The Cincinnati Reds are on the road for the first time this season. This afternoon they will take on the Texas Rangers in what is their home opener at Globe Life Field. Cincinnati is coming off of back-to-back losses while the Rangers saw their 4-game winning streak end in their last game in Baltimore on Wednesday. First pitch today is scheduled for 4:05pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Starting Pitchers
Stats are from 2025.
Brady Singer
The first start of the season didn’t go quite as well as Singer would have hoped as he was charged with three runs in just 4.0 innings, but the Reds would eventually win that game 6-5 in extra innings over Boston. He’ll look to get deeper into the game this time around after being limited to just 74 pitches in his first start.
Last year teams tried to stack as many left-handed hitters in their lineup as they could against Singer. There’s a good reason for that, too. Lefty batters had far more success than right-handed hitters did against him. Righties showed no average, didn’t walk much, and hit for no power. Lefties had a solid average, walked at a solid rate, and showed plenty of power against him. In 2025 Singer was much worse on the road than he was at home, with hitters have a 105 point advantage in road games when it comes to OPS and his ERA was 1.59 runs higher outside of Great American Ball Park.
2025 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 312 | 62 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 23 | 63 | .222 | .293 | .333 |
| LHH | 404 | 88 | 21 | 4 | 15 | 37 | 100 | .250 | .330 | .460 |
2025 Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 91.5 | 92.2 | 87.8 | 82.2 | 87.0 |
| Usage | 9% | 41% | 11% | 38% | 1% |
MacKenzie Gore
An All-Star in 2025, Gore had a strong first half. But after the All-Star break his season fell apart as his ERA in 11 games was 6.75 and he allowed 55 hits and walked 29 batters in just 49.1 innings with the Nationals. He was traded to Texas in late January in a 6-player deal where the other five players were all minor leaguers.
The platoon splits are there for Gore, but they aren’t as big as you may expect. Right-handed hitters do hit better across the board against him, but the real difference is mostly just in that they walk a little bit more often than lefties do and will find an extra single once a month.
We opted to look at the 2026 pitch usage for Gore because he has added a 6th pitch – the 2-seamer – that he did not throw in the past.
2025 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 503 | 114 | 21 | 0 | 15 | 50 | 131 | .259 | .337 | .409 |
| LHH | 177 | 38 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 54 | .235 | .294 | .383 |
2026 Pitch Usage (Spring Training and Regular Season)
| 4-sm | 2-sm | Curve | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 96.0 | 95.8 | 81.7 | 89.8 | 86.1 | 86.0 |
| Usage | 44% | 4% | 19% | 10% | 13% | 10% |
When and Where
- Game time: 4:05pm ET
- Where: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX
- Watch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market). You can check your zip code here and find out who carries the Reds MLB Channel in your area if you are unsure.
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: They have a retractable roof
News and Notes
Nick Lodolo exits his rehab start with a blister issue
In case you missed the news, last night Nick Lodolo was making a rehab start in Daytona with the club’s Single-A affiliate and had to leave the game in the middle of an at-bat in the 3rd inning when he had an issue with a blister on his index finger.
Sal Stewart’s new set up
Over at Fangraphs Jay Jaffe wrote about the hot start for Sal Stewart this season. He pointed out how hard Stewart is hitting the ball both now and since he was called up last season. But what stood out to me was the notes about how Stewart has altered his batting stance this season compared to last. Jaffe points out that he’s closer to the plate, his feet are further apart, and his stance is closed up a bit more. There’s also some updated information from ZiPS projections on Stewart for the next few seasons.
Blake Dunn’s big turn around
The Louisville Bats are just six games into their season, but Blake Dunn has reached base 19 times in that span. His first half last season, both with the Reds and in Triple-A was disastrous, but since midseason of 2025 he’s hitting over .350 for Louisville. Over at RedsMinorLeagues.com this morning I wrote all about it if that’s something you would like to read more about.
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Milwaukee | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 53.5% |
| St. Louis | 4 | 2 | 1.0 | 10.1% |
| Cincinnati | 3 | 3 | 2.0 | 15.8% |
| Pittsburgh | 3 | 3 | 2.0 | 46.9% |
| Chicago | 3 | 3 | 2.0 | 50.9% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||