Cincinnati Reds Lose Heartbreaking Game in 9th Inning to Milwaukee Brewers | CBox Reds | Game 71

Cincinnati Reds Lose Heartbreaking Game in 9th Inning to Milwaukee Brewers | CBox Reds | Game 71

e e e e e e e I think I can speak for all of Red’s country Joey V thank you high drive left Center feet racing back to the world B the RS our National League Central Division champion in the air left center field did he did he he [Music] did win win the right field J the first round with oh runs to the game you believe it in the air down the white de wi doesn’t have a chance the r have won on a fre run home run opening day by raon Hernandez strike away and out way is Homer Bailey round ball to third Fraser gloves throw to first and Homer baely for the second time in his major league career has toss the know that oh God oh my God are you kidding me the player in na league history to H seven home runs in the first 10 game in the air the r win what a dream beginning to the career of J Bruce all right Nick um a losing edition of Chatterbox Reds and a losing series which is the most disappointing one um I think there’s a lot of people that are frustrated right now I don’t blame them I also think there’s a lot of people that have questions in regards to some of the moves that were made today although I’m sure we’ll get into it don’t know if it affected the outcome but uh certainly one could argue that it would have um Father’s Day by the way so happy Father’s Day Nick Happy Father’s Day Trace did you have a good day I you know what like obviously the Reds winning today would have made it like a great day um but as many people already know this if you watch a show long enough you know that I like gol I thought we had like the Pinnacle golf event that you could possibly have today for those that don’t like golf or don’t care about golf you probably could care less and that’s fine this isn’t a this is not a uh a golf show but it was a it was a great Us open so I did enjoy that and um that kind of got me back into a uh better spirits good good good but you know kids and all that today was oh was good went and watch a little bit of a little city Championship golf tournament in my hometown same guy that won it the last four years won it again believe it or not but other than that just a long day of golf and watching the Reds uh semi implode I don’t know if you’d call it that would you call it that H I don’t think I wouldn’t say implode I mean yeah I think I think the maybe a French implode okay I don’t know if there’s a word in the dictionary for a French implosion but if there is one that’s what you’re trying to say um all right well I I the only thing that I know how to do is do the show that we always do which is uh we’ll do a bosal recap we’ll do the Deep Drive of the day and then um we’ll get into it um I don’t want to say I’m speechless I I just I just um yeah we’ll get into it recap presented by Nick Kirby all right Red’s taking on the Milwaukee Brewers rubber game of a three-game series in Milwaukee Frankie montis going up against Colin Ray second batter of the game Ellie deor Cruz smoked the ball down the right field line 104 off the bat he turned it into a triple jamer candelario then just missed a home run but it was plenty deep enough for a sack fly quickly one nothing red top of the third Ellie De La Cruz walked Ellie then stole second base and then Ellie scored on a pickoff attempt that went into the Outfield from Colin Ray two nothing Reds top of the fourth Spencer steer crushed a solo home run to left center field three nothing Reds Frankie Montes had only allowed one hit through the first four Innings but the Brewers were able to get back-to-back hits off him to lead off the bottom of the fifth they scratched across a run to make it 3 to one montis would come back out out in the sixth inning only at 76 pitches gave a weak single to William conteras then he walked Christian Yelich David Bell brought in Lucas Sims who had a 2.04 erra since April 19th but unfortunately Red’s killer will Adamas unloaded on him for a three-run bomb to put the Brewers up 43 it was Adams’s 14th career home run against the Reds he doesn’t have more than 10 against anyone else Sims did strike out three batters to get get out of the sixth without any further damage Reds left two Runners on base in the seventh Brewers made two great defensive plays in the inning as well Brewers would scratch across another run in the bottom of the seventh on a squeeze play from Christian Yelich against Sam mol to put the Brewers up five to3 in the top of the eighth Ellie David Cruz capped off a big series against the Brewers offensively with a solo home run hit 113 off the bat that made it a 5-4 game Redwood strand two more Runners on base on you guessed it another great defensive play from the Brewers when center fielder Blake Perkins made a nice snag on a ball hit 109 off the bat from Jonathan India Nick Martinez retired all five batters he faced to keep the score 54 going into the ninth then the top of the ninth steuart Fairchild reached uh on a a very rare error from Willie Adamas Fairchild was able to get to second base on the air La day La Cruz was then intentionally walked with two outs to bring up Santiago espanol espanol had pinch Run for candelario the inning prior espanol singled it looked initially like he was going to score Stuart farch out easily with two outs but it was hit right at the center fielder Blake Perkins who was uh playing in and he fired a bullet home to get Fairchild out for a crushing 54 loss for the Cincinnati Reds Reds fall to 34 and 37 on the season all right we did have a uh deep Drive of the day thanks in part to Spencer steer uh could have been Ellie but he went with Spencer steer shout out to uh Spencer eighth home run of the year it was uh 103.7 off the bat 397 feet it gave the Reds a three to nothing lead and their win probability closure years 82.4% we all know that would be 0% at the end of the day deep Drive of the day is sponsored by deeps South Commodities DSC is a leader in renewable commodities for biofuel production specializing in used cooking oil collection aggregation and sales visit www.de southc commodities.com for more information and thank you to John and his support of our show and and our community for that matter um all right let’s jump right into it um it’s just like uh here’s the rant of the day you ready um we don’t you fan however you want to Fan you know what I’m saying like I don’t like the idea of thinking that you should be this way or that way when it comes to fandom I would just say like whatever it is stick with it pick it stay in that lane and and ride it out you know but like we don’t always have to find blame for somebody being the reason as to why the Reds lost every single game and it’s like I don’t know where do you pick the blame like who’s if if you pulled everybody coming out of American Family field today with Red’s gear on and asked them who lost the game like I I I could say maybe three or four different answers would be semi- appropriate and it’s like the Brewers also made some plays like I think that there are big things that happen in games that are that are so minute that most people probably don’t even care to mention it but Christian Yelich had a graded bat like he had a graded bat he fou off some good pitches the home run that Sims gave up you can say whatever you want about Sims I’m not here to defend him heard what I said before I was the one that went out and and made a joke about how Lucas Sims always seems to give up big big home runs and and then obviously there’s stats that kind of would would would deem that maybe not totally true but it does feel that way I don’t know what stats say but my point in saying all that is I will at least be fair to Sims in saying that it was a good pitch like if you watch the game and you see the pitch that’s like an 83 or 84 mph slider or whatever the pit I again if he throws a sweeper I don’t give a damn what you want to call call it was an offs speed pitch perfectly located at the bottom of the zone and you got to give him credit for what he happened what for what happened and it’s it’s uh it’s frustrating yes but the Reds were like one for eight with runners in scoring position today Nick okay we want to blame Fairchild blame Fairchild but TJ Fredo could have knocked him in uh Stevenson could have led the inning off with a double um I don’t know Stuart fairchild’s probably not standing on second base if he wasn’t fast because adamus doesn’t Rush the throw so I again I I seem frustrated but like I’m frustrated by the fact that it’s like every time we try to come up with a solution as to why as to why we lost this or why we lost sometimes close your ears I know people don’t like hearing the sometimes other team’s just better than you are they just they’re just better they make winning plays there’s a reason they’ve won 40 plus games and we’re stick we’re three games under 500 you want to blame the manager you can blame the manager a little bit that’s fine but but it’s a it’s it’s a collective effort it it’s everybody the Brewers made some plays today and and they have good pitching like they’re they’re they’re just they’re good and this week Nick we’ve played two really good teams we played the Guardians we played the Brewers what we finish two and three two and three this team three weeks ago was terrible am I going to sit here and say that like we should throw a parade because we competed with these good teams and oh look at us no but I’m also going to say as somebody that’s usually pretty like pessimistic in nature this is like the Reds the Reds deserve to win one of the two games that they lost in my opinion having said that if they continue to play this way for the rest of the year I feel pretty good about it I’ll leave it at that I don’t know what you make of the Sim situation I know Montas wasn’t very high in his pitch count he also kind of uh I don’t know it’s just funny because if Sims throws that pitch he rolls over a ground ball that has nothing to do with Sims by the way it’s everything to do with the hitter then all of a sudden nobody’s in trouble no one’s an idiot and uh by the reds are great did I get all that right for the most part or no yeah I think so yeah I agreee if the Reds play the way they played these last five games minus maybe some of the defense on Friday the game they actually won this weekend uh they’ll have a very good rest of the year in my opinion uh I know everyone wants to go to Fernando Cruz but my God you’re gonna run this guy into the ground you had to get 12 outs either way Fernando Cruz wasn’t getting 12 outs so he went to Lucas Sims first Sims hadn’t pitched as much um you also had already gotten through the heart of their order so if you want to use Fernando Cruz you’d probably want to save him for the time it goes through the heart of their order again and like you said it was a pitch on the black I don’t know what the Scouting Report is to will ad Damas maybe The Scouting Report says Hey throw him a first pitch breaking ball and maybe will adamus just made a great swing I mean sometimes you have