Last night the Cincinnati Reds grabbed a victory in the first game at Target Field against the Minnesota Twins. This afternoon the two teams return to the field as they look to beat the sub-40° weather as well as their opponent. First pitch today is scheduled for 2:10pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Starting Pitchers
Andrew Abbott
It has been a tough start to the season for Abbott. After a strong start of six shutout innings on Opening Day he’s given up 13 earned runs in 14.0 innings across three starts since then, struggling to locate the ball at times and getting into trouble.
Teams have limited how many left-handed hitters face him, but the ones that do get to face him don’t find too much success as they rarely walk and when they do make contact they don’t do much with it. Last season righties did perform better than lefties but it was all in the fact that they hit for more power, though that amount of power was merely mediocre power overall.
2025 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 510 | 110 | 19 | 1 | 17 | 34 | 109 | .234 | .287 | .387 |
| LHH | 174 | 38 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 40 | .236 | .279 | .335 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 92.6 | 88.0 | 79.3 | 81.7 | 85.9 |
| Usage | 50% | 3% | 11% | 18% | 19% |
Taj Bradley
From the day he debuted in 2023 through the end of 2025, Taj Bradley’s MLB career was rather non-descript. He had thrown 385.1 innings with a 4.86 ERA. He had plenty of strikeouts, but gave up his share of home runs. Much of his 2025 campaign was spent with Tampa Bay before a trade at the deadline brought him to Minnesota. The start of 2026 has been quite different from the part for the now 25-year-old. He’s made four starts and has allowed three runs, no home runs, and has 29 strikeouts in 21.2 innings pitched.
His platoon splits aren’t too big when looking at last season. Left-handed hitters did find a little more success as they hit for more power against him. Righties had a slightly higher average but walked less often and hit for a lot less power.
2025 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 306 | 69 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 25 | 64 | .249 | .314 | .375 |
| LHH | 262 | 62 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 31 | 63 | .237 | .319 | .431 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Split | |
| Velo | 97.2 | 89.2 | 81.9 | 91.4 |
| Usage | 48% | 21% | 13% | 18% |
When and Where
- Game time: 2:10pm ET
- Where: Target Field
- Watch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market).
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 39°, partly cloudy, 0% chance of rain.
News and Notes
Sal Stewart on the Baseball Tonight podcast
Yesterday Reds rookie Sal Stewart was on the Baseball Tonight podcast. Buster Olney and Paul Hembekides begin discussing Stewart around the 14:20 mark and then Stewart joins the podcast a few minutes later and spent about 12 minutes talking with Olney. You can watch/listen on Youtube, or use your favorite podcast service to track it down.
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Cincinnati | 12 | 8 | 0.0 | 21.2% |
| Pittsburgh | 12 | 8 | 0.0 | 62.0% |
| St. Louis | 11 | 8 | 0.5 | 11.9% |
| Milwaukee | 11 | 8 | 0.5 | 43.8% |
| Chicago | 10 | 9 | 1.5 | 52.5% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||