Reds vs Giants: Pitching preview, prediction, and more

The Reds West Coast trip continues after dropping their first series of the year.

After dropping two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend, the Cincinnati Reds (6-3) are dealing with adversity for the first time during the young 2021 season. Despite the less than stellar results during their visit to Phoenix, the Reds maintain a one-game lead in the National League Central over the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals.

One of the more disappointing aspects of the weekend for the Redlegs was the pitching staff.  Both the starting rotation and bullpen had three days; they would just as soon forget. Yikes!

The starting trio of Tyler Mahle, Jeff Hoffman, and Jose De Leon all failed to complete five innings of work. Base on balls was one of the biggest problems the Reds hurlers faced. Over 12.2 innings, the starters walked nine D-backs. That’s simply not going to get it done.

However, the Cincinnati bullpen failed to provide anything close to relief. The relief corps blew a five-run lead entering the 7th inning in Friday night’s opener before the Reds escaped with a 6-5 win in 10 innings.

Saturday night, the game ultimately got away from Cincinnati after entering the bottom of the fifth with a 2-1 advantage. The bullpen surrendered five runs over the final 3.2 frames in an 8-3 loss.

This weekend was much kinder to the San Francisco Giants (6-3) as they completed a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies at Oracle Park. The Giants have won five of their last six and currently sit in third-place in a highly competitive National League West, just 1.5 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.