After a grueling ten-game west coast road trip, the Cincinnati Reds finally return home to Great American Ball Park Friday night. They’ll start a nine-game, ten-day homestand with a weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals. First pitch is at 6:40 PM EDT.
The Reds have lost six of their last seven games and have fallen four games behind the Mets for the final NL wild card spot, so winning as many games as they can for the rest of the season, including beating the team directly below them in the NL Central standings, is crucial.
Lineups
St. Louis Cardinals
|
Cincinnati Reds |
| Lars Nootbar – LF | TJ Friedl – CF |
| Ivan Herrera – DH | Noelvi Marte – RF |
| Willson Contreras – 1B | Elly De La Cruz – SS |
| Nolan Gorman – 3B | Miguel Andujar – DH |
| Masyn Winn – SS | Austin Hays – LF |
| Thomas Saggese – 2B | Spencer Steer – 1B |
| Jordan Walker – RF | Jose Trevino – C |
| Pedro Pages – C | Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B |
| Nathan Church – CF | Santiago Espinal – 2B |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Matthew Liberatore | 126.1 | 4.27 | 1.29 | 32 | 98 |
| Zack Littell | 154.0 | 3.62 | 1.14 | 27 | 106 |
| Links: Matthew Liberatore’s Stats | Zack Littell’s Stats |
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Matthew Liberatore
Left-hander Matthew Liberatore gets the start for the Cardinals tonight. In his fourth year at the big-league level, he has pitched significantly more innings while having his best season to date. That being said, his season numbers are likely skewed by the month of May he had when he pitched to a 2.97 ERA in 33.1 innings. It’s been a struggle for Liberatore of late. In the month of July, he had a 6.57 ERA, and in August, he’s already allowed 13 earned runs on 22 hits in 21.2 innings for a 5.40 ERA.
As expected for a lefty, he overwhelming faces right-handed hitters. Left-handed hitters have actually gotten on base against him at a better rate than righties; however, of the 14 home runs he’s allowed, 12 have come off the bat of righties. Jose Trevino is the only Red in the lineup tonight to have homered off Liberatore, but a few Reds have hit him pretty well without getting a home run, including Miguel Andujar, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Noelvi Marte.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 421 | 102 | 23 | 1 | 12 | 5% | 18% | .261 | .301 | .417 |
| LHH | 118 | 29 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 9% | 20% | .279 | .350 | .404 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Slider | Curve | Change | Cutter | 2-Seam | |
| Velo | 94.0 | 86.4 | 77.5 | 88.7 | 90.1 | 94.1 |
| Usage | 29.1% | 22.3% | 14.6% | 12.2% | 11.0% | 10.9% |
Zack Littell
Right-hander Zack Littell is coming off his shortest outing of the season, when he pitched just three innings and gave up four hits on three unearned runs against the Diamondbacks a week ago. Littell’s weakness this season has been the home run ball. He’s allowed 28 home runs this year, the most of his career. Most of these were with the Rays, however. He has given up just two home runs in 20.2 innings since being traded to the Reds.
Littell’s splits are pretty even. He has faced more right-handed hitters than left-handed hitters, and righties are hitting a little better against him than lefties. He’s not a strikeout pitcher, with his strikeout rate being below 20% to both righties and lefties. However, his walk rate has been phenomenal this season. It’s currently in the 97th percentile in all of MLB.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 335 | 82 | 16 | 0 | 16 | 3% | 17% | .259 | .290 | .461 |
| LHH | 293 | 66 | 13 | 0 | 12 | 5% | 17% | .242 | .285 | .421 |
Pitch Usage
| Slider | Split | 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Sweeper | |
| Velo | 87.3 | 83.5 | 92.2 | 91.5 | 79.7 |
| Usage | 29.1% | 28.1% | 22.7% | 15.0% | 5.0% |
Game Details:
- When: 6:40 PM EDT
- Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH
- Watch: FanDuel Sports Network
- Listen: 700 WLW (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 73 degrees, partly sunny, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Minor League News and Notes
Sal Stewart just keeps hitting and the Dayton Dragons have won ten in a row.
Two Reds prospects were named to a postseason All-Star team.
The Ways of the Reds’ Front Office
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Fangraph’s Playoff Odds |
| Milwaukee | 83 | 52 | – | 100.0% |
| Chicago | 76 | 58 | 6.5 | 99.5% |
| CINCINNATI | 68 | 66 | 14.5 | 4.3% |
| St. Louis | 66 | 69 | 17.0 | 0.7% |
| Pittsburgh | 59 | 76 | 24.0 | 0.0% |
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