Resurgent Mike Moustakas and the Reds look for revenge vs. Phillies in the City of Brotherly Love

Reds 1B Mike Moustakas has the rest of the 2022 season to prove the doubters wrong.

With Joey Votto out for the remainder of the 2022 season, first base duties will fall to Mike Moustakas. The former All-Star returned from a brief stint on the IL on Friday and absolutely destroyed Pirates' pitching over the past three days.

Moustakas played long ball on Sunday, hitting his first home run since July 26th. According to Baseball Savant, the ball came off his bat at 106.5 mph and travelled 416 feet. It was the third-longest home run of the season for Moose. The 33-year-old went 5-for-14 (.357) against Pittsburgh over the weekend while posting three RBIs.

Saturday's 2-for-5 performance represented the first multi-hit game Moustakas has produced since June 24th. He followed that up by going 2-for-5 on Sunday which was the first time since May 4th that Moose has had back-to-back multi-hit games in 2022.

Mike Moustakas has been nothing short of a disappointment since signing a four-year/$64M contract with the Reds back in 2019. Moose is under contract through next season and has a $20M option for the 2024 season with a $4M buyout. Let's hope the Redlegs get some semblance of what they paid for over the last month-plus of the 2022 season.

Prediction: Reds and Phillies split 4-game set.

With Luis Cessa getting the ball tonight for the Cincinnati Reds, there's not much reason for optimism. But if Graham Ashcraft and Nick Lodolo have the same type of outings fans have seen of late, chances are good that Cincinnati will have a puncher's chance to walk away with two wins over the next four days.

The Redlegs will hit the road once again after the series wraps up on Thursday night as David Bell's group will head to our nation's capital for a three-game set with the Juan Soto-less Washington Nationals.