to give him credit when Ellie De La Cruz hits a home run we don’t go oh my God right what was that [ __ ] you’re doing right we say oh good job Ellie De La Cruz it goes both ways so I I again I just it’s um this is not anywhere close this isn’t even remotely close to the team that we saw lose some games during that losing streak the team that we saw lose games during that losing street that the offense was struggling they’d have what three or four hardit balls all night like there was nothing red today had 11 hardit balls what do we count up yesterday was 16 I think just just didn’t go their way the the last two days uh but I I yeah I overall I feel pretty optimistic about the way this team played this week I’m not going to like you said I I we don’t have to go overboard and be like yeah I feel great about it because yeah it sucks to lose but if this team continues to play like they played over the last week over the last couple weeks Reds are going to be in very good shape at the end of the year yeah I mean to your point the last two nights somebody sent me a a DM on on Twitter of an account that they were trying to promote they’re they’re a you know how I am with the analytics but they’re a data scientist at uh at I don’t know some big company I seen long story short he sent me a account to follow and uh it’s a meter of basically how lucky teams get and it’s just based off of like when their Hits come and when they don’t so the concept I guess on their end which I don’t know I totally believed is that you know you don’t really get to pick and choose when your Hits come they just come because of the way it’s scattered throughout a game the Reds uh the Reds were uh they deserve to win quote unquote is what they have on here 85% the Brewers 10% Tai 5% so you know I I guess my point in saying all that is like it’s not like the reds are squandering games away at least I don’t feel that way um I I just hope they continue to play the way that they’ve played of of of recent and I think they’ll continue to find success let’s jump into the Fairchild thing I don’t know if that’s real is that on the back half we want to save that or no you go into it like uh listen I I think the Fairchild thing warrants some criticism he did look back a little bit there I I think he looked back over his right shoulder I watched the play like nine to 10 times just to try to get a feel for it because I knew that it was going to be a hot topic of conversation I know everybody on X is is is kind of crushing him I don’t see anyone defending him so here I go defending him I don’t know how much uh in regards that that actually affected the play as far as him not breaking on contact some people are suggesting he didn’t know how many outs there are that’s a lie as soon as the ball was hit he started to run and then there like I had some people send some screenshots of De La Cruz is is jump off of first base and his jump off of second base it’s like yo bro did you see the not only that did you see the first baseman and where he was positioned they had him shifted over to where you shift him sometimes towards second base Ellie De La Cruz is going to get a much much bigger lead than what they’re going to allow Fairchild to get on second base second of all the ball wasn’t hit all that hard and it was very short and you have like the third base coach is the next guy to blame like always got to find some to blame you have to send a guy there you have to send a guy there it’s two outs you’re like uh let’s just say for instance like pick a pick an unbelievable hitter um I don’t know maybe like Joey vad Joey vad comes to the plate next he still has a less than a 50% chance of driving him home so it’s a 5050 play at home plate they make the play and I don’t want to say it is what it is but it is what it is and you know what Fairchild of the faster guys on the team and are we going to I guess my my next question would be are we going to are we going to get on the Brewers case do you think the Brewers fans right now are complaining about how how in the world do you let Ellie De La Cruz score from second base on a failed pickoff attempt are they talking about that no they’re talking about how great their team is right now and how unbelievable a game it was because why when you win you forget about things and right now we’re we’re harping on all the smallest crap it’s like like we just need to make a couple better plays yes but it’s not one guy die and again steart Fairchild is not standing on second base if he wasn’t fast period period and I’m not trying to defend everybody and say everything’s great all the time I’m not you know if you watch a show enough you know I’m not that guy but I I just don’t I I I don’t buy into the thing that that it’s fair child’s fault it’s like as far as I’m peeking around Third Base too Nick like I think what he was trying to do was trying to get an idea of like you know essentially maybe where the play was and I guess you could argue that you don’t need to do that you could look for the guy behind the plate and all that but it’s just Natural Instincts and these guys are human sometimes they might make a slight mistake and again I’m not totally convinced that it slowed him down in any in any way and no one can actually prove that one way or the other but that’s here nor there I’m sure I’m pissing a lot of people off by saying that but if you want me to be authentic and real that’s how I kind of feel about the play they made a good play Nick it sucks they made a good play you know what sucks you know what sucks for Brewers fans you what about will Benson the other night when he threw a guy out of home you want was it their base runner’s fault yeah if if TJ Fredo throws out the runner in that center field no one’s talking about what the decision was uh the only thing maybe like steart fer probably should have ran over the catcher because the catcher was in the lane I I know they’re you’re almost like trained not to do that because of how the rule changes are uh but if he’s in the way as far as if I understand the rule you’re allowed to Barrel him over so he probably should have barreled over the the catcher um that’s maybe the only thing differently that he would have done but he was running hard uh I watched that replay like five times and I was like what I don’t know what everyone was talking about and there wasn’t a great angle at least the one that I saw um it was already after the ball was into the Outfield before you even really saw Fair child so I didn’t see his first exact Instinct his first exact move but um yeah I mean yeah I guess he probably should have barreled over the runner but again there there they’re so trained like not to do that because of the rule change and you don’t want to be the guy that that hurts a catcher after you know so much of a big deal has been made over that um but that’s probably the only thing you should have done differently yeah I’ll say this if we want to get mad at anything let’s get into the whole situation of of of of another big situation it just seems always find him and you know what give him credit cuz he found a way to get a hit but by God if there’s a big spot you might as well count don’t even watch the game you know Santiago espanol is going to find his 170 hitting tail I’m trying to keep it a kid show on a nice Father’s day but if it’s a big spot you we’ll roll Trot out old desol he’s he’s got it 170 probably slugging a a buck 97 but anyways maybe they it looked like the the nine-year-olds in the Little League when they come up to the plate for those poor guys they bring everybody in maybe that’s what we should be mad about is because Santiago espanol swings Swings with his purse and and and they basically bring everybody in with to within 200 feet of Home Plate and that’s why he threw him out so I don’t uh candelario gets taken out of the game for a pinch Runner with one out is that on the back half of the rundown no um I I don’t know there was there was a lot in this game I you’re not really expecting that candelario spots going to come back up in the next inning you pinch ran for him in the in the the eighth I guess I’m a little bit more curious though is there’re that big of a I actually stat cast says candelario is a faster runner no it’s fair yeah I mean it’s not like we brought in heres no disrespect but yeah if it would have been like heres I would have said n this is really silly to even you know look you were trying you were down runs you’re trying to come back you got to do whatever you can to try to come back I I don’t know if I see the trade-off there now espol did actually make a really nice play robbed a hit in the uh bottom of the eth so I mean who knows if that would have right changed anything but but yeah I mean that might be worth questioning I I just I’m not sure I see the upside there with espol uh versus candelario on the base pass well I think am I I did I forget something here hold on what heres was on the base pass yeah oh did heres pinch run yes oh and then they they brought in okay her be’s pinch ran and they didn’t steal him or anything and if I again this is me it was a fielder’s Choice yeah yes and my thing is like you pinch run a guy on first base I can get behind pinch running the guy on second base but on first base especially if you’re not going to move him I don’t know especi with one out too but again we’re sitting here and we’re we’re we’re debating things that are very very I don’t want to say minuscule because minuscule things are are a bunch of small things lead lead to big things I’m I’m having a really hard time with this because I think the Red’s played relatively well I’m the guy that always continues to say in order to do things that you that you haven’t done before uh you got to do things that you haven’t done which is beat the Brewers if if if this team wants to find a way to get to the postseason they’re GNA have to play better uh against the against divisional opponents I’ll leave it at that but the Brewers specifically if you’re trying to win the division now I I personally maybe I’m maybe I’m a quitter maybe I’m a loser Nick maybe I’m a guy that did that’s not a competitor now I would say I wouldn’t feel this way if I was on the team but as a fan I’ve kind of punted on the division personally um I just don’t see how in the world you climb that mountain and maybe again maybe I’m being a sore loser but I I do understand that every game matters and certainly for the Wild Card just like last year it’s going to come down to the last week more than likely unless something crazy happens that last week there’s going to be uh probably two or three or maybe even four teams that have a chance uh to get themselves into the postseason but I I’m having a hard time trying to convince myself of whether or not this is just this is just what happens when you play against teams that are better than you that’s and I and I’m not trying to be rude but that’s just kind of how I feel I I think the only way you win the division is if the Brewers just kind of have somewhat of a collapse I mean I think it would be more about the Brewers than necessarily the