The Reds pitching staff continues to be dominant. Rhett Lowder went 6 scoreless followed by Ashcraft, Santillan, and Pagan following his lead. The Rangers tallied 3 hits yesterday, all charged to Lowder. Ashcraft and Santillan faced 3 batters and retired them in order. Pagan's inning was not as smooth but any inning you allow 0 runs I will happily take. Pagan walked the first batter. The next better grounded into a double play. Followed by a walk, infield single, and then Pagan struck out Carter to earn the save.
The Reds jumped on Rocker early and took all they could in the 1st inning. After Friedl grounded out to start the game, the next 3 batters strung together 3 straight singles. McLain singled and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch. Elly followed that up with a single of his own scoring McLain. With the speedy De La Cruz on base he can score as a result of many different hits. Stewart singled to right center and Elly did what Elly does and went 1st to home. Reds score 2 in the top of the 1st. If you had turned the game off after the top of the 1st you wouldn't have missed anything. The game ended 2-0.
Looking at todays game we have another battle of young stars. Chase Burns toes the rubber against Jack Leiter. I had predicted yesterdays game to be high scoring even thought both pitchers had a history of keeping runs off the board. Today I think we see a game very similar to yesterday. Runs will be few and far between. That said, the Reds will need to take advantage when they have runners in scoring position. Yesterday in the top of the 5th McLain got on base with an infield single. A wild pitch that McLain took advantage of got him to 2nd. A throwing error on that same play allowed McLain to get to 3rd with no outs. A groundout in a spot that holds McLain followed by 2 strike outs stranded McLain on 3rd. If the Reds want to pull off the series sweep of the Rangers they will need to score runners in scoring position with less than 2 outs.
Prediction:
Reds: 3
Rangers: 2
Happy Easter! Let's enjoy the day and hope for a Reds victory!
Who Dey & Go Redlegs!
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