Chris Paddack had a tough assignment from the get-go. The Reds signed him on May 13, 2026, giving him minimal time to prepare for his start tonight against the Guardians. All things considered, he put up a heck of a fight, allowing only two earned runs on six hits over five innings, while walking one and striking out three.
He put the Reds in a position to win, and the offense did their part. They got their first run in the third inning, when Dane Myers hit a solo homer to right field to cut Cleveland’s lead to 2-1. Cincinnati then put together its big inning in the fifth. Blake Dunn, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Elly De La Cruz all reached to load the bases, and Sal Stewart drew a walk to force in Dunn and tie the game. Spencer Steer followed with a two-run double to center, scoring Hayes and De La Cruz. That gave the Reds a 4-2 lead.
But it would not last long. Luis Mey opened the sixth and immediately lost command, with a wild pitch bringing home Steven Kwan before Sam Moll entered and gave up a sacrifice fly to Rhys Hoskins that tied the game at 4-4. In the seventh, Pierce Johnson came in with a man on and two outs and Angel Martínez crushed a go-ahead two-run homer to make it 6-4. Then Connor Phillips made it worse in the eighth when Travis Bazzana reached on Phillips’ own throwing/fielding error, allowing José Ramírez to score Cleveland’s seventh run.
The Reds’ bullpen collapsed once again, as they nearly did in the first game of this series. Over the last two outings against the Guardians, the Reds bullpen has been a disaster. Cincinnati’s relievers combined to allow 10 runs, nine of them earned, over seven total innings. They’ve given up eight hits and 10 walks across that time. Altogether, Reds relievers posted an 11.57 ERA and a 2.57 WHIP to start this series.
Luis Mey has been particularly frustrating to watch. Over his last five outings he’s managed to throw only 54 percent of his pitches for strikes. Tonight he was able to muster only 11 strikes against 12 balls.
And it’s a trend that has only gotten worse over time. This year the bullpen ERA is a putrid 4.76 and it’s been over 4.0 for five of the last six years. It’s getting to the point that there are so few pitchers to trust out of the pen that every game seems like it could go sideways at any point no matter what the lead.
Although Chase Petty may provide some help, he is currently sidelined with an issue involving his fingernail on his pitching hand, something that first surfaced during a stint on the minor league injured list in April. The problem appeared to flare back up during a start for Triple-A Louisville on May 10, when Petty exited in the fourth inning after trainers came to the mound to examine his hand.
The bullpen and overall pitching issues are very real for this Reds team. There doesn’t appear to be much help coming anytime soon. And so for the foreseeable Reds fans are going to have to fire up their defibrillators as soon as Terry Francona picks up that bullpen phone each game.