Reds taking it I I don’t see the Reds playing well enough that if the Brewers play well that they’re GNA Al they’re going to catch them and win the division I would also say Yelich Yelich bunting that was a big play yeah I did did not see that one coming great bun I mean that’s winning plays man I got I got the sequence uh in front of me here kind of to walk walk through it here so Ellie homered that made it a one-run game candelario singled and then candelario was the tying run or would have been the tying run so you’re in the you’re in the eighth inning one out yeah no one out no one out nobody out nobody out so you are I mean you are doing everything you can to try to tie the game and you’re not expecting Kario spot to come back up in the ninth inning so Spencer steers the next batter up heres pinch runs for him first two pitches were balls so heres may have been may have been thinking about running but then the the the the two- pitch is what sear swung at um hit it into the ground and they got the force out so they may have been trying to run with heres just the way that at bat played out there really wasn’t a good chance because you probably didn’t want heres to run um a two count um you know maybe he would have run if it was a one-1 count or something like that just unfortunately steer hit the ball into the ground and negated your your pinch Runner so again looking at the sequence I can’t really be mad at that I mean I I always say you you want to do everything you can to try to tie or win the game you worry about what happens later later for the most part um you know I I would say that with pinch hitters I’m not gonna save my pinch hitter for maybe a potential at bat in the ninth inning um I’m gonna use him if if I have a good match up to try to to Tire or to to to take the lead yeah and listen I know people don’t love this all the time but um if you’re just talking about you know what you Des deserved and what you don’t deserve you have 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 nine 10 out of the top 10 hardest balls hit of the game the Reds held nine of them eight of them excuse me so eight of 10 and then there’s there’s there’s a lot of red sprinkled to draw it’s not like the rest are a bunch of Brewers it’s not so I don’t know the the fact of the matter is is it’s frustrating because we’ve done this multiple times this season Nick where you win the first game and it’s such a big win and you and you can’t close man you just can’t close you can’t find a way to win the win one of the next two and you you leave town you know feeling relatively demoralized and at some point they’re going to have to continue to find a way to close these series out because if they don’t then it is what it is they’re not going to find a way to get to the postseason and I know ultimately that’s the goal and that’s what should be the goal you know for for franchise and an organization that during the offseason touted that their goal was to win the division um it’s it’s it’s hard to continue to con I guess convince ourselves that know just playing teams tough is is good enough and unfortunately it uh it’s what we have to believe now because there’s really no turning back can’t uh can’t put toothpaste back in the tube I think is what the the saying is that some people say but never really understood that kind of seemed dumb but I figured I’d use it all right you talk about Ellie um Ellie Ellie manufactured some runs today and I you know I his speed is lethal his speed is his speed is U it’s a GameChanger and I think again I’ve said this to you before I’ll say it again I think that it it’s honestly one of the reasons why people probably become so frustrated with Ellie with his strikeout rate is because when you see him get on base or you see him put the ball in play um good things 95% of the time happen yeah Ellie had a really big weekend offensively four for 10 three walks a homer and two triples against the uh the Brewers uh so I mean that that’s very encouraging you know offensively he had one of his probably better weekends especially when you factor in uh the some of the pitching that he faced this weekend um yeah just a big weekend for Ellie D L Cruz um you know you hope now that you’re going to face outside of you know Paul skines tomorrow which we talk about coming up uh you know you’re going to face some more favorable pitching matchups you know here over the next couple weeks kind of hope that Ellie D the Cruz could really um you know kind of get get hot because you know it be if you have Ed the Cruz you know hot and you have Jamber C delario and and Spencer steers now you know hadit a big home run today hey you know that the offense could could maybe you know actually have one of these really good runs um where they’re maybe able to help you know carry the team a little bit um so that’s kind of what you you hope to see out of uh out of Ellie I love Ned Flanders I love that I appreciated that we needed that by the way um we’ll get to that in just a minute here as we do our uh as we do our mid mid show um discussion all right let’s do um let’s do the 88 pitches and Frankie Montage I I guess we go there next because that’s the next thing that people want to blame is obviously David Bell and I I I think David Bell’s to blame um a little bit but again is is is there ever a perfect kind of uh method to the madness I think the most fair and honest argument to be had right now Nick is this and I’ll oppose it to you and I’ll kind of stay out of the way because I I I guess I I don’t have a huge opinion one way or the other about it you got a guy that you spent money on this year Nick um you got him for for for one season basically and for all intents and purposes he was throwing the ball well um gives get I I again Yelich has a great at bat it’s not like Montas just walked him on four straight pitches has a great at bat and you decide that you’re going to go and pull him with 88 you bring in Lucas Sims we know what happens after that and I guess my question is is that is that a lack of faith is that a lack of uh I guess of consistency from Montas to be able to say that you know he’s he’s been hurt obviously or taken some time off or been hurt I don’t know what you want to call it he’s been hurt earlier this season to where they don’t want to push him too far too soon or is it just he thought that that was the right move today and you you you take Montas out with 88 um only giving up one run so far and you bring in the bullpen to try to close it out which would have been a long you know I mean that was there was still a lot of game left when he brought in Lucas Sims yeah I mean look Lucas Sims has better numbers than Frankie montis has you know coming into the game he has a lower erra I mean pitch by pitch you would expect that Lucas Sims is probably a better pitcher uh you know I mean that was a nine pitch at bat to Christian Yelich which you know your it’s a good point that you know it’s not like Frankie had a terrible um bat against Yelich Yelich just worked a walk but that was a very long lengthy at bat and you know you’re probably are like yeah montis is probably frustrated after you know that that walk on away let’s bring in a fresh arm here to face adamus and and it backfired um again Frankie montis only got four batters out as last start so it’s montis to his credit I mean he he pitched very well today two of the more interesting starts like a really good start against the Brewers really good start U against the Rockies in course field and that starting the Cubs kind of sandwiched in between it’s been a a roller coaster of a year for Frankie Mones but I don’t know third time through the order third time facing these hitters I’m always going to lean towards you you probably made the right move going to your Bullpen um and not letting adamus you know face montis for a third time yeah and and listen I think that there’s a lot of people that are going to ask they’re going to ask the question of why Sims at some point you have to use your whole bull pin you know you do and they got to come through for you you know like I mean if would I guess would we feel better if Fernando Cruz came in the game and he gave up the home run like I I I guess we would probably feel better because we’d assume that our best was out there and we can live with losing with our best but we all can admit that over 162 games Lucas Sims is going to have to throw in some high leverage situations and I’m not trying to be like overly crude when I say this but that’s not a high leverage situation like I I he’s coming into a baseball game yet with with uh a lead and there’s Runners on base and I get all that but again this isn’t like the eighth this isn’t the seventh or the eighth thing like we’re we still have a ton of more outs to get I’m not going to sit here and say that that you can never use Lucas Sims um you have to use them and I guess my question to you Nick is like the perfect case and point that you said already is what I would continue to say to people is like do we not remember what happened last year like one of the main criticisms of David Bell last season was at the end of the season people said what they said that he burnt the bullpen to the ground these guys threw way too many innings and ultimately at some point it’s going to run its course and it’s just like a good boxer in a boxing match if you continue to deliver body blows that might not look like a big deal early in the year or early in the rounds of a fight but towards the end of the fight you quite it’s quite noticeable who’s been Landing the body blows I would say the same thing with David Bell in this situation with the bullpen if we continue to run out the same guys every single high leverage situation and I know we all know who that is it’s literally one guy that we always ask for and it’s Fernando crw and by God he’s been unbelievable and trust me if my life was on the line and I didn’t I needed three outs out of this Bullpen we all would probably pick Fernando Cruz but we can’t continue to ask for him to be the only guy that can do it and I will tell you you can’t always judge everything off of results now I know that that’s what we all do cuz we’re fans but my point is is like go back and watch that pitch just do that and you’ll feel a little bit better you should because if you know anything about ball you’ll know that’s a damn good pitch man I don’t know if they knew that he was going to throw that pitch off the rip I don’t know if he has a tendency to throw that pitch off the rip I’m not sure why in the world he even swung at that pitch quite frankly because if I was a Brewers fan and he threw that pitch and he didn’t get a hit I’d be like why are you swinging on a first pitch perfectly located breaking ball at the bottom of the Zone but you know what he hit it he hit it out of the park I give him all the credit and I’m not trying to you know throw uh Sims a life raft here but I genuinely mean when I watch the game when I watch the replay it was a good pitch and I’m going to stand by that I’m not going to get all that critical about Lucas Sims yeah Sims are more concerned