Cincinnati Reds Seeking To Wrap Up May Hot With Phillies In Town

This will be a three-game series between the two teams hosted by the Reds at the Great American Ballpark starting on Monday.

Coming into this series, the Phillies were swept in a short, two-game series by the Rays. Then, on Sunday, they lost 6-2. In the loss, the Phillies had 10 hits but could only muster two runs.

The Reds also lost their three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, but they were able to salvage the finale with a 5-1 win on Sunday. Eugenio Suarez hit his 12th home run of the season in the win, and Tyler Mahle threw five shutout innings to pick up the win.

Schedule

The Schedule for the three-game series at the Great American Ballpark is as follows:

Monday, May 31 – 2:10 pm E.T.

Tuesday, June 1 – 7:10 pm E.T.

Wednesday, June 2 – 12:35 pm E.T.

Pitching Matchup

Here is the pitching matchup for each game of the series:

Monday: Vince Velasquez (2-0, 2.95 ERA) vs. Wade Miley (4-4, 3.50 ERA)

Tuesday: Aaron Nola (3-4, 3.72 ERA) vs. Sonny Gray (1-3, 3.40 ERA)

Wednesday: Spencer Howard (0-1, 5.56 ERA) vs. Vladimir Gutierrez (0-1, 1.80 ERA)

Looking At Odds

The Philadelphia Phillies have the third-best odds to win the N.L. East at +450. They are +3500 to win the World Series.

In the N.L. Central, the Reds have the fourth-best odds at +1100 to win the division. They are +6000 to win it all.

By The Number

Offensively, Cincinnati has been the stronger of the two teams this season. However, they rank 10th in the majors in scoring, averaging 4.80 runs per game. The Phillies rank 20th, averaging 3.98 runs.

Defensively, it is the Phillies with the edge. They rank 18th in scoring defense as they are allowing opponents 4.35 runs per game. The Reds are dead last, allowing 5.40 runs per game.

Phillies Trying To Improves On The Road

While Philadelphia is a solid 15-10 when playing at home, they have really struggled on the road. To date, they are just 10-18 outside of Philadelphia. They are also 3-7 in their last ten and will look to reverse both of those trends starting Monday.

Offensively, it is first baseman Rhys Hoskins that leads the team in home runs (11), runs batted in (31), and runs scored (30). Unfortunately, he also leads the team in strikeouts (60). On the year, he is hitting .265/.338/.495.

The Phillies are excited to get catcher J.T. Realmuto back. He was reinstated from the injured list over the weekend. He is currently hitting .287/.391/.470 with four home runs, 18 runs batted in, and 16 runs scored in 115 at-bats.

Reds Don’t Want To Slip Too Far Out Of First

At 23-28, the Reds are in fourth place in the N.L. Central, but they are still just 6.5 games back of the top spot. While not ideal, that is not an insurmountable deficit, but they need to start playing better baseball quickly.

Leading the team offensively have been outfielders, Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos. On the season, Winker is hitting .348/.411/.635 with a team-leading 13 home runs and 37 runs scored. He also has 29 runs batted in on the season.

For Castellanos, he is hitting .359/.416/.647 with 12 home runs, 31 runs batted in, and 35 runs scored.

Reds’ Defense Needs To Improve For Cincy To Turn It Around

Ranking last in runs allowed and 28th in earned run average is never a good recipe for success in MLB. While the Reds have shown they have the offense to compete, the defense will need to step it up for them to take this series over Philadelphia and chip away at the N.L. Central lead.

Cincinnati will look to veterans Wade Miley and Sonny Gray to set the tone ahead of Gutierrez, who will be making just his second start of his career. If they can do their jobs on the defensive side, the Reds could win the series and get the month of June started off right.