Tonight the Cincinnati Reds and the Toronto Blue Jays will take the field for the third and final game of their series. The two teams split the first two in what has turned out to be a wild two games. First pitch tonight is scheduled for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Toronto Blue Jays |
Cincinnati Reds |
| George Springer – LF | TJ Friedl – CF |
| Addison Barger – RF | Noelvi Marte – RF |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – DH | Elly De La Cruz – SS |
| Bo Bichette – SS | Austin Hays – LF |
| Daulton Varsho – CF | Gavin Lux – DH |
| Alejandro Kirk – C | Spencer Steer – 1B |
| Ty France – 1B | Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B |
| Andres Gimenez – 2B | Jose Trevino – C |
| Ernie Clement – 3B | Matt McLain – 2B |
| Shane Bieber – RHP | Zack Littell – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Zack Littell | 161.0 | 3.63 | 1.12 | 27 | 110 |
| Shane Bieber | 11.1 | 2.38 | 0.62 | 2 | 15 |
| Links: Zack Littell’s Stats | Shane Bieber’s Stats |
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Zack Littell
Since joining the Reds, Zack Littell has been a little bit inconsistent. He’s had two poor outings mixed in with two good ones and a solid one. Overall he’s pitched fine, but it’s also been hit or miss. In his only start this season against Toronto he allowed three runs in 7.1 innings and picked up a win against them back n May.
The splits this season against Littell are noticeable. Neither lefties or righties do much of any kind of walking against him. Right-handed hitters have a solid advantage in average and a solid advantage in power, too.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 353 | 84 | 17 | 0 | 18 | 11 | 58 | .260 | .290 | .473 |
| LHH | 303 | 67 | 13 | 0 | 12 | 16 | 52 | .237 | .279 | .410 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Slider | Split | |
| Velo | 92.0 | 91.3 | 85.9 | 83.3 |
| Usage | 23% | 15% | 34% | 28% |
Shane Bieber
On April 2nd of 2024 Shane Bieber moved to 2-0 by picking up a win against Seattle where he struck out nine batters in six shutout innings. It was the last game he pitched in for 13 months. On May 31st this year he made a rehab start for the rookie-level Guardians in Arizona and while he pitched well on that day, he then didn’t pitch again for seven weeks.
This time around things kept progressing forward and his rehab looked good enough that Toronto traded for him at the deadline. Three weeks later he returned to the big league mound and in the two starts since then he’s struck out 15 batters without walking anyone in 11.1 innings.
We aren’t bothering to look at the splits for Bieber. He’s thrown less than 25 innings in the last two years. That simply isn’t worth paying attention to when it comes to splits.
Pitch Usage (AAA & MLB in 2025)
| 4-seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 92.9 | 88.0 | 82.5 | 85.5 | 89.1 |
| Usage | 35% | 16% | 11% | 28% | 11% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: FanDuel Sports Network, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 79°, partly cloudy, 5% chance of rain
News and Notes
Scott Barlow sent home
A day after filling in for Nick Lodolo because he was sick, Scott Barlow was told to go back home after he is now dealing with an illness. Manager Terry Francona noted to the media yesterday that he was worried whatever Lodolo had could spread through the clubhouse. This was first reported by Jeff Wallner of the Associated Press.
Roster Moves
There were three moves made by the club today. Tyler Stephenson headed to Louisville to begin a rehab assignment and with the Bats playing an afternoon game his day is already over. He went 1-3 with a home run and caught seven innings.
Reliever Reiver Sanmartin was optioned back to Triple-A after last night’s game. He’s being replaced by right-handed reliever Lyon Richardson. We have more information on all of the moves from earlier today when they were announced if you want further details.
Minor League News
Last night was a big one on the farm. The Dayton Dragons won their 14th game in a row. That set a new franchise record, breaking the old record that was held by the 2002 club. It’s also the longest winning streak in all of minor league baseball since the start of the 2024 season. Dayton’s previous long winning streak in 2025 was three games before the start of this run. And they only had one 3-game winning streak all year. Prior to the streak they were simply fighting to not have the worst record in all of the minor leagues.
Down in Florida the Daytona Tortugas picked up a win to start their final series of the regular season. The win clinched a playoff spot for the Single-A club. They will be one of two teams in the playoffs from the Reds system, joining Double-A Chattanooga. Louisville is technically still not eliminated, but they are 10.5 games back and behind eight teams with 16 games remaining.
Wild Card Standings
With the division firmly out of reach, we are switching to the Wild Card standings for the rest of the season.
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Chicago | 80 | 59 | +5.5 | 99.8% |
| San Diego | 76 | 63 | +1.5 | 98.0% |
| New York | 75 | 65 | 0.0 | 95.0% |
| Cincinnati | 70 | 69 | 4.5 | 3.3% |
| San Francisco | 70 | 69 | 4.5 | 3.1% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
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