Cincinnati Reds vs Arizona Diamondbacks – April 9, 2021

by



[ad_1]

After a successful first home stand, the Cincinnati Reds (5-1) look to take their offensive machine on the road with them as they head out into the wilderness to face the Arizona Diamondbacks (2-5) at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. Get ready for a dose of #LateNightReds, folks. The first pitch is at 9:40 p.m. EDT. You can watch the game on Bally Sports Ohio or listen on 700 WLW.

How impressive have the Reds’ bats been in the first week of the season? The Reds have scored the most points in the first six games of any MLB team since 1999 and the most runs in the first six games in Reds history.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks started in the opposite direction of the Reds, winning just two of seven games against the Padres and Rockies on the road. They also allowed 43 races, including a few offensive explosions.

Starting throwers

During its first departure in 2021 on Saturday, Tyler mahle pitched well against the Cardinals, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out nine batters in five innings. Two of those races came via circuits to Paul DeJong.

Mahle’s fastball was averaging 95.1 mph on Saturday, up from 93.9 in 2020. He used his three throws in much the same way as last year, with the four-seam fastball being most used, followed by its cursor. He only uses his split finger about 11% of the time and almost always on left-handed hitters. Mahle’s highest odor rate on Saturday was actually his slider at 28.6%, but his fastball was just behind at 23.5%. He ended up with more strikeouts from his fastpitch, but he also threw more of his fastpitch.

The Diamondbacks will counter with a right-handed pitcher Taylor widener, also making his second start of the season. Widener pitched on Sunday, excluding the Padres and allowing just three hits with five strikeouts and three goals in six innings. It was his first start in the majors. In 2020, his rookie season, he threw 12 games out of the bullpen.

Widener relies on three locations: four stitch fastball, slider, and shift. He’s primarily a fastball pitcher – he pitched it almost 65% of the time in 2020 – and uses his breakthrough pitches as secondary fields. It will throw the cursor primarily at right handed hitters. The change is mostly thrown at left handed hitters. Widener’s fastball was averaging 94.5 mph in 2020. In his first game this year, his fastball speed was down a bit, averaging just 92.8 mph. His breaking throws will average between 85 and 86 mph.

The statistics are from 2020.

Last name IP TIME FIP xFIP WHIP K% BB%
Tyler mahle 47.2 3.59 3.88 4.59 1.15 29.9% 10.4%
Taylor widener 20.0 4.50 6.49 5.65 1.30 25.0% 13.6%

Programming

Cincinnati Reds

Arizona Diamondbacks
LF Jesse Winker CF Tim Locastro
RF Nick Castellanos RF Kole Calhoun
1B Joey Votto 1B Christian Walker
SS Eugenio Suarez LF David Peralta
3B Mike Moustakas 3B Asdrubal Cabrera
CF Tyler Naquin 2B Eduardo Escobar
2B Jonathan India SS Josh Rojas
C Tucker Barnhart C Carson Kelly
P Tyler Mahle P Taylor Widener

Kole Calhoun returns to the Diamondbacks lineup after being on the 10-day injured list to start the season.

News and Notes

Sonny Gray could return this week

Ahead of today’s game, manager David Bell said if Sonny Gray’s simulated game he was due to pitch tomorrow goes well, the right-handed starter will return to the rotation this week.

Jesse Winker is back in training

Jesse Winker returns to the Reds lineup tonight after being sidelined for a few games due to illness. He loves new Reds broadcaster John Sadak as much as the fans.

Earlier today at Redleg Nation

Listen to the latest episode of Redleg Nation Radio, where Chad Dotson and Chris Garber discuss the Reds leaving 5-1.

John Ring wrote today about the swagger and excitement the 2021 squad brings to the table and compared this start to quick starts other Reds teams have experienced.

Final thoughts

Hey look at the Reds, now on top of Fangraphs’ chances of winning NL Central. I don’t care if it’s the first week of the season. I will benefit from leading this team.



[ad_2]

Source link