4th, and his misery continued with a march from Flaherty, the opposing pitcher. The most ‘hit on the pitch by Tommy Edman’ then followed after Joey Votto pulled off a bad Castillo flip at 1B, and a simple and savage combo ultimately marked the two, with Castillo’s day happily ending a hitter later. Cam Bedrosian took over with a legacy runner still there on 2B, however, and it nailed another point on Castillo’s total when O’Neill had a 2-run homerun in the LF seats. The reds trailed, 11-3.
• Opening day of the Eugenio Suarez shortstop [TM] eventually got a comeback point, scoring a solo homer just over the RF wall at the bottom of 4th, shaving the Cardinals’ lead at 11-4.
• Joey Votto got into the action down the 5th, pushing an RBI single in CF to score Winker, who had walked and moved up to 3B on a double from Castellanos. An ODSES [TM] walk chased Flaherty all the way to the showers in favor of southpaw Tyler Webb, who came in with the bases loaded and only 1 out. Mike Moustakas tackled Castellanos with a bag-fly for CF, but that was all the rally could muster. The reds trailed, 11-6.
• Cincinnati loaded the bags with 1 indent in the bottom of the 6th, but a string from Castellanos was caught in CF and Tyler Stephenson was inexplicably doubled on the bases before India could score on the potential bag-fly, and the the wind blew out of the Reds’ sails once more. They were tinkering with the idea of ​​threatening to score again, but they didn’t score again, and an 11-6 loss was in the books.

Tony graphanino

Other Notes

• It was a cold, dark and dreary day at GABP today, and Luis Castillo’s outing certainly matched that mood. Honestly, it just might be the worst start to his Reds career given the circumstances. His last line: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 10 R (8 ER), 2 BB, 0 (zero) K, HBP on 73 locations.
• Nick Senzel had a terrific diving game in the CF, looked like he winced when he got up, finished the inning, then was taken out of the roster in the next half-inning when his place in the line-up was planned. Tyler Naquin took his place. Awesome, big, groovy, glorious. It was ultimately revealed to be a left shoulder injury.
• Eugenio Suarez wiped and walked twice which was good. He also had a pair of costly early mistakes that put the Reds in a hole, which wasn’t good. Hope it’s just nervousness for the Reds new shortstop, but it certainly makes you question the team’s decision to wait. until scary mid-march before deciding to move it to the post.
• Normally I’m apoplectic about the idea of ​​there being a day off the day after opening day, but given the way it went, maybe it isn’t. a bad time for one after all.
• Those Reds will try all that “ baseball ” thing again on Saturday, and it’ll be a superstar getting Tyler Mahle on the hump. He will be countered by Adam Wainwright of St. Louis, with a first pitch at 4:10 p.m. ET.

• Tunes.