In the middle of their worst stretch of the season, the Guardians will now play Terry Francona’s Cincinnati Reds. What could possibly go wrong?
The Reds are last in team wRC+ at 89 wRC+ (it could be worse, Guardians’ fans, we could still employ Reds’ hitting coach Chris Valaika), 17th in baserunning runs above average at -1.4, 19th in Defense at -20.9, 23rd in starting pitcher ERA at 4.46 (4.62 FIP), and 25th in bullpen ERA at 4.64 (5.13 FIP).
The Guardians are 25th in team wRC+ at 93 wRC+, 7th in baserunning
runs above average at 5.2, 10th in Defense at -6.5, seventh in starting pitcher ERA at 3.75 (3.97 FIP), and seventh in bullpen ERA at 3.75 (3.76 FIP).
The Reds are a terrible baseball team by every metric. Of course, the Guardians will face their best pitcher in Chase Burns tonight, so will need to win 1-0. In 10 innings. And Slade Cecconi is on the mound.
Matchups:
Monday, 7:10PM ET: Slade Cecconi, RHP 4.60 ERA (4.48 FIP) vs. Chase Burns, RHP 2.42 ERA (3.34 FIP)
Tuesday, 7:10PM ET: Gavin Williams, RHP 3.78 ERA (3.65 FIP) vs. Brady Singer, RHP 4.53 ERA (5.21 FIP)
Wednesday, 7:10PM ET: Joey Cantillo, LHP 4.02 ERA (4.04 FIP) vs. Rhett Lowder, RHP 6.04 ERA (4.37 FIP)
The Reds are led by Elly De La Cruz at 130 wRC+, JJ Bleday 117 wRC+, Nathaniel Lowe 116 wRC+, Sal Stewart 111 wRC+ and Dane Myers 101 wRC+. The Guardians are led by Chase DeLauter 126 wRC+, Austin Hedges 115 wRC+, Travis Bazzana 109 wRC+, Jose Ramirez 106 wRC+ and Brayan Rocchio 106 wRC+.
Well, tonight could be rough but the Guardians SHOULD be able to win a couple games in this series. Hopefully, the games will allow Jose Ramirez and Angel Martinez to get back in a rhythm and the Guardians will acquire an actual lefty masher in a trade while we watch them.
