Cincinnati Reds return to Great American Ball Park after tough road trip

Coming off a woeful road trip in which the Cincinnati Reds went 2-7, the club looks to bounce back on this homestand against the Diamondbacks, Indians, and Giants.

After reaching the All-Star break as one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Cincinnati Reds have cooled off dramatically. Since the break, they have gone 7-12 and have lost key players via trade or the disabled list. With the loss of players, young guys have been thrust into the spotlight. You could definitely say there are some growing pains, but this group has continued to fight.

Climbing out of the hole

The starting pitching staff needs to step it up if the Reds are going to have a chance in any game, period. With the offense battered and down, this staff has to prevent giving up early runs and being buried from the start.

Over that nine-game road trip, the starters gave up most of the runs in early innings and put that pressure on the bullpen to stop the bleeding. Aside from gems by Sal Romano and Anthony DeSclafani, (who by the way both showed why they are the future) each pitcher had given up two or more runs by the fourth inning. In the rare cases that runs were given up late by the bullpen, the damage had already been done.

Even giving Robert Stephenson another shot following his dominant performance in the minors didn’t suffice as he was haunted by walks, and the Reds are about out of options to take the mound. Hopefully being at Great American in front of the home crowd can jolt this group into stringing some wins together.

Offensive woes with so much potential

Following the absence of run producers Jesse Winker and Scott Schebler to the DL and the trade of slugger Adam Duvall, the Reds are left with the pieces to put back together. All-Star Scooter Gennett has dropped in slugging to .360 and only has eight RBI in the last seven games.

Fellow All-Star Eugenio Suárez has also struggled mightily with having more strikeouts (7) than he does RBIs (6) the last seven games. Fans should be hopeful though with Joey Votto returning to the lineup that he can help get this lineup into a groove.

With these newfound opportunities, we are getting a chance to see future Reds develop into serious major league players. One such player is Phillip Ervin. Aside from the recent spark on offense, he has been very impressive since being brought up.

Ervin is slugging .733 with seven RBI and getting on base too (.429). He is proving a huge addition and making it hard to leave him off the field, especially since Schebler could be done for the remainder of the season.

Down, but not totally out

Currently sitting at 15 games under .500, the Reds have a chance this current homestand to cut that deficit to either under 15 games or extend it past 20 games. This isn’t such a tall task for this young club, who are capable of catching fire at any time.

If the starters can go deeper in games, and if fewer men could be left on base every inning, the Reds just might surprise you. First pitch tonight is at 7:10 pm, with DeSclafani on the mound for the Reds vs. Clay Buchholz for Arizona.