Cincinnati Reds constantly fall behind in 2017 thanks to pitching

The 2017 Cincinnati Reds have had the worst starting rotation in MLB all season long.

The Cincinnati Reds are following up the worst rotation in team history with the worst rotation in team history.  This year’s version is so bad, that it really isn’t close.  A year after having an ERA of 4.79 among starters, it has ballooned to 5.69 in 2017.

Last year’s Reds team set a record for the most home runs allowed.  This season they are on pace to allow even more.  It’s quite remarkable.

The Reds rotation last year allowed 155 home runs in 162 starts.  This year, in 144 starts they allowed 148.  That is more than one per start.

The Reds have an astounding 6.31 ERA in the first inning this year.  Only the New York Mets are worse.  Last season the ERA was 6.06 in the first inning for the Reds franchise worst pitching staff ever.

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It doesn’t get much better in the second inning, either.  In 2016 the Reds had an ERA of 3.94 in the second inning.  This year their ERA is 5.50.

The third inning is more of the same.  Last year, the Reds had an ERA of 4.67 in the third inning, ranking 18th of 30 teams.  It’s 5.69 this season, but they are better than three other teams for the first time this season.

The Cincinnati Reds starting rotation issues are about more than the ERA of the starting rotation in 2017.

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The Reds have the fewest numbers of innings pitched by starters in all of MLB.  Before a recent good stretch of games, the starters didn’t even average five innings.  Now they are up to 5.08 innings per start.

Despite throwing so few innings, the Reds have allowed the fourth most walks in MLB.  In the National League only the Atlanta Braves have walked more batters.  There are some other low innings pitched rotations around the Reds in this category, however.

The Reds share a comical stat with the Baltimore Orioles.  They are the only two teams in MLB that have a WHIP for their starting pitchers higher than 1.5.  That means their starting pitchers are allowing more than three baserunners every two innings.

In that race to the bottom the Mets are the only NL team with a higher batting average against for their starting rotation than the Reds.  It’s been going back and forth for most of the season.  Right now the Reds are ahead by one point with a BAA of .279.

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The Reds may have the worst rotation in the history of the franchise for the second straight season.  They are accomplishing all of this while youngsters like Sal Romano are trying to establish themselves for next season.  That is truly an accomplishment.  It’s just not the type of accomplishment that you want.