It’s win day… right? There will be jubilee on that plane ride after the game. Hunter will dominate. Elly will launch one. Or am I still living the life of a Reds fan a month ago? This skid needs to end in a bad way. This roster is more talented than this. May 9th will forever be “Get Back Right Day.”
Hunter Greene
Greene is quietly having a great year. Yes, he got whomped against the Brewers, but all of the advanced statistics are trending up. Greene is well above average in everything except walks and ground balls. He’s 83rd percentile in Pitching Run Value and 98th in Fastball Run Value. Hes 90th or better in Expected ERA, Expected Batting Average Against, and Fastball Velo of course. Greene isn’t getting barreled, his fastball is generating tons of whiffs, and he’s getting a lot of weak contact. Yet, the run support hasn’t been there. And he’s had a nasty tendency to be frustratingly inefficient. Greene is consistently around 70-80 pitches by the end of the 4th inning and that is what’s killing him. Greene needs to hone in his Slider – it’s basically all he throws outside of his phenomenal fastball.
Reds Lineup Card
| Batters | Average | |
| 1 | CF TJ Friedl | .250 |
| 2 | SS Elly De La Cruz | .254 |
| 3 | 1B Spencer Steer | .234 |
| 4 | RF Jake Fraley | .294 |
| 5 | 2B Jonathan India | .221 |
| 6 | DH Mike Ford | .000 |
| 7 | 3B Jeimer Candelario | .206 |
| 8 | LF Will Benson | .190 |
| 9 | C Luke Maile | .140 |
Steer at 1B! Ball knowers rejoice! Against RHP this is the best lineup the Reds could field except Catcher but Greene likes Maile. Kudos to Bell for figuring it out.
Slade Cecconi
Cecconi was rocked by the Padres last time out for 6 ERs. The Reds faced Cecconi last year in his 5th career appearance and were held to just one run. Cecconi has only one start on his young career without an ER. He’s got a Fastball-Slider-Changeup mix and he’ll come right at Cincinnati’s lineup. He doesn’t get chases outside the zone and he doesn’t have a ton of movement on his slider. Cecconi is a straight up fly ball pitcher. He excels at weak contact in the air and the occasion ground ball out with his slider that he loves to throw low and glove side. There’s not a ton of data on this guy, but expect the Reds to put the ball in play quite a bit.
Diamondbacks Lineup Card
| Batters | Average | |
| 1 | CF Corbin Carroll | .204 |
| 2 | 2B Ketel Marte | .301 |
| 3 | DH Joc Pederson | .284 |
| 4 | 1B Caleb Walker | .273 |
| 5 | LF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. | .234 |
| 6 | 3B Eugenio Suarez | .226 |
| 7 | RF Jake McCarthy | .307 |
| 8 | C Tucker Barnhart | .229 |
| 9 | SS Blaze Alexander | .286 |
Newman gets a day off in favor of rookie SS Blaze Alexander. From a baseball perspective, will be fun to watch a rookie on a roll (hopefully getting K’d by Greene). The D-Backs go back to Barnhart behind the plate after a good showing by Moreno last night.