about the the walks because that’s kind of been a trend for him the last couple years it’s a strange it’s been a strange year for Sims he’s already given up six home runs he only gave up five all of last year in 61 Innings so I I hope that’s more of just a you know weird sample and and that that’s not something that that’s going to become a trend um but Sims is never really in his career struggled since he got moved to a reliever um with giving up the long ball he’s had every single year as a reliever he’s been above average uh in in in in not giving up home runs so I I hope that’s more of just a you know weird start to the year for Sims he’s able to kind of get past uh that um but look if he continues to give up home runs that’s one of the things that makes him most valuable is that he does not give up home runs that’s what’s really kind of helped him balance out the fact that he walks a lot of guys um is the fact that he doesn’t give up home runs he doesn’t you know hurt himself so it’s something to watch with Sims but you you have to use all of these guys um I think they’ve used Fernando Cruz too much already um if you want to give him a criticism I would say maybe they used Cruz too much to where they felt like they didn’t want to throw him out the first time today but again you still to get 12 outs today and you had already got like don’t you want to use Cruz where he could be part of maybe the Yelich part of the top of the order as opposed to adamus and then the the bottom of the order because after adamus isn’t really the heart of the um of the Brewers lineup right I mean you want Cruz to be facing you know probably contrar shich and Adamas you want him to go through maybe all three of those guys in a spot if you’re going to use him and use a bullet from him I agree and my my my biggest thing is like it’s uh it’s just like it’s just it it’s just easy to sit here and I think after a loss and be frustrated by the fact that Lucas Sims gave up a home run and you thought that Lucas Sims wasn’t the guy and and and I agree with that the chat’s like well who would you rather face Cruz or Sims Cruz or Sims like I I get it yeah I know they would rather face Sims but is that our only option ever like every single time the Reds are in a pinch that’s who we have to throw every time is so we just gonna throw Cruz like 300 Innings this year so at some point someone else on the roster in the bullpen has to get guys out and you know what I would say they get guys out a hell of a lot the Reds I mean they scored four runs today and I’m not here to here suggest that like we can continue to blame the offense the the Reds offense today we haven’t said one word about it no one in the chat has said anything about it yes they hit some balls hard they were one for eight with runners in scoring position one for eight and the one hit that they got Nick it didn’t matter it got thrown out at the plate I that that’s part of the game too last time I checked your offense can score seven runs in a game now I’m not saying they need to do it all the time but it’s like we just sit here in every single game that we lose that I thought put it this way of all the games we want to get mad about I just don’t think that this is one that’s really really high on the list should we have won the game it feels that way yeah but I would tell you if you watch the Brewers play every single game all year long I bet you it’s start to think to yourself wow the Brewers they just find ways to win games like this you think you think last year Nick when we went on our run and we had all these young guys and we were stealing bases all over the place you don’t think teams were like we should build our team around like the Reds they just steal every bag on us they find ways to manufacturer runs every inning yeah they probably do but it’s not that easy to do because we don’t have another thing that we don’t have that I would say that the Brewers have is they they they make defensive plays look relatively easy and that matters too and I’m not saying that was the reason the Reds lost today but my my whole point is like it feels as if we got beat in my opinion by a better baseball team today that made better plays in convenient times does it mean that they should have won no but I’m G to give them credit because Christian Yelich had a great at bat and Christian Yelich walked when he could have struck out instead that made them make the decision that made David Bell maybe make the wrong choice it required them to bring in Lucas Sims or have to make the decision to bring in Lucas Sims are we going to just gloss over the fact that Christian Yelich laid down a perfect bunt because if he pops that bun up all of a sudden you know we’re probably having a different conversation if if uh old Perkins boy the other night doesn’t have a brain fart and he decides not to bum one in the air are we ripping David Bell because are we are we firing Alexis Diaz because he gave up he gave up a blown save probably if if Will Benson doesn’t make a perfect throw again these are like all things I’m trying to bring up to the for table I all I’m saying at the end of the day is this if you if you feel like this Red’s team is disappointing you now then I don’t know if you watched the last three weeks before this uh before this past week I should say uh because this team is light years ahead of what that team used to be and excited and I’m hopeful that if they continue to play this way good things are going to happen period end of rant yeah and let’s also like not forget Lucas sibs at a a 2.04 ER since April 19th I mean he’s pitched pretty well for over two months uh he had only allowed one home run in his last 16 appearances uh coming into this game so really Lucas Sims had a really bad stretch um in early April April um he gave up two runs to the white socks gave up three runs to the Mariners I think he also did he he gave up a uh was it a two or three run home run to the Cubs it was kind of a a really big spot so was that was that the rain game I think I think he might have given up a yeah he gave up a home run in the the hunter green Monsoon game and so I think he’s I think it’s been a couple really brutal spots that he’s kind of given up these big home runs I I personally am not someone who who goes yeah that means he’s not clutch or whatever I I think it just kind of happened at really inopportune times I put more stock in the overall numbers uh but again I’m concerned with it Lucas sims’s walk rate uh that continues to be concerned with him but overall he’s pitched pretty well um for over two months and again if you if the red don’t have guys like Lucas Sims and Alexis Diaz step up for them this season it doesn’t matter how good Fernando Cru is going to be you know I’m I’m in the middle of trying to figure out a way to to to do something I don’t know if this will work or not um I think I got it I’m gonna go for it we’ll see I’m GNA try to do it on the back half of this rundown if I can um I’m going to love this because from now on I’m going to use it when people tell me that the pitch was pitches were hung if you think that Lucas Sims hung this pitch then then I got something to show you we’ll get to that in just a minute all right before we get to that Nick um I want you to tell everybody about uh the the beautiful app really the beautiful app it’s one of the most beautiful apps um of of basically any app I’ve ever opened I don’t know if you’ve opened a lot of apps I’ve opened a good amount of apps on my phone the game time app it’s Sleek it’s nice tell everybody why they should use it yeah my wife always comes in EN closes like 4,000 apps that I have open for me uh as I’m a Serial app leave opener kind of guy but the game time app is an app that you want to have open because it’s an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball that makes getting tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time M actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch with killer last minute deals all in pricing views from your seat and the lowest price guaranteed game time takes the guesswork out of buying M Mo tickets they have all in pricing you can toggle this feature and it shows you the total up front with no surprise fees a checkout price guaranteed or game time will credit you 110% of the difference take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use the code ciny for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem the code Cincy C ncy for $20 off download the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed muted as always we have uh 988 I know on a day like today maybe you’re feeling uh you know listen I know one thing holidays sometimes are the opposite effect of some people I just want to get that open uh out there no we’re not some people aren’t naive to that if Father Day Father’s Day is a tough day for you for whatever reason that may be uh and you need to use the resources mantherapy.org or 988 please text or call all right I I I did find something now I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do this smoothly or not smoothly what will find out okay but here’s my thing all right I if we’re going to sit here if we’re going to sit here and we’re going to act like this pitch right here this pitch all right now I I don’t know if they’re going to let me move around that pitch is hung like this pitch is hung I’m sorry but it’s not that that that that’s not hung all right now listen if it if it lands like up here somewhere in the middle of the Zone cool but it’s okay if the other team just makes a better play than you that’s all I’m getting at and and that’s what happened so it’s like if uh you think other people like when Joy Vada would would fight off like six or seven or eight or nine pitches and then slap a single into left field or or rip a double down the line that they’d be like I can’t believe Jay Johnson couldn’t get vad out on that pitch he’s terrible or maybe just Joy vad is an animal f for thought all right Spencer sear goes deep you think that’s uh you think that’s a big deal I’m gonna say I’m going to say I don’t think it’s a big deal I’m going to get out ahead of it and say that I I need to see more from Spencer steer but you’re excited about it well yeah I’m excited I’m excited any Ty of Reds player goes deep Trace that’s fair how how are you not excited about I just I just need to see more I need to see more you know I need to see more Spencer Spencer outside of obviously getting really really hot at the beginning of the year um I don’t know hasn’t has been a little bit of disappointment if we’re being honest good to see him hit a home run off a right-handed pitcher I think like will Benson gets this uh rap as a guy that every time he gets a hit off a lefty we’re like oh wow a hit off a lefty and there’s a good reason for that don’t get me wrong uh but Spencer steer kind of doesn’t really get it the other way like his splits are pretty rough uh this season against right-handed pitching I think last year had like a 780 Ops and I think a lot of people thought oh he’s he’s a bonafide he’ll be able to hit you know righties