CHICAGO – The Cincinnati Reds are reaching a dangerous territory in their season, dropping a season-worst six games under .500 with Saturday’s loss to the Chicago Cubs.
The Reds are seven games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central and they are eight games behind in the wild card race.
After winning six of the first seven games of the season, the Reds have a 16-27 record. There have been notable injuries to their lineup, but they haven’t played well for the last six weeks.
“We've got to keep playing, that's it,” Amir Garrett said before Sunday’s game. “Everything will take care of itself, man. You guys saw it last year. When we made the playoffs, we literally had to win out the way we did to make the playoffs. Nobody counted us in on anything. We can go on a run just like that – a week, a month, two months.
More:'Just me being comfortable': Why Nick Castellanos wants to emulate old-school stars
“This game is crazy. It's anybody's game every single day. We've just got to go out there and play. You never know, we could go out and get hot today and starting today get hot. Hopefully, we'll do that. We'll be all right.”
The Reds, entering Sunday, had won three of their last 12 games since the last time they won two games in a row. They haven’t won three games in a row since the first week of the season.
“Injuries are the biggest part, but just baseball is just hard in general,” Garrett said. “People don't go out there trying to strike out. People don't go out there trying to pitch bad. People don't go out there and try to miss a ground ball. This game is so hard. This game is meant for you to fail – more times than not, you're going to fail. We've just got to stay the course.
More:Cincinnati Reds beat themselves in loss to Chicago Cubs with walks, defensive mistakes
“The NL Central is so packed, we're so close to each other in the standings, nobody is even panicking right now.”
NAME CHANGE: Reds top prospect Jose Garcia, who played 24 games on the big-league team last year, changed his last name to Barrero.
He’s taking his mother’s last name after she recently died from a COVID-related illness. Barrero was away from Double-A Chattanooga for about a week on bereavement leave.
Barrero is hitting .300 in 17 games at Chattanooga with six doubles, four homers and 17 RBI. He owns a .400 on-base percentage with eight walks compared to 16 strikeouts.
OH, DOCTOR: The Reds have several key players on their injured list, and it appears they will be without them for another week.
Not including Wade Miley, who will be activated to start Monday’s game, Joey Votto is probably the closest injured Reds player to returning. Votto (broken left thumb) will likely be sidelined for another week to 10 days, Reds manager David Bell said.
Mike Moustakas (right heel contusion) may be a couple of weeks away. Aristides Aquino will report to Triple-A Louisville to begin a rehab assignment in a few days.
More:Injury update, a Nickelback concert: Joey Votto covers it all during Reds radio broadcast
“(Aquino’s) had a few at-bats in the games in Arizona, so he’s physically fully healed and ready to go,” Bell said. “At this point, it’s just the baseball part. We’ll see. It hasn’t been determined yet how many games he’ll need.”
GUTIERREZ STAYS: Vladimir Gutierrez, who allowed one run in five innings in his Major League debut on Friday, will remain in the Reds’ starting rotation this week.
Gutierrez fills Jeff Hoffman’s spot and he’s scheduled to make his next start Wednesday vs. Philadelphia. Hoffman was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a right shoulder impingement.
More:How the Reds Low-A Minor League team is turning overlooked pitchers into a top pitching staff
“With Hoffy going down, his shoulder issue, it does make sense,” Bell said. “We didn't really get to a point where we had to decided what to do with Gutty. If Hoffy was still healthy, it would have been a different plan there. The timing worked out. I think everyone was really impressed with what he was able to do (Friday). That's the plan moving forward.”
The Reds considered promoting Gutierrez to their bullpen at different points this year, so he’s been on the big-league radar.
Source link
