The Washington Nationals powerful offense has gotten the job done in the first two games of the series at Great American Ball Park. This afternoon the Cincinnati Reds will look to stifle things a bit and salvage something rather than get swept in the 3-game set. First pitch today is scheduled for 12:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Starting Pitchers
Chase Burns
This season Burns has had seven very good starts and one tough one. He’s been one of the best pitchers in MLB so far this season and he’s shown few signs of letting up. In his two starts so far in May he’s allowed one earned run in 13.0 innings against Pittsburgh and Houston.
The platoon splits against Burns are quite big. He’s been about as dominant as you can be against right-handed hitters. They have done absolutely nothing against him, with an OPS lower than two players in the league currently have for a batting average. But left-handed hitters have been quite successful against him. They are hitting for a solid average, walking a lot, and they have hit for plenty of power.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 85 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 21 | .133 | .153 | .181 |
| LHH | 99 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 27 | .259 | .364 | .482 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 98.3 | 90.9 | 90.0 |
| Usage | 55% | 38% | 7% |
Foster Griffin
Before the 2023 season, Griffin had just 8.0 total innings in MLB. He headed to Japan from 2023-2025 and was outstanding there, posting a 2.57 ERA in 315.2 innings. This offseason he returned to the US and signed with Washington and he’s picked up right where he left off and has been one of the best pitchers in MLB to this point in the season. In his last start he allowed one earned run and struck out nine Marlins in 7.0 innings.
The platoon splits haven’t been large against Griffin this season. The lefty has held left-handed hitters to an incredibly low average, but when they have found the rare hit it’s been for extra bases more often than not. Right-handed hitters have found more success against him, but they still haven’t done much of anything as they hit for a low average, don’t walk, and haven’t hit for power.
As an aside – it may have happened before, but I don’t recall writing a preview before where a pitcher threw seven different pitches. Forster Griffin does. The proverbial “everything but the kitchen sink” guy – but he might throw that, too.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 129 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 26 | .212 | .273 | .339 |
| LHH | 61 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 16 | .148 | .246 | .315 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-sm | 2-sm | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | Split | |
| Velo | 91.8 | 91.3 | 88.0 | 78.2 | 80.2 | 83.0 | 81.4 |
| Usage | 17% | 11% | 30% | 8% | 158% | 12% | 8% |
When and Where
- Game time: 12:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market).
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 60°, partly cloud, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Elly De La Cruz has become on of MLB’s best all-around players
A free article today at The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal wrote about how Elly De La Cruz has become one of the best players in baseball. While De La Cruz didn’t contribute any quotes for the article, a whole lot of his teammates and a few opponents did, as well as coaches on the staff. While I believe that Rosenthal missed the mark with a few things, there’s still a whole lot of good stuff in there.
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Chicago | 27 | 16 | 0.0 | 82.1% |
| Milwaukee | 23 | 17 | 2.5 | 58.2% |
| St. Louis | 24 | 18 | 2.5 | 25.2% |
| Pittsburgh | 23 | 20 | 4.0 | 57.5% |
| Cincinnati | 22 | 21 | 5.0 | 11.8% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||