by Chris Ball
Loveland, Ohio – The Reds have had a difficult time closing out the month of June. Since their 7 game winning streak they are just 4-8. They have lost winnable games against the Brewers, Pirates, and most recently the Boston Red Sox for a variety of reasons. Whether it was a cold offense or base running mistakes Cincinnati has once again found several different ways to lose a baseball game.
Even with the tough losses there have been bright spots. Elly De La Cruz was 2-5 against Boston on Sunday and is now hitting .320 with a 196 wRC+ over his last 30 plate appearances. Jeimer Candelario had another RBI against the Red Sox and and he’s also playing well, in his last 46 plate appearances he is hitting .333 with a 202 wRC+ over that span.
Though Nick Lodolo took the loss on Sunday the Reds have had so much production from the top 3 spots in their rotation, including Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott that there is so much to be exited about. Against the Red Sox, Abbott looked very good, pitching 5.2 innings while allowing only 4 hits and amassing a career high 10 strikeouts. Over his last 7 starts, Hunter Greene is 4-0 with a 3.32 ERA and 45 strikeouts in just 43 innings.
Reds fans should undoubtedly have patience with this young team. It is peppered with young players who have the potential to lead Cincinnati to the playoffs or beyond, given the right amount of time and experience. It will take time to get them the right amount of innings and at bats to mold them into a consistent contender. And so the failures in June of 2024 are not necessarily the portents of doom that many would make them out to be. This team, for all their struggles, remain just 2.5 games out of contention for the wild card spot with more than half the season left to play.
Tonight, the reds begin a crucial 3 game series against the Pirates. It is a perfect opportunity for this team to reverse course and get back on the right track heading into the July 4th holiday, especially since it would appear that they will not have to face the Pirates’ fireball-throwing ace, Paul Skenes. The first pitch tonight is at 7:10 PM, and the pitching matchup is below:
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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.
