Cincinnati Reds: Will a return to Great American Ball Park spark the team?

The Cincinnati Reds return home after a 10-day span away from Great American Ball Park. Hopefully the home cooking will energize the offense.

The Cincinnati Reds haven’t played a baseball game at Great American Ball Park in 10 days. They’ve been busy on the West Coast and battling it out with St. Louis in Mexico. After a record of 4-5 in those 9 games, the Reds return home for some home cooking. Will a chance to play in front of the home crowd ignite the offense?

The Reds took one of two games in Mexico against the Cardinals before they headed off to Los Angeles for a three-game showdown with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The meeting in LA didn’t go as planned for Cincinnati as they were swept and sent off to San Diego without a win.

The Reds only put up six runs against the Dodgers throughout the whole series, so it’s no wonder they got swept. Again, the pitching seemed to be there, but they couldn’t get the lineup on the same page.

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Manager David Bell tried switching things up for a few games, even having Joey Votto bat leadoff, but there was no success. The worst part about this series was the two games lost by just one run, a problem that plagues the Reds last season.

The Reds almost did it the first game when they scored a run in the top of the 9th inning to put them ahead by one. However, a walked batter by Rasiel Iglesias and a fastball later, the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson sent the LA fans home happy with a two-run walk-off shot.

Luckily, things would turn around when Cincinnati faced off against the Padres. Taking the first three games of a four-game series, the Reds looked poised to complete the long sweep, but ultimately fell short when the Padres bats came alive on Sunday.

The Reds looked good against the Padres. They were sharp and the bats came alive, enough. The Reds were able to give their starting pitchers what they needed to secure the victory. After a rough series in LA that had fans calling for the replacement of Iglesias, the first three games he pitched the final inning, striking out every single batter.

After three successful games to begin the series, the finale happened on Sunday and again the Reds lost by one run. Cincinnati gave up four runs in the third inning, and couldn’t catch up throughout.

There is hope, as the Cincinnati Reds have started to find their sweet spot on the bat. The pitching is obviously there, and it’s time to come home. Rather than playing in San Diego, which is notorious for its size and lack of long balls, the Reds return to GABP where they’re sure to find a few more make it over the outfield wall when the Braves come to town.

In there last three series, the Braves have split a four game series with the Mets, been swept by the Diamondbacks, and took two of three against the Indians. The point is, these are three good games to get things moving in the right direction, even more so before they make the trek out to St. Louis for a three-game fight with the Dirty Birds.