The Cincinnati Reds have played two series so far this season. They’ve lost both of them. And it’s not the pitching staff’s fault as they’ve posted an ERA of 2.83 through the first six games this year. The offense has basically been non-existent in five of the six games.
The series opener against Texas was fun to watch. Cincinnati scored 14 runs, Brady Singer dominated, and the Reds won 14-3. But in the other five games this season the Reds have scored four, three, three, zero, and zero runs.
Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain have hit well. De La Cruz has an OPS over 1.000 and he’s hitting .333. McLain has a team best three home runs, and his OPS is sitting at .974. Christian Encarnacion-Strand has an OPS of .786.
The rest of the Cincinnati Reds hitters have combined for 137 plate appearances and has hit .188/.241/.219. That group has two extra-base hits among them. Matt McLain has more home runs by himself than they’ve had extra-base hits. That group has hit into more double plays than they’ve had extra-base hits.
It’s early. And the Reds have hardly been the worst offensive team in Major League Baseball. The Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves have all failed to score more runs on the season than Cincinnati scored in their win over Texas earlier this week.
Still, things haven’t exactly gone well for the Reds outside of one game that is skewing the overall numbers thus far. Cincinnati needs a large majority of their hitters to step into the batters box and, well, hit.
The Reds are missing two players that they projected as starters. Tyler Stephenson is still dealing with an oblique injury and as of the last report he hadn’t begun swinging a bat yet. Free agent signing and outfielder Austin Hays came down with a calf injury in the final days of spring training. That hasn’t helped the offensive woes. Nor has what so far has seemed like the poor decision to not place Spencer Steer on the injured list despite getting zero at-bats in official spring training games in the month of March after getting a cortisone shot in his shoulder. He’s gone 1-15 so far.
Maybe the Milwaukee Brewers pitching will be what gets the offense going in the right direction. They’ve had games where they’ve allowed four, zero, and two runs this season. But they’ve also had games where they allowed 20, 12, and 11 runs this season. Of course they might be saying the same thing as the Reds come into town and how Cincinnati’s offense may be the cure for what ails their pitching.
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