The Reds completed a four-game sweep of the Cubs over the weekend. They’ve won five straight and pulled into a tie with the reeling Mets for the National League’s last playoff spot. Cincinnati went 4-2 against New York, meaning they have the tiebreaker. They also hold the tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks, who find themselves one game back.
Cincinnati now controls their own destiny. They’re off tonight before hosting the Pirates for three games. They finish the year with a weekend set in Milwaukee. That’s a tough series on paper, but the Brewers could have already secured home field advantage through the postseason depending on the result of their ongoing series against the Padres.
As they enter that critical stretch, the Reds are facing a potential absence from their left fielder. Austin Hays made an early exit from Saturday’s game with back spasms. He sat out yesterday’s series finale. Manager Terry Francona said on Saturday the team is hopeful that Hays will be ready for the start of the Pittsburgh series tomorrow (via the MLB.com injury tracker). The off day gives him a little extra rest.
If Hays is unable to go, Cincinnati could kick Will Benson to left field and plug Noelvi Marte in right. Pittsburgh is set to run a trio of right-handed starting pitchers — Johan Oviedo, Paul Skenes and Braxton Ashcraft — against Cincinnati. Hays hits in the middle of the lineup regardless of handedness, but he does most of his damage against left-handers.
A bigger factor for Cincinnati is getting their franchise player on track. The Reds have made their push back into the playoff picture despite a disappointing stretch from Elly De La Cruz. The switch-hitting shortstop has hit .212/.271/.315 in almost 200 trips to the plate since the beginning of August. He homered off Porter Hodge on Friday, his first longball in more than six weeks. The slump got to a point where Francona felt he needed to drop De La Cruz in the batting order. He has hit sixth or seventh over the past week after operating as the team’s #3 hitter for the entire season.
De La Cruz still has decent numbers overall. He’s up to 20 homers with a .263/.336/.436 batting line across 673 plate appearances. He’s tied for sixth in MLB with 36 stolen bases. Yet he clearly hasn’t played to his potential over the past few weeks. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic observed over the weekend that De La Cruz has played through a pair of leg injuries (quad and hamstring) while starting all but one of the team’s 156 games. He certainly won’t come out of the lineup at this stage of the season, but it’s possible he’s battling fatigue.
On the pitching side, rookie right-hander Rhett Lowder seems likely to miss the entire season. The 2023 seventh overall pick has been on the injured list all year because of forearm and oblique injuries. Lowder made a two-inning rehab appearance at Triple-A Louisville on September 13. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon writes that he was scratched from his second scheduled rehab outing after feeling that his shoulder didn’t recover as hoped from the first.
Lowder has already undergone imaging that came back clean, but it’s yet another setback that makes it difficult to imagine him returning even if the Reds make a deep playoff run. The Triple-A season is over, so Lowder won’t get any more game action. The Wake Forest product impressed late last season, working to a 1.17 ERA through his first six MLB starts.
Lowder’s had such a rough injury filled yr, 1 thing after another.
Still young but has alotta work to do to stay healthy & become a productive part of a very talented rotation
“On the pitching side, rookie right-hander Rhett Lowder seems likely to miss the entire season.“
He was just activated & is back on major lg roster
I believe he was returned from his rehab assignment before his second start because his shoulder didn’t bounce back well and now expected to miss the rest of the year.
Sad to hear, and like McLain, don’t expect him to be back to where he was right away after missing a year.
“Lowder (oblique/forearm) was activated from the 60-day injured list Monday, per MLB’s transactions log.
…it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Reds roll him out for a relief appearance or two during the final week of the regular season.”
SMH this team needs power in the worst way. With that bandbox of a stadium, they should have 7 or 8 batters in their lineup with 20 or more homeruns. Shoot, the Mariners have that going on and they play in a stadium the exact opposite of a bandbox. It starts at the GM/POBO level by focusing on players who will succeed in that environment. The fact that there are only two or three guys you can count on for a homerun (in that environment) means there is some sort of major disconnect going on somewhere in that org.
@Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Reds-M’s World Series?
I would take it.
If my Dodgers can’t attend, I’m good with that. M’s would be favored given the starting pitching but you never know.
I think a Mariners/Dodgers , Mariners/Phillies , is more realistic however. (Yes I may be a tad bit biased towards the Mariners.)
No old york. Its going to be the California kings vrs the California Caryons… YOU KNOW THIS
It’s called aversion to risk or spending money.
No because even when they do spend money it’s not spent rationally. 3 year contract to Jeimer Candelario? The qualifying offer to Nick Martinez? I mean at least spend the meagre amount of funds you do have in a way that halfway makes sense. The incompetence and lack of basic baseball knowledge in some of these GM’s is very strange to me sometimes.
Elly has been horrible and largely because of the injuries but he also just hasn’t been right since the passing of his sister which who can blame him
Elly needs to understand the 162 is a grind and sometimes you need a day off to get re-energized, especially when speed is a big part of your game and you are working through injuries.
Everyone wants to play every game, but sometimes you have to be sensible about your body and your health to get through the grind.
I don’t understand sitting Stewart, who was arguably their top hitter since he’s been up. Francona seems to want to derail whoever has the hot hand. McClain starts hitting, let’s sit him down. Benson has back to back homer games, next day he’s on the bench. Same for Stewart. Marte started hitting like he belongs there and he says they have to make time for Benson. And what is with using 6 pitchers a game? Ride with the guy who’s hot. Don’t take someone out who’s striking everyone out to put in someone with a 6+ ERA. Maybe he’s just rusty at managing. Right now, I think they’re winning in spite of Francona instead of because of him.
Mets tied with the REDS
Thats hilarious! Like what?!?!
Tigers and Guardians gonna be next?
Cleveland rocks
Cleveland rocks
Ohio, Ohio, Ohio!
Give the kids credit for playing their hearts out to be where they are despite no help from the front office at the deadline.
I hope they make it even though that will give management the excuse not to do anything substantial in the off-season as usual.
Stewart and Marte should be playing every day. And speaking of dumb moves by the GM, why on earth trade for a 3B (K. Hayes) who hits like my board name “Backup catcher to the backup catcher? The bat remains a strange instrument in Hayes’ hands.
Anyway, I’d like to see a Reds/Phillies NLCS.
Trading for Hayes was probably looking ahead to 2026. Two of their bigger RH bats are pending free agents (A. Hays, Andujar) and they probably see Stewart mixing in at 1B/COF/DH along with Steer, Marte, Benson, and probably still taking some time from Hayes at 3B.
Never understood the Hayes trade with Stewart on the cusp of the bigs at the time and never will.
For that matter, never understood getting Lux after trading India allegedly because they had “too many infielders”, especially with Espinal still in the house.
The India for Singer trade sure looks like a win for the Reds do date. And they replaced the righty-swinging India with the lefty-swinging Lux, to complement the righty-swinging Espinal. Those moves all made sense at the time and look good in hindsight too.
Hayes’ glove has been spectacular as advertised. But still somewhat of a head-scratcher for a team in desperate need of production at the plate.
I’m happy you took the time to explain that to this one. He doesn’t understand team building principles.
DH
I Can’t help but pull for the Reds!!
Small market team that could possibly beat out a large market team who just spent close to a billion to try to steal the NL East.
Hayes was acquired for his defense at 3rd base, which had been a big issue wth the Reds. Both McLain (2nd) and Hayes (3rd) should sit 1 game a week vs RHSP and give those starts to Lux. Lux has not just been an infielder but some corner outfield and dh. He hits rhp well and relatively inexpensive for the offense he provides. Only Red in the top 50 of ML BA leaders (with enough AB to qualify).