Cincinnati Reds head home with fourth place on the line

With the season coming to an end the Cincinnati Reds have a chance to take fourth place from the Milwaukee Brewers and end on a high note.

The Cincinnati Reds have what could be their most important series of the season this week as they face the Brewers just 3.5 games off of the pace for fourth place in the NL Central.  Usually, this would not mean much, but this year the Reds have nearly guaranteed avoiding 100 losses and have been competitive since roughly August 1.

The Reds head into game one with a game winning streak.  They send spot starter Keyvius Sampson to the mound to face Wily Peralta, the Brewers de facto ace heading into the season.  This will only be Peralta’s 20th start as he missed some time to injury, along with much of the Milwaukee staff.

Game 2 will see veteran Matt Garza go to the mound for the Brewers against the best pitcher in the Reds’ rotation, Dan Straily.  Straily took the only loss in Pittsburgh, but he also had only one run of support.  Garza, meanwhile, has had a tough year and has been injured just like Peralta.

Game 3 will see the Brewers’ best pitcher, Junior Guerra, face the biggest question mark in the Reds’ rotation, Tim Adleman.  Adleman had the only quality start in Pittsburgh for any of the Reds’ starters.  Now he is looking to get back to a .500 record with the victory.

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There’s more on the line here than just the standings.

Joey Votto is looking to finish out a dominant season against the Brewers.  He is batting .412 with a .483 OBP against them this year.  Votto would love to end the season with an OBP of .500 or more against the Brew Crew.  He would need a big series. With a 1.228 OPS heading into the series in Cincinnati, however, it could definitely happen.

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Adam Duvall is also looking to have a big series against the Brewers.  He is batting .333 with an OPS of 1.038 against them heading into the series.  So far this month, Duvall is batting .139 with a .195 OBP.  He hit only a single home run in the first 11 days of the month.

On the pitching side, Straily is making his third start against Milwaukee.  This is his first since they traded Jonathan Lucroy to the Texas Rangers.  They have a combined OPS of .622, but much of that damage has come from Ryan Braun and Scooter Gennett.  Straily wants to limit the damage imposed by those two.

Doing so could cement his place in the Cincinnati Reds’ 2017 rotation.

Next: Cincinnati Reds set rotations for 2017

This series may not be in the national spotlight.  The Reds essentially ended the Pirates season this past weekend.  This series means so much more for the team’s psyche than even that impressive display.