lefties but if you kind of look through and I did try to caution people on this if you look kind of through some of his minor league splits almost all of his production value came against lefties throughout the miners so uh I think spitz’s just got to be better against right-handed bitcher especially if he’s going to bat cleanup the Reds B remember the Reds were batting him seventh on opening day against right-handed bitcher I think they were batting him second at the beginning of the year against lefties I think people were up in arms about that but I think theed sold is coming a lot more I think right now they have spear batting clean up more out of I don’t I don’t know why they have’t batting second I mean I know they they want bson at the bottom of the lineup they want India at the bottom of the lineup because I think they felt like moving them down helped them get more comfortable or whatever not but I’m not sure Spencer steer is the guy I really actually want batting cleanup against right-handed pitching yeah I don’t know if we overshot our overshot our expectations of Spencer maybe slightly we’ll find out I don’t know he could get hot for the rest of the year and end up having an unbelievable season but it uh but boy he got off to a great start and it felt like man this guy was not a fluke he’s he’s the real deal and then obviously he kind of fell off quite significantly and and uh it was nice to see Ellie obviously have a big big weekend because more or less Ellie was also kind of uh I don’t want to say he just was struggling a little bit for the good part of a month and a half at least at the plate I think his speed though kind of hides some of that if we’re being honest but that’s here nor there this is about Spencer de um run into some supers here really quickly Ned Flanders wanted to let everybody know that Santiago espanol clutch c u t c h clutch Ned that made me laugh I did appreciate that uh Ned also chimes in he says uh sweep the Pirates and all is all is well doable where do I get my spire’s jersey um I’m not sure you’d have to go get a you’re GNA you have to get that custom made at the Ballpark probably that’s like uh back in the day um I don’t know if you guys know this about me but I was an incarna uh Stan I did like incarna I believed in incarna and then of course the Reds got rid of incarna and incarna ended up doing what incarna did uh but I had to go to the ballpark to get an incarna Jersey so yep watched him Stitch it right in front of me with the number 12 on it so shout out to uh shout out to Edwin um all is not lost and forgotten in my eyes what you did for the Reds and by what you did you showed glimpses of greatness in a lot of areas of improvement and I’m glad that you f found that out after you left uh Matt Wells said uh Reds need one more High leverage relief arm do you think they will try santian or someone else I can’t ever say his name sanon s sanon sanon sanon santian why the [ __ ] excuse my language but why do I say that just how I say there there’s a till there’s a t s sanelon sanelon sanon how about the fat guy that can throw balls over the plate is he fat still is he fat I don’t oh he used to be fat let’s not act like he wasn’t come on uh or someone else is there another AAA arm worth trying Maxwell is going to be the only other answer Maxwell struggled a little bit I know recently but what other answers do you have yeah I mean sanon’s been a little bit more hitable of late um he’s fine he’s not on the 40-man roster so that kind of makes it a little bit more challenging with him YZ vuleta would be the guy because he’s on the 40-man roster he’s pitched really well he did give up a run today uh but he has he has really really good stuff he would be the guy that I would consider Maxwell’s not ready Maxwell is is if you do not like Luca Sims you are not going to like Zack Maxwell right now um he’s walking a lot of guys um he he he’s he’s had a few appearances at Triple A where he’s been all over the place so he’s not ready um they do have Alex Young still sitting down at Triple A he’s obviously a guy that that you know you would you would consider um I don’t know Casey lamina Casey lamina he’s been the guy that’s been absolutely dominant he’s got like a he’s on like eight in a row scoreless he has like a 86 ER since um the end of April or something like that it was on the the the uh the podcast this morning and it’s on the uh the minor league report on at Chatterbox Sports um but yeah he would be a guy as well but I don’t I don’t know if I’d make a move right now I do feel like there’s several arms in this Bullpen that are teetering but I don’t feel like there’s necessarily anyone that’s been bad enough that I say yeah I have to make a move I don’t know are you kind of in that that boat I 100% AG agree man I look like you throw Lucas Sims down in Triple A for a month and a half two months let’s see what I’m just no my point my no listen to me my point is let’s come back and see what his numbers look like at tripa all right like like like can Mike Ford be a little bit of a of a of a Learning lesson for all of us maybe just a little bit of one like you know hey I was the first guy to yell hey we got to give Mike Ford a chance to at least see what he can do and Mike Ford shown us what the difference is between triaa in the major leagues is okay um legam is a guy last year I remember liking his stuff a lot I I thought that he threw the ball stuff wise well now his results weren’t kind of in in in they weren’t uh a perfect duplicate of each other in regards to what I thought he looked like versus his results so I can’t guarantee that he’d come up here and do any better than Lucas Sims or whoever else you want to replace for that matter um but that’s here nor there uh Andrews go ahead I was going to say it reminds me a lot of uh Dari Moretta who ironically is on the Pirates but he’s hurting he actually had a really good year last year with the Pirates but he had these incredible numbers at Triple A and every single night it was the reds are idiots for not calling this guy up what are they doing you know this guy’s got like a a a sub one and a half ER at something at Triple A for whatever and he came up and he just got absolutely lit up uh he had like a five erra in 2022 with the Reds um after what did he do 2021 yeah 2021 at um at triple had a 0.68 and he was you have to call him up and then he came up and it it didn’t translate I remember Maxwell also uh not that you’re going to judge spring training debuts or spring training games off of off of what they can do against Big League hitters but I do remember Maxwell’s outing uh against a couple I’m just saying you’re so salty because I was so high on this guy I was like hey really want to see him that’s not true Nick now you’re lying now no all I we tell the story why not Nick Nick’s Nick’s like hey guys we got to get some video of this guy um he’s getting ready to throw no one’s ever seen him throw before really Jes Maxwell you know he’s gonna be he could he’s a he’s a guy that that that that can be really good he’s throwing like a 100 miles an hour down here when I kid you not this guy comes in the game and he’s just given up BS I mean he probably gave up seven runs in in that inning he gave up I’m pretty he gave up three what was all three home runs I don’t know regardless he got he got absolutely uh I can’t even say what I want to say because it’s a kid show but he he got got taken to the Woodshed all right Andrew Syler said uh should we should we be scared of skin and the Pirates do you think this offense can handle skin also how are we feeling about spes I feel great about spes um am I scared of skines no not scared of skines skin is also a guy that I think will come back down to earth a little bit I as far as like if he’s on he’s going to be tough that’s that’s what I would say but he’s also a rookie he’s going to be due to to have some rookie moments and I’m just hoping those come against the Reds you scared of him yeah I mean at some point he is I think going to come back down to earth now is that going to be tomorrow night yeah I don’t know about that I mean he’s an he’s an incredible Talent excited for this this opportunity um for for cars inspirers this is a really just um and I’m going to repeat this because I want it to be in the podcast tomorrow um I’m not GNA cut this put this part in but it is it’s an undrafted uh free agent up against the number one pick so you know that spes is going to be uh motivated this game’s also on national TV it’s on Fox Sports One and just because skin is pitching there’ll be a lot more people tuning into to a a Red’s Pirates tilt on a Monday night than you might normally expect this is a really cool opportunity for spers who’s pitched well at um not only the majors in the bull pin but he dominated Triple A as well I like it it’s on national TV I like that I also like the idea that skem is due for a bad outing I think he’s due for a bad outing I don’t know if we’ll get one but it feels like it’s coming soon just saying coming soon um all right uh John says uh Lefty after righty pitching mole first then Sims may have worked better Frankie and Sims to similar Stu has been great in the Outfield and versus Lefty so I think Jon is basically back to the sixth inning situation Adamas does have career reverse splits to to John’s Point yeah uh adamus actually has a 708 career Ops against left-handed pitchers and a 780 against right-handed pitcher so I think that might have been what he was talking about yep um so I I don’t know I mean it’s it’s a it’s if anything doesn’t go right we’re always going to hindsight kind of question whether it was the right decision or not the right decision even if you’re not a per put it this way even if you’re a person that sometimes in real time thinks it’s a bad decision I’ll openly admit there are times where in I don’t use the hindsight game I’m like hey David Bell should take this guy out or David Bell should leave this guy in and if they don’t take them out or they do leave them in which is opposite of what I believe and it goes right or the or nothing happens then nobody ever talks about it so it’s kind of like it’s hard to play that game and listen I’m not here to say that uh he’s perfect David Bell is not perfect I think if there’s anything that that at some point David Bell is going to be responsible for the fact that this club is either going to find ways to win games over a long period of time or not I thought and it sucks this isn’t the case but I thought this was going to be the first year where I thought it would be it would be more than fair to Judge David Bell if this red steam did not make the post season and I’m not trying to make excuses but I think they’re reasonable to say without Matt mlan without TJ Fredo for sometime without CES without Noel V Marte that changes things a little bit it just does and I’m not uh again trying to defend David Bell who mumbles in every interview and hopefully he’s not like that in the clubhouse because if he is he’d be really boring and nobody would probably like him but the players seem to like him so maybe he doesn’t