Reds vs. Cardinals: Pitching preview, prediction, and more

The Reds look to salvage their homestand as the Cardinals visit.

Heading into the All-Star break, the Cincinnati Reds (49-47) were the hottest team in baseball. Winning eight of their last 10 games before the Midsummer Classic, the Redlegs had narrowed the Milwaukee Brewers’ lead in the National League Central Division to just four games.

Fast forward a week into the second half of the 2021 campaign, and the Reds have fallen back to Earth with a resounding thud. Cincinnati has dropped five of six coming out of the break at Great American Ball Park and are now faced with a 6.5 game deficit. But, in all honesty, the Reds are fortunate to be that close.

What has gone wrong to start the second half? In a word, everything. Outside of excellent starts from Luis Castillo and Wade Miley, the starting pitching has been shaky at best. In addition, the bullpen has surrendered multiple leads, while the defense continues to be anything but sure-handed.

As if all of that wasn’t enough to make your blood pressure rise, news broke yesterday that right fielder Nick Castellanos could be lost for multiple weeks with a microfracture of his right wrist suffered in the first game following the All-Star break after being hit by a pitch courtesy of Milwaukee’s Adrian Houser.

Chances are the St. Louis Cardinals (49-48) will not shed any tears for the Redlegs. The Redbirds currently have three starting pitchers Jack Flaherty, Carlos Martinez, and Miles Mikolas, on the IL.  As a result, the three hurlers the Cardinals are tossing at the Reds this weekend are not exactly Cy Young candidates. More on them later.

Cincinnati owns a 6-4 record against the Cardinals this season, including a four-game sweep of the Redbirds the last time they met in early June at Busch Stadium. This will be St. Louis’ second of three visits to the Queen City this year.