Out of Their Reds

(Music Pun Streak #14. I feel like I'm doing a lot of classy 70s rock lately with these titles, and I think I like that?)

Alright, I did some classy stat-twisting with last night's post, so here comes some more. Spoiler: the Reds are the exact opposite of the Tigers.

Of the Reds' 12 wins so far, SIX of them have been blowouts, and three of those have yielded offensive production of five runs or more. Their biggest win was by 14 points, their biggest loss was letting the Cardinals score nine points off of them.

The Reds are capable of winning big games this year. Only problem is that the games they lose, and there's a lot of them, are close. And it's not really Raisel Iglesias' fault (he only has one blown save thus far). And other than Zach Duke and Jared Hughes, it's not worth it to blame the rest of the bullpen either. It's honestly a matter of letting pesky runs go by. Case in point: Sonny Gray has a 3.64 ERA and 36 strikeouts...and has yet to win again. He hasn't given up many earned runs, only 12.

It's just the problem that the few runs they do give up cost them in the end, because the Reds' offense isn't great at reciprocating to a great degree. Scott Schebler, Yasiel Puig and Jose Peraza have averages floating around .200 (and Tucker Barnhart isn't doing much better). There are some decent bats coming from the bench, like Derek Dietrich, Curt Casali and Jesse Winker, but they're only good for clutch moments. The only member of the lineup with an average higher than .250 is Jose Iglesias and his .297 average. And you know something's up when Joey Votto is hitting .233

I mean, if it wasn't Luis Castillo and his blazing fastball, the Reds would be kind of screwed right now. But at least this team has a steady ace that can drive them a bit further, regardless of their spotty lineup.

I feel like it's going to get better for the Reds, but at the very least they're still a fun team.

Coming Tonight: Well, it finally happened. The Astros have lapped the Mariners atop the AL West. Now what?