Mumble all the time all right that’s it for the supers um playoff system I are you g to go where I think you’re going to go which is that it’s it’s it’s really great for teams like the Reds that are three games below 500 have no chance to probably win the division but here we are and we still have a punch chance did I nail that or no let me uh let’s frame this Frame this better blush this out so so Trace there’s been a lot of recent talk about how uh MLB playoff system about how there’s so many teams in the inl Wild Card race and how it’s terrible for the state of baseball there’s been some some folks that have decided to take that side what do you think about the current playoff system and uh so many teams being in the race I think it’s baseball’s only option to give to give the uh the poor teams a chance and by poor teams I guess we’ll just call them mid mid markets uh or small markets whatever term you’d like to use to make yourself feel better that’s all good and well but I know one thing uh all the teams that spend a quite significant amount of money and for Right Reasons by the way uh this isn’t about our ownership group being cheap or the Pirates being cheap or any whoever else being cheap you go ahead and use whatever other FL founding team you want to make you feel better if you want to say oh look at the Brewers they spend the same amount of money as the Reds why can’t we be the Brewers well that used to be the Rays no one’s talking about the Rays anymore and by the way what have the Rays ever won they’ve never won a damn thing now I know they’ve won a lot of baseball games but they never actually won the thing that only everyone cares about right like have you ever heard anyone be like hey back in the 90s look at how many games the Braves won no they they they’ll point to maybe the World Series Championship they won so in my opinion this is baseball’s version of trying to find either a salary cap or a luxury T tax that really doesn’t work anyways or some kind of cap system that makes there being somewhat of an equal playing field because the one thing that everyone always says about baseball is that if you get into the postseason Nick you got a chance doesn’t matter if you won 120 games or you won 90 games or you won 83 games you could get hot look at the Diamondbacks by the way I don’t mean to remind you the Diamondbacks they didn’t win anything I mean they won yeah they won the NL uh uh uh pinnet which is which is cool they made the World Series but they didn’t actually win the World Series the Rangers the team that spent all the money they won the World Series now I’m not here to sit here and argue that um that you can’t win a World Series being a small Market team it’s very doable and possible but I’m I’m never going to give this league any semblance of credit for making it a semi Equitable situation because it’s not and the reality is if you’re somebody that’s like well if you want to own a major league team you should just be a philanthropist and basically just uh lose money on purpose which I guess if you’re rich enough and you love baseball enough you can do that but I also know to be fair to the cinis a little bit they don’t have enough money to go out and even try to entertain the ideas of getting the guys like Otani or or anyone else for that matter so yeah am I frustrated by the by the way that MLB is right now and the Dynamics of it all I’m asking for is maybe that they resigned Ellie De La Cruz a guy they went to the Dominican Republic Nick and they found on their own they gave what $60,000 to sign this guy because no one else even knew who he was and nor cared now all of a sudden since he’s going to make the major leagues we’re going to fight through what is going to be probably two or three seasons of him being young just to have two or three seasons of his of him being AR arbitration eligible to then have to go fight against these guys that have unbelievable markets unbelievable amounts of money to fight for the same guy it’s not fair it’s dumb the whole system’s stupid uh so you know what Nick at the end of the day that’s my long-winded way of saying you have to have this in order to keep People Like Us entertained because if not it would just be a it would just be uh very rare a small Market team would even have a semblance of a chance you like that answer I love it I love it yeah I mean look if uh we we can all agree I mean we all wish the Reds spent more I’m sure Pittsburgh Pirates fans wish they spent more I’m sure you know go down the list of the of the teams that are in the the bottom half of of spinning but the reality is they don’t also at the same time have the same Revenue coming in as the teams like the Dodgers do uh you can want them to spend more and also rationally realize that there is a massive gap between the amount of Revenue that they have and the the extra playoffs gives more teams a chance it even the playing field some because we do know that the playoffs are a massive crapshoot but this whole like notion of of oh my gosh it’s so terrible for the sport that so many teams are competing from playoff spots just absolute nonsense uh MLB had a record weekend in attendance um or record day on Saturday uh people are excited that their teams are in the playoff race if you have that Outlook I don’t know why the hell you watch this sport like just go do something else with your time because that’s it’s just wild to me even even still though the the Cardinals right now have the second wild card spot they hold that spot the playoff system was that way from 2011 until uh 2022 the Reds would still only be a game and a half out of that spot like that team still got into the playoffs before that and even if you want to go before that what is it 1995 to 2010 the Braves currently hold that spot Reds would still only be five games back so it’s not like they’re oh my gosh they’re so much closer because of the current system that’s also just part of the way this year has shaken out in baseball uh and it’s mainly shaken out you know why it’s shaking out because really in the National League there’s not a true team that’s tanky and that’s what we all wanted right the Nationals were maybe the only team in the National League that going into the season you said oh that team is probably tanking now they’ve actually played pretty well they’re only one game below 500 as evid by by by signing uh senzel and starting him on opening day only for him to obviously get hurt sure but they’re the only team that if you honestly take a look at you go what team it was really not trying to win you’d say maybe the Nationals but they’ve played well so it’s hard to even really keep that take the Marlins now I think are tanking but that was only because they got off to such a horrendous start and they just said well we’re we’re we have no chance that they traded Lis arise but the Rockies were trying uh they just are not good at trying um but again the reason that every there’s so many competitive teams is because everyone was trying this year and ultimately that’s what we wanted to have happen I have no problem with the playoff system the only thing I would have beef with if if I had if I loved and and uh I I guess if I loved a team that was going to win 95 to 100 games and I thought that they were above and beyond better than everybody I personally think if you win the division uh you you shouldn’t be eliminated unless you lose a seven game series so and I and I think that I think that they should find a way to make those five Gamers seven Gamers personally and I know they can’t extend the playoffs like too crazy long because of weather another thing that I don’t really love in Major League Baseball is is how late the season goes into um that’s a debate for another day but it it would I would just say I would I would not mind there being more teams in the playoffs and I even think that the NBA of all things didn’t know we were going to go down this path tonight but I think the NBA did something that was really cool that works which is they kind of have that like playin game where the the higher seed essentially would have to lose two games in a row if you want to call it that uh in order to get knocked out of the traditional postseason what it does is it makes the regular season maybe a little less meaningful per se for a lot of teams but it definitely keeps more teams interested in in the hunt and in the fight and I think a perfect example of that will be this year in college football to round out my full-fledged Sports take here which is everyone wants to talk about how watered down the regular season gets well how watered down is the regular season for the vast majority of teams if there’s only a couple teams that are going to make the postseason when you can kind of see who it is now I mean that’s the truth and unfortunately or fortunately however you going to look at it for these leagues they need to keep more teams entertained and it’s 100% % there there’s only one reason the NFL is so popular in my opinion you could say football whatever Sundays all this it’s because they have a league where every single damn Team every team their fan base actually thinks that they have a chance going into the season and you can say whatever you want about Major League Baseball in the NBA but the truth is if you actually really looked yourself in the mirror we know that that’s not really the truth for the vast majority of the teams in the league the playoff system at least it shines a light and gives them a chance to have something to hope for um so I have no problem with it I agree with that to a degree but I actually think this year was a rare example where in the National League 13 out of the 15 teams their fan bases probably thought they had a legit chance this year so I think somehow and this may be a complete anomaly you know we might go next year and be like going yeah this team’s out of it but really the Nationals and the Rocky are the only two teams that I bet if you ask the the majority of the other teams as fan base do you think your team has any chance making the playoffs I think almost every single one of them like yeah I think we got a chance this year um I mean you know you look at the Pirates they have the same record as the Reds right now uh we said going to the year we thought any of the five teams could win the NL Central and I think all five fan bases thought they probably could but all five still could reach the playoffs and I think that’s a good thing yeah I mean if you had a great team you wouldn’t feel as good about it but that’s us but screw them they like care I’m just just saying Nick like okay I’m gonna paint a p perfect picture to be fair if the Reds were incredibly ran a really well-oiled organization and they were winning 90 plus games a year and they and they were finding themselves in a position where they win the division yeah and then let’s just say for instance you got this lowly team in the Cardinals who get in with 82 wins and they win their little wild card series and let’s just say just hypothetically speaking you got to play a team or pick any other team besides the Cardinals