The Los Angeles Mike Trouts of Anaheim sent the Cincinnati Reds to their showers with a 4-3 defeat on Friday at Goodyear Ballpark in Arizona. The Reds had been riding a 3-game win streak heading into this game, which did not feature Mike Trout even though I insinuated that it did with a misleading nickname in the very first words of this article.
The Good
Rhett Lowder was simply brilliant as the starter for the Reds today. He fired a trio of scoreless, hitless innings in his second outing of the spring, walking a lone Angel while fanning three. Safe to say his quest to earn the 5th spot in Cincinnati’s starting rotation is off to a pretty, pretty good start.
Meanwhile, Blake Dunn swatted a solo homer, Jose Trevino had a pair of hits and a ribbie, and Rece Hinds tripled, walked, and scored while playing CF on the afternoon. In a similarly positive vein, JJ Bleday continued his hot-hitting start to Cactus League play with another 2 for 3 day (with a run scored).
The Bad
Sal Stewart was actually retired twice on the day, which is bad for him. Just one hit, Sal? That’s all ya had in ya today, superstar?!
I’ve really got to find a better format for these spring recaps.
The Ugly
It was not the finest day for Julian Aguiar in his quest to earn a spot on the team’s pitching staff. Taking over for Lowder in the Top of the 4th, he was tagged for a homer by Logan O’Hoppe of the 2-run variety, and Aguiar eventually yielded 3 ER on 4 H in his 2.0 IP of work.
He didn’t walk anybody, which is a good thing.
Yunior Marte surrendered the other run on the day.
What’s Next
You aren’t going to believe this, but Saturday will feature Cincinnati Reds baseball that’s watchable on your screens!
The Reds will head to American Family Fields of Phoenix to face off against the Milwaukee Brewers, and it’s dawning on me that place was way cooler when it was just called ‘Maryvale.’ Anyway, it’s a 3:05 PM ET start time and MLB.tv and Reds.tv (if you’re in-market) will have the stream with the Reds broadcast. If you’re into the Brewers version of calling baseball games, their own broadcast will be viewable via MLB.tv (or Brewers.tv if you happen to be a Reds fan in the Milwaukee region).
Hunter Greene will toe the rubber for Cincinnati, and given who sat out today – Elly De La Cruz & Co. – I’d expect a pretty loaded lineup from the Reds side tomorrow. Rob Zastryzny, a lefty, will start for the Beers though, so Terry Francona could get experimental with his lineup again tomorrow the same way he did today against lefty Brent Suter to start.
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