Eugenio Suarez was the lone bright spot in Reds’ blowout loss

Ugh, what a horrendous showing from our beloved Redlegs over the last four days. To cap it off, the Cincinnati Reds took it on the chin on Thursday afternoon. The San Francisco Giants plated 19 runs during yesterday’s debacle. The only bright spot for the Reds was the play of Eugenio Suarez who’s been heating up as of late.

It’s easy to take a glance at Suarez’s slash line .157/.236/.365 and consistently ridicule the 29-year-old for his inconsistent play thus far during the 2021 season. However, Suarez blasted a 393-foot shot over the wall in left-center field that came off the bat at 103.1-MPH according to Baseball Savant.

Though the stats may not show it, Reds shortstop Eugenio Suarez is heating up.

The numbers aren’t going to bear it out, but Eugenio Suarez has been playing much better of late. Geno was 3-for-15 versus the Giants with two home runs and three RBIs, however, the Reds shortstop was robbed twice on Wednesday evening; once on a leaping grab at the wall by San Francisco’s Mike Tauchman and a second time on an outstanding play from Evan Longoria.

That would-be double in the fourth inning flew 363-feet in the air, only to be snagged by Tauchman up against the wall in the left field. With Nick Castellanos aboard, that would have easily brought home the Reds right fielder and knotted the score at 1-1.

Suarez led off the seventh inning with the Cincinnati Reds trailing the San Francisco Giants 1-0, and ground ball up the third base line was handled by Longoria who ended up in foul territory before making an outstanding throw to first base, robbing Geno of a base hit.

Those two plays are the difference between Suarez hitting .200 with two home runs and three RBIs, rather the Cincinnati shortstop going 5-for-15 (.300) with a pair of doubles, two long balls, and four RBIs.

Eugenio Suarez still leads the National League in strikeouts, but of late, the Reds slugger seems to have better plate discipline and isn’t flailing wildly at the dish. During the team’s first 20 games, Suarez looked lost at the dish, striking out 35 times and wearing the golden sombrero on three occasions. The last 21 games have seen Suarez go down swinging 23 times.

While many fans are growing frustrated with Suarez, and rightfully so, there’s reason for optimism. Suarez appears to be finding his rhythm, and we know from past experience how quickly Geno can go from ice-cold to red-hot.

When Eugenio Suarez closed out the 2019 season, breaking the record for most home runs in a season by a Venezuelan-born player, he hit .337/.455/.747 with 10 homers and 19 RBIs. Strikeouts have always been part of Geno’s game; he led the league in 2019 (189). But he’s always been able to offset the bad with good. Hopefully, we see a resurgence in the coming days.