The Cincinnati Reds enter their road series opener with the Cleveland Guardians two and a half games out of the final National League Wild Card spot and will look to second-year starting pitcher Hunter Greene to come up with a big performance on Tuesday.
Cincinnati Reds (-112, 7.5) vs. Cleveland Guardians
Greene has made six starts since coming off of the injured list in August, posting a 4.99 ERA and 5.09 fielding independent with nearly 2.1 home runs and 4.4 walks per nine innings allowed in that span.
Fortunately for Greene, he gets to face a Guardians lineup that is last among the 30 MLB teams in home runs, but the Guardians enter averaging more than 4.4 runs per game the past five weeks, dating back to August 22 thanks to the American League’s lowest strikeout rate. With Greene getting 13.4 strikeouts per nine innings, cutting into his ability to get whiffs can often lead to runs.
As for the Guardians, Lucas Giolito gets the start on the mound and enters having struggled to pitch everywhere expect in Chicago this season.
Giolito has a 2.44 ERA with two walks and 1.1 home runs per nine innings allowed in his 10 starts in Chicago this season while posting a 5.80 ERA with 2.3 home runs and four walks per nine innings in his 21 other starts this season.
Both bullpens also enter Tuesday struggling with the Guardians 17th in the league in bullpen ERA at 4.53 since August 24 while the Reds have a 5.08 ERA in the bullpen in this span, ranking 22nd in that span.
With Greene needing to find a way to get outs against a lineup that doesn’t strike out a lot coupled with Giolito’s struggles, this series will open up with a high scoring game one.
The Play: Reds vs. Guardians Over 7.5
