There are no mulligans in baseball, but the Cincinnati Reds certainly could’ve used one on Opening Day.
How bad was it?
The Reds were down six runs after only 13 pitches. Eugenio Suárez, returning to starting shortstop for the first time in six years, made errors on the first two balls hit in his direction. Rookie catcher Tyler Stephenson cost the team a run, and a potential rally in their comeback bid, with a massive base-running blunder.
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The result was an 11-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park, the Reds’ first game in front of fans in 18 months. The conditions were miserable with pre-game snow and a game-time temperature of 37 degrees. It was the most runs allowed by a Reds team on Opening Day since an identical 11-6 loss to the Cardinals in 2010, and their first Opening Day loss in three years.
The first inning was a disaster, quickly spiraling for Luis Castillo in a span of two pitches.
With the bases loaded, Yadier Molina hit a ground ball to Suárez, the Reds’ solution for their hole at shortstop. Suárez’s glove whiffed on the ground ball as he tried to shuffle his feet to turn a potential double play. Two runs scored on a ground ball that could’ve ended the inning.
Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson rocketed the next pitch, a 95-mph fastball, two-thirds of the way up the right-field foul pole for a bases-clearing three-run homer. Thirteen pitches, one out and a six-run deficit.
It was that type of day for Castillo, who didn’t record a strikeout across 3 1/3 innings, the first time that’s happened in his last 69 starts. He surrendered a career-high 10 runs (eight earned runs, which matched a career-high) and two walks while recording just 10 outs. The first run scored on a weak ground ball when the infield was shifted to the opposite side.
As poorly as the Reds started, their offense gave them life. Trailing by five runs in the sixth inning, they loaded the bases with one out. Nick Castellanos stood in the batter’s box, two at-bats after lining a home run into the left-field seats and one at-bat after thumping a double down the left-field line. Tejay Antone started warming up in the bullpen with a glimmer of a comeback.
Castellanos lined out to left and Stephenson made a mistake by running on contact from second base. Even Cardinals players seemed surprised when they doubled Stephenson off second base to end the inning, costing the Reds at least one run on a sacrifice fly.
It was just a game marred by mistakes.
Suárez, making his first start at shortstop since Aug. 21, 2018, looked like a guy who hasn’t played the position regularly in six years. The Reds failed to add a starting shortstop to their roster in the offseason, missing on free-agent targets Didi Gregorius, Marcus Semien and Andrelton Simmons. They couldn’t find a match on the trade market, either.
After Suárez’s first-inning error, he fielded a ground ball from Goldschmidt in the shortstop hole. He backhanded it and bounced a throw to first that skipped past Joey Votto’s glove. It became his second error in as many plays when Goldschmidt advanced to second on the errant throw.
When Suárez successfully fielded a routine ground ball in the third inning, the GABP crowd responded with a sarcastic cheer.
The Reds knew the defensive limitations of Suárez at shortstop when they put him there in the middle of spring training. The reason why they were comfortable with it: Suárez hit a solo home run to open the fourth inning and it opened a spot in the infield for Jonathan India, who had two hits in his Major League debut.
India’s first Major League hit was a double down the left-field line in the fourth inning, his second career at-bat. He clapped when he reached second base and Reds hitting coach Alan Zinter waved his arms from the top step of the dugout to make sure they could save the ball. India was the first rookie position player to debut on Opening Day since Chris Sabo in 1988.
The team that was swept out of the postseason with a 22-inning scoreless streak showed a lot of life at the top of the lineup. Jesse Winker hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the first inning and scored on a wild pitch.
Castellanos hit a two-run homer in the third inning with a deep drive into left field to make it a 7-3 ballgame. He added a double in the fifth, scoring on a Mike Moustakas sacrifice fly. Joey Votto had two infield pop-ups, a rare event throughout his career, but he lined an RBI single to center in the fifth inning.
The Reds scored six runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings against Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty, which typically would be a cause for celebration.
The disastrous start, however, meant most of the Opening Day celebrations were before the game.
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