by Chris Ball
Loveland, Ohio – The Reds’ excellent month of June rolled on against the Cubs this past week, even if game 4 of the series didn’t go as planned. In their 3-1 series win against Chicago the Reds held a 17-13 scoring advantage and collected 25 hits. They won in handy fashion but also squeaked out close victories under pressure. While the team’s 7 game winning streak came to and end, they have won 11 of 15 and still are in a great position to fight for a wildcard spot.
The difference for Cincinnati during this run has come from their ability to play complimentary baseball. We’ve seen both offensive explosions and well-pitched wins with just a few runs. The bullpen has been solid and it has lead to an excellent record in one run and tight games. Carson Spiers exemplified this on Sunday. He entered after Frankie Montas failed to make it out of the second inning. Spiers pitched 5.2 innings without giving up a run and struck out 7. Although the Reds couldn’t ultimately win the game and sweep the series, he held the Cubs in check and stopped the bleeding to turn what could have been a blowout into a winnable game.
The turnaround isn’t due to just one player, but several Reds have been key in bringing this team closer to contention after their struggles early on. Jeimer Candelario is hitting .273 over his last 10 games with 3 home runs. Tyler Stevenson had a .343 average over his last 10. But perhaps the most impressive is TJ Friedl who is still working his way back from injury but showing immediate impact. In his last 10 games back he’s hitting .265 with 11 RBIs and 8 runs scored.
During their 7 game winning streak the Reds batted .310 with 72 hits and 11 home runs. Though it may not be sustainable over the long term it did demonstrate what this offense can accomplish and how dangerous their hitters can be if healthy. Given that the Reds hit just .214 with 22 home runs in the entire month of May, it’s impossible not to be excited about what Cincinnati can do going forward after seeing their hitters dominate games.
After the loss to the Cubs on Sunday, it’s yet another opportunity to show that this Cincinnati team can bounce back and keep up the momentum they’ve built up during the early part of June. It wasn’t too long ago that this team lost a heartbreaking series to the Cardinals after their sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But instead of letting the season spiral out of control, they rebounded to start on the 7 game winning streak that electrified their fanbase and gave us all hope that this team could contend deep into the 2024 season. They’ll get a chance to do the same very soon.
Up next for the Reds, they welcome the Cleveland Guardians for a quick two game series. After that it’s a pivotal three game stretch in Milwaukee against the division leading Brewers which will be a litmus test for just how ready this Reds team is set up to contend for the crown in the NL Central. They will then finish the road trip for three in Pittsburgh before the Boston Red Sox come to town.
A new Loveland Magazine feature: The Queen City Sports Podcast by Chris Ball
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Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
The numbers speak for themselves. In their 3 wins against the Rockies the Reds scored a total of 29 runs while allowing only 11. They had 42 hits, with several key players catching fire at just the right time. Jeimer Candelario had 5 hits including 2 home runs and in his last 30 games he’s hitting .282. Spencer Steer had 6 hits in the series and over his last 15 games is beginning to look like the Steer of earlier in the year, batting .315 while slugging at at .556 clip. Prior to the Rockies series, De La Cruz was struggling mightily. But in the Mile High City he went 5-13 and hit a 
It may be foolishly optimistic to hope that the Reds can keep crushing the cover off of the ball with this kind of consistency. But the most important aspect of this Colorado series is that the team and fans see what this truly talented team can do when it is firing on all cylinders. With Noelvi Marte priming to return in a few weeks to further bolster the lineup, all the Reds need to get back into the thick of the NL Central race is to continue to improve and have at least some of their key guys keep up this hot streak. When those players cool down, the hope is that a different combination of hitters will be right there ready to step in and drive in the runs the Reds need to keep winning. We’re past the point that the entire offense can fall apart for long stretches of time. As the season progresses if the Reds want to contend they must continue to put up solid offensive numbers, and the Rockies series has shown exactly how high our ceiling can be.
Now is the time for the Reds to make a run at getting back to .500, and from there, after what we saw in Denver, who knows what is possible?
by Chris Ball
What’s so impressive is the way the Reds are winning. Their bats have come alive again. They are getting contributions from guys like Jonathan India, who looked so overmatched at the plate at times that it was almost sad to watch. He had a great series against Los Angeles which included a grand slam that seemed like the defining moment for the entire series.
Many Reds fans have nightmares about the dreaded “bullpen days” last year that were made necessary by the numerous injuries to the pitching staff. But this year the story has been much different with the major additions the team has made to their bullpen. Nick Martinez proved that when he carried the Reds to a win in one of those bullpen days against the Dodgers this past weekend. He threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings and in the last series facing them he tossed 5 innings while giving up only 1 run.
as rare as a prime steak at Jeff Ruby’s. A perfect example is Elly De La Cruz going 0 for 13 with eight strikeouts after his four-hit, four-stolen-base game Thursday against those Dodgers that so electrified Reds fans and primed them to believe this offense could finally snap out of its funk. The team as a whole failed to respond after a positive win and were unable to score for 16 consecutive innings at one stretch in the Dodgers series.
Friedl hit .279 last year with 18 homers and 66 runs batted in, and those are numbers that the Reds would absolutely take in a heartbeat over what most of their outfielders have given so far this season. Most importantly, he hits left handed pitching at a .354 clip, which is exactly what this team needs as they have looked baffled against southpaws so far in 2024.
The other important point to consider for De La Cruz is how his game has improved just over the course of the early part of the season. He’s cut his strikeout rate from 50 percent to 30 percent and increased his walk rate up to around 15 percent when it had been as low as 5 percent. Though Elly’s other hitting numbers may pop off the page a bit more, the evolution of his plate discipline is what makes those numbers possible.
His offense isn’t the only thing getting better. It was difficult to watch Elly muff routine ground balls or sail easy throws during the first few games of the season. But that all seems like a distant memory, far in the rear view, as we watch him play now. His 