Will the Sunday matinee go their way?
The Cincinnati Reds woke up on Thursday morning having lost 9 of their previous 11 games. The results of games on Tuesday and Wednesday – both ugly losses – meant they’d already lost a home series to the lowly Chicago White Sox, and they’d sunk to a season-worst 4 games under the .500 mark.
The team cleared the air that day, with manager Terry Francona reportedly emphasizing all the simple, straightforward things the club needed to do with the bat to get back to their winning ways. A 7-1 win in the series finale against the Sox ensued, and the Reds rolled all that momentum into this weekend’s series against the Cleveland Guardians in the first contests of the 2025 Ohio Cup.
Momentum’s still there. The Reds, led by Will Benson’s dinger barrage against his former club, took Friday’s contest 5-4 and slugged their way to a 4-1 win on Saturday evening, too. Now, they’ll send the red hot Andrew Abbott to the mound on Sunday afternoon with hopes they can sweep their Ohio brethren right out of Great American Ball Park.
Cleveland will counter with righty Luis Ortiz, who’s pitched to a pseudocromulent 4.78 ERA and 1.36 WHIP through 43.1 IP so far this year. That sounds pretty ripe for Benson’s streak o’ dingers to reach a fourth game if you ask me.
First pitch is set for 1:40 PM ET.
Reds Lineup
Trying to bring the brooms out.
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— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 18, 2025