because I don’t know if the divisional opponent thing I don’t know if that actually equals up I don’t I think you can you can play each other in a divisional round against in against divisional opponents but you can’t play a wild card but that’s here nor there my point is is that if you had to play a three- game series or a five-game series against a team with 15 or 20 less wins than you during the regular season you would be pissed about it and I think that that’s a fair assessment from those teams but the truth is is that’s not who we are right now so we don’t care about and screw those teams one of them signed chy Otani to $700 million deferred for the next after I’m dead like well Shani by the way his cap his cap hit or whatever you want to call it his the amount of money that he goes towards the luxury tax just so we’re all aware is the same amount of money as Nick szel this year for the for the Nationals so yeah I’m with you and and the other team that that that’s 47 to 23 they have a platoon right fielder that can’t play defense that’s owed 100 million that they just chump changes and they can just throw away exactly and that’s what sucks about Major League Baseball could you imagine if the Reds made a decision to sign castios and and and it ended up being the same type of like we’ve done it before it’s called Uh Hunter uh not hunter green excuse me that’s definitely not what I was trying to say it’s called Homer Bailey no no disrespect to Homer uh and it’s called Mike mustakis didn’t help us either maybe King griffy Jr is that is that being rude yeah well the King griffy Jr contract did not work out I mean I don’t think I’m just I just don’t want I’m not try you don’t blame anyone for that I don’t blame the Reds they had to do it you don’t blame G Jor just it sucks it didn’t work out sometimes that happens I’m just saying though like those things matter a lot and unfortunately it it hurts it hurts teams like us significantly and you got people like the Cubs who who uh they can guy they can get a guy like Hayward and who cares it’s not a big deal yeah keep swinging and missing all right uh uh Red’s MB little Sunday night action so uh hopefully Austin Hendricks had a had a uh I don’t know what what happened but I’m not going to bury the lead Trace I’m not going to bury the lead all right we’ll start off with triple A where the Louisville Bats continue to struggle they lost 63 to St Paul bats have lost seven straight and 11 out of 14 they are now 34 and 34 this was a team that was 31 and 22 at one point this season noeli Marte he was 0 for four but he did just miss a home run in both the seventh and eighth inning both were fouled on the left field line if you’d like to see video of that go to at cbox Sports on Twitter some random Twitter admin put that up for you uh Blake Dunn was one for four hit a home run his fifth of the season a home run his home run was hit 379 ft had a 998 exit velocity but he actually had a fly out that was hit much better 413 feet 104 resigns 0 for three with a walk over on the pitching side Alex Young did give up a run in an inning and a third but he did strike out three didn’t walk about the Run was a solo home run YZ ver zuleta has been who has been pitching really well of late did give up two hits in a run um on Sunday and then Tony sanon gave up two hits but did not give up a run Chattanooga they lost 61 one to Montgomery Lookouts have lost four straight and they fall to 17 and 46 on the season that’s a 270 win percentage they have to uh be better than 390 to uh not have their worst record all time rare uh poor start for Julian agar a guy that me and Bryce were talking about on the podcast earlier this week them we caught him the most consistent pitcher in the Reds minor leagues had a rough one in this gave 13 hits in five earned runs uh the five earned runs are the most the season he had hadn’t allowed more than three in a start all year 13 hits a career high by a mile his previous high was 10 all the way back in 2022 when he was with Daytona not a whole lot on the offensive side Dominic patelli rare off day for him 0 for five with two strikeouts but Austin Hendricks he did get a hit down to Dayton they lost 4-2 to Great Lakes dragons fall below 500 31 32 cam Collier 0 for three at the walk South Stewart one for four Hector Rodriguez he extended his hit streak to nine games he was one for four Jay Allen was 0 for three but did walk and stole a 17th base of the year and then Carlos Jorge finally starting to heat up he had a tough start to the year but he was two for four hit his ninth home run of the year he’s home run for a second straight game and he has three home runs in his last six games a jav Rivera he threw three shutout Innings just give up two hits no walks and struck out two he was pulled after completing three innings in only 47 pitches the dragons broadcast did not know the reason why he was pulled um he did however throw 13 Innings over his last two starts and he’s already gone past his total Innings threshold uh from the year before but Rivera has been absolutely dominant of late he’s got a 0.84 erra over his last six starts and get this 41 strikeouts in just seven walks in 32 in two3 Innings pitched and last but not least Daytona they fell 64 to Palm Beach in 10 Innings Tortugas fall to 30 and 33 on the season not a whole lot in this one offensively Sammy stura 0 for five Ricardo Cabrera 0 for four with a walk I think that’s four straight games for Cabrera uh without a hit after having such an incredible start to the season and your laurano he uh threw in this one went an inning in two3 didn’t give up a hit but did a run because he walked three batters but did strike out four laurano he’s got a 3.24 50 strikeouts in 33 and two3 innings pitched that’s your Reds MB presented by Nick Kirby um all right we have uh we have more baseball on the way Believe It or Not uh this was not the end of the season tonight and by tonight I mean today so uh kind of hinted at this a lot during the show today but uh who what when where and why Nick all right Reds will start a three- game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates uh on Monday night uh Monday’s matchup Carson spires up against Paul SK that’ll be 640 start time Tuesday 6:40 Nick ldo up against Bailey falter bayy falter is having a nice year for the Pirates three and four 3.86 er and then Wednesday is a 1235 start it’s a really sneaky great pitching match match up hunter green up against Mitch Keller Mitch Keller’s 8 and4 3.36 but Monday night’s matchup uh it’ll be a big one Paul skin going he of course was the number one overall pick out of LSU uh last season currently the number two Prospect in all of baseball only behind Jackson holiday uh skin was a teammate of current Reds Prospect Ty Floyd he also had an epic matchup in the College World Series against Rhett louder when louder was at Wake Forest uh SK started the year at Triple A boy was he dominant 0.99 erra in seven starts at triaa Indianapolis uh Ski’s only start against Louisville was actually his very first start ever at Triple A he threw three perfect Innings with five strikeouts uh Jacob herbees actually LED off the first batter that that skin fac at Triple A heres did have a nice at bat but he struck out on seven pitches um skin a couple highlights this year Sher threw six noit Innings against the Cubs at Wrigley Field became the first Pirates player ever to strike out 11 batters at Wrigley Field and did so in just six Innings skin threw a career-high 103 pitches in six and a third shutout Innings his last start at the at the St Louis Cardinals and the Cardinal fans actually gave skin a standing ovation as he exited um the game uh skin was originally supposed to start on Sunday at Coors Field um but the Pirates decided to move him back to face the Cincinnati Reds I already have a tweet in the draft um if that backfires I would love to be able to hit send um skin relies on five pitches a four seam fast ball that is absolutely electric almost always over 100 miles an hour has a split finger a slider curveball and change up all right for the Reds Carson spires this will be a great matchup because Carson inspires was a non-drafted uh free agent signing of the Reds of course going up against the number one overall pick this will be the first start in The Bigs leagues of the season for spers he’s obviously been dominant in the bullpen 2.33 ra and hasn’t been a fluke either a 2.52 FIP spers was great down at Triple A Louisville as well he went three and one with a 2.51 erra um spers was used exclusively as a starter um spers gave up five earn runs in his first start against with the bats but he’s been even more dominant since then he actually has a 1.69 erra his last 42 and two-thirds Innings down there 46 strikeouts and just 14 walks spers has never F fa the Pirates or any active players on the roster in the big leagues however spers did face the Pirates triaa affiliate Indianapolis three times this season that first was his actual first start where he gave the five runs but last two times he faced the the Indianapolis Indians six Innings no runs six Innings no runs Nick Gonzalez who’s been batting cleanup lately for the Pirates was in the lineup on March 29th and March 7th he went two for five with a homer and a strikeout all right folks we’ll be back here better than ever tomorrow uh don’t forget to tell a friend about the uh the podcast please do that download it rate it review it you know the unique thing about podcast is like uh theoretically like plays aren’t downloads downloads aren’t plays it’s really weird I’m sure at some point down in the uh in the history of podcast in about four or five years they’re going to look back and be like why why why do they have to download them on their phone in order to count as a download that’s kind of dumb but it’s here nor there I’m gonna tell you guys something sometimes I get intuition feelings and uh I’m not saying I’m always right because I’m not but my intuition has not failed me a whole lot in my life and I got a good feeling about tomorrow I got a feeling that Paul schem is going to get a reality check I got a feeling that if you thinking about betting on Paul schemes you might want to think otherwise cuz I think he’s got something coming for him I don’t know if he’s just going to walk the world I don’t know if he’s going to run into some guys that are just going to run into some fast balls that he’s about to throw but I got news for you this isn’t the Reds team that was that was playing three four weeks ago that was absolutely abysmal and awful I’m not saying we should hang ban uh banners because we you know we we hung with teams or we played them tough we’re not doing that but I will say this team is playing much much better playing closer to the team that we expected to have at the beginning of this season and hopefully we just continue to hang H around hang around hang around until we get the rest of the crew with us and at that point all that will really matter is how we play in one month as always we’ll be back here better than ever tomorrow we’ll see you then go Reds [Music] [Music] n [Music]

