Expunge just about everything from the baseball that was played last week, and the Cincinnati Reds might end up just fine. They are, after all, still 22-19 on the season, 3 games over the .500 mark though 41 games and still very much in a half-decent position despite finding themselves buried in the run differential category (-33) and at the bottom of the National League Central.
There’s a ton of baseball left to be played. That picks right back up tonight after Monday’s day-off.
Brady Singer will
start for Cincinnati in Great American Ball Park as the Reds play host to the Washington Nationals. Miles Mikolas, off whom the Reds should absolutely tee, is getting the starting nod for the Nats on the evening.
Somewhat surprisingly, Nate Lowe – who had a miserable spell with Washington early last year before finding his footing with the Boston Red Sox down the stretch – is not in the starting lineup despite Mikolas being a human meatball against LHH. We’ll see how that hamstrings the Cincinnati offense, a group who is desperate to get some positive momentum going somehow.
Somewhat surprisingly, Rhett Lowder has not yet been placed on the 15-day IL as manager Terry Francona announced he would, eventually, over the weekend. So, the Reds aren’t going to lean into having an extra reliever around until his next turn in the rotation – at least not tonight.
First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET. Here’s how the Reds will line up for the opener:
