The Cincinnati Reds are back at home this evening, fresh off of a series win against the Boston Red Sox. They’ll be hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight for the start of a 3-game series. Pittsburgh lost two of three in New York to the Mets to open their season, with the final two games going extra innings. First pitch this evening is scheduled for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Starting Pitchers
Stats are from 2025.
Chase Burns
After finishing up his 2025 season in the bullpen, Burns is back in the rotation to start 2026. He had his best start of the spring in Milwaukee to close out spring training. He will look to keep that going in his regular season opener against the Pirates. Of course he will also be looking to just keep doing to the Pirates what he did last season when he allowed one run in 8.0 innings on three hits, one walk, and 13 strikeouts in two games (one start, on relief appearance).
The splits last season for Burns saw him pitch fairly well at Great American Ball Park where he had 32 strikeouts and four walks to go along with a 4.05 ERA in 20.0 innings. The platoon splits were quite big. Burns was dominant against right-handed hitters, but lefties performed well when he was on the mound. They still struck out a ton, but they walked a lot and when they made contact they turned it into hits and into power.
2025 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 90 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 33 | .221 | .256 | .326 |
| LHH | 98 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 34 | .259 | .351 | .494 |
2025 Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 98.5 | 84.5 | 90.4 | 90.8 |
| Usage | 56% | 3% | 34% | 7% |
Braxton Ashcraft
2025 was the first year in the big leagues for Ashcraft. He spent most of his time in the bullpen where he made 18 appearances, but he also made eight starts with the Pirates. Overall he was very good and allowed just three home runs in 69.2 innings, which was helped out by his 50% groundball rate (league average rate was 42%). He was better as a starter (2.16 ERA) than as a reliever (3.22 ERA).
With the platoon splits for Ashcraft the difference really only comes down to the on-base percentage. Or at least that was the case in 2025. Left-handed hitters walked a lot more often, but they also struck out more often. They hit for nearly the same average and had nearly identical slugging percentages as righties, but those walks led to a much better on-base percentage.
2025 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 164 | 36 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 38 | .237 | .282 | .342 |
| LHH | 128 | 27 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 33 | .241 | .336 | .339 |
2025 Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 96.3 | 96.0 | 83.5 | 91.3 | 90.6 |
| Usage | 33% | 14% | 18% | 30% | 5% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati
- 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: 75°, partly cloudy, 1% chance of rain
News and Notes
Nick Lodolo update
Update on Nick Lodolo, currently on the IL with a blister.
Lodolo will throw his second side bullpen session on Tuesday. If that goes well, his rehab assignment start would be Thursday in Daytona. After that, the club hopes to activate him during next week’s road series at Miami. #reds
— Mark Sheldon (@msheldon.bsky.social) March 30, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Sal Stewart named NL Player of the Week
When you hit .700 and have an OPS over 2.000 it’s likely no surprise that you are going to get some sort of hardware for that performance. And that’s exactly how it worked out for Sal Stewart as he was named the NL Player of the Week for his demolition of Boston Red Sox pitching in the opening series of the year.
Chase Petty unveils a new pitch
On Friday Chase Petty made his 2026 season debut with the Louisville Bats on Opening Night. He was outstanding, striking out eight batters with one walk in 4.2 shutout innings before he reached his pitch count and was pulled from the game. He had 18 swings and misses in that game. A big reason for that was a new look pitch that he unveiled on the day. Over at RedsMinorLeagues.com I wrote all about it if you want to check that out.
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Milwaukee | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 51.8% |
| Cincinnati | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 22.2% |
| St. Louis | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 9.9% |
| Chicago | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 50.6% |
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 40.6% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||