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Story we are following from ESPN:

Cincinnati Reds (34-36, third in the NL Central) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (41-29, first in the NL Central)

Milwaukee; Sunday, 2:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Frankie Montas (3-5, 4.55 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 44 strikeouts); Brewers: Colin Rea (5-2, 3.31 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 48 strikeouts)

: LINE Brewers -130, Reds +110; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Both the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds are looking for a series win with a victory on Sunday.

Milwaukee has a 41-29 record overall and a 21-12 record at home. The Brewers have gone 28-5 in games when they scored at least five runs.

Cincinnati has a 16-17 record in road games and a 34-36 record overall. The Reds have gone 5-11 in games decided by one run.

Sunday’s game is the sixth time these teams match up this season. The Brewers have a 3-2 advantage in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: William Contreras has 17 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 48 RBI for the Brewers. Jackson Chourio is 10-for-30 with a double, two home runs and seven RBI over the past 10 games.

Jeimer Candelario leads Cincinnati with 12 home runs while slugging .494. TJ Friedl is 10-for-36 with three home runs and eight RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Brewers: 5-5, .232 batting average, 3.17 ERA, outscored opponents by one run

Reds: 7-3, .239 batting average, 3.44 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runs

INJURIES: Brewers: D.L. Hall: 60-Day IL (knee), Robert Gasser: 15-Day IL (flexor), Joe Ross: 15-Day IL (back), J.B. Bukauskas: 60-Day IL (lat), Jakob Junis: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Wade Miley: 60-Day IL (elbow), Garrett Mitchell: 60-Day IL (finger), Devin Williams: 60-Day IL (back), Taylor Clarke: 15-Day IL (meniscus), Brandon Woodruff: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Reds: Emilio Pagan: 15-Day IL (lat), Brandon Williamson: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Christian Encarnacion-Strand: 10-Day IL (hand), Ian Gibaut: 60-Day IL (forearm), Tejay Antone: 60-Day IL (elbow), Matt McLain: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Reds
@
Brewers

(34-36)
2:10 PM
American Family Field

(41-29)

Frankie Montas
RHP
3-5, 4.55 ERA, 44 SO

Colin Rea
RHP
5-2, 3.31 ERA, 48 SO
CIN Lineup
MIL Lineup
TJ Friedl (L) CF
Elly De La Cruz (S) SS
Jeimer Candelario (S) 3B
Spencer Steer (R) 1B
Jake Fraley (L) RF
Nick Martini (L) DH
Jonathan India (R) 2B
Luke Maile (R) C
Will Benson (L) LF
Brice Turang (L) 2B
William Contreras (R) C
Christian Yelich (L) DH
Willy Adames (R) SS
Jake Bauers (L) 1B
Joey Ortiz (R) 3B
Sal Frelick (L) RF
Jackson Chourio (R) LF
Blake Perkins (S) CF