It’s Game 32!
The Cincinnati Reds were ridin’ high with tears in their eyes when this series began against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Winners of five straight, they boasted the second-best run differential in all of Major League Baseball, and had their home turf on which to play their biggest rivals. Problem is, the Reds simply have not been able to muster any sort of offense in their home park this year despite it being perhaps the single most offensive-inducing park in the bigs.
Their collective 67 wRC+ in home games this year is the worst in all of baseball.
They’ve got a dismal .123 ISO in Great American Ball Park this year, somehow, despite it being as dinger-friendly a park as they come.
Now, they’ll be up against lefty Matthew Liberatore, and they’ve only managed to muster a collective 87 wRC+ against LHP so far this season.
Will something give? Or, will the Reds once again struggle in a scenario where they’d otherwise be expected to excel?
We’ll find out at 12:40 PM ET, with Andrew Abbott on the mound chucking the game’s first pitch.
This, folks, is a Game Thread. Lineups below!