Baseball has begun!
TODAY…
REDS BASEBALL IS BACK! #BornToBaseball #OpeningDay #NoProblems pic.twitter.com/manl2ceYUW
— Cincinnati ? (@CincyProblems) March 28, 2019
After the long and brutal winter without our beloved Redlegs, it is finally time to cheer for a (hopefully) winning season. After so many off-season transactions, the Reds are actually shaping up to be a contending team. But in this tough central division, they’ll need all the help they can get.
The road to the World Series starts today. ?⚾#RedsOpeningDay #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/4pv3YWLYA3
— Joey Votto (@EvilJoeyVotto) March 28, 2019
Opening Day Recap
The first pitch of the Reds 2019 season was a knee-high fastball to Pirates Second Baseman, Adam Frazier, resulting in a ground-out to Joey Votto for the first out. Following the ground-out, Castillo walked a batter and struck-out the next, leading the Reds to a scoreless 1st.
Reds Opener Luis Castillo showed great command on both sides of the plate, striking out 8 batters through 5.2 innings, while only giving up 1 Earned Run on a measly two hits. Walks were a bit of an issue, as he walked 3 batters in his start – but overall it was a solid outing, and a lot better than his Spring Training potentially showed.
Offensively, the Reds showed some power, as José Peraza and the newly-acquired Derek “Dinger” Dietrich went yard. Dietrich’s homer was the Reds biggest offensive moment; a three-run shot to give the Reds 4-2 lead in the 7th.
Other notable performances were: Jose Iglesias going 2-3 with an RBI, and Votto finally getting an extra base hit (barely missing the home run, would have counted in Canada), and CBS switching to March Madness on the final out. (Did anyone else FREAK OUT when that happened?!)
Lol amazing to switch over to basketball with 1 strike left @CincyProblems
— Justin (@JLinCincy) March 28, 2019
The Reds’ Opening Day final was 5-3, starting the year on a fantastic note and officially marking the start of the best Twitter account back on my timeline:
Yes! #OpeningDay
— Did The Reds Win? (@DidRedsWin) March 28, 2019
Notable Moments/Summary
Overall, the Reds showed a lot of weakness in their bullpen.
In five relievers, their combined stats were: 3.1 Innings, 3 hits, 2 ER, 4 BB, one HR allowed and only 3 k’s. Normally this looks pretty decent against a regular team, but when the play this way against the Pirates, our weakest team in the NL Central, you can’t allow that opposing offensive production.
Relief Pitcher, Michael Lorenzen played an inning in right field, but did get a chance to swing the bat. Expect to see this happen many times throughout the season, and I’ll be excited about it every time.
The next game in this series will be played on Saturday. The match-up: Trevor Williams vs Sonny Gray.
Go Reds.
