It’s not hard to quantify just how frustrating the most recent series between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves was (from the Reds perspective).
They were shut out once. Twice, they lost games in extra innings – once on a defensive brain fart, once after having taken a late two-run lead that evaporated in an instant. They lost their ace to a groin injury, lost their 3B (who was 3B because those ahead of him were injured) to a likely lengthy injury, and ultimately lost three of the four games in the series.
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The numbers do not lie: they are now, once again, a sub-.500 baseball team. And the next club on the docket is the Houston Astros, a club on the tail end of a generational dynasty that has twice won World Series titles since 2017 (and appeared in another pair of World Series, too).
That club is flirting with .500 for the time being, too, sitting at 18-18 as they – like the Reds – juggle a litany of vital injuries. They’re without superstar Yordan Alvarez at the minute as he resides on the IL along with the likes of Cristian Javier and Luis Garcia. Future Hall of Famer Jose Altuve has uncharacteristically slumped to an 88 OPS+ so far this year while converting to LF, the team’s offense as a whole owning a meager .303 wOBA (that’s tied for 20th overall and below the Reds mark of .315).
Houston has been buoyed by an overall team ERA of 3.36, which is good for the 5th best mark in all of baseball so far. Their 9.41 K/9 similarly ranks among the top five in the game, with Hunter Brown – Friday night’s starter for the Astros – emerging as a legitimate ace this year.
(He’s tied for 1st overall in fWAR among pitchers this year at 1.8, for the record.)
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It’s a series featuring two clubs with greater ambitions that middle of the pack for this season that, so far, have both been very much middle of the pack. Here’s hoping the Reds can shake off their funk, find a lineup of semi-healthy guys playing positions with which they’re actually familiar, and take home a much needed series victory.
Pitching Matchups
Friday, May 9th (8:10 PM ET): RHP Hunter Brown vs. RHP Nick Martinez
Saturday, May 10th (7:10 PM ET): RHP Lance McCullers, Jr. vs. RHP Brady Singer
Sunday, May 11th (2:10 PM ET): RHP Ronel Blanco vs. LHP Andrew Abbott
How to Watch
All three of these games will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network. You can watch FDSN in-market through cable packages, though it’s also available to be streamed in-market with no blackout restrictions even without a cable subscription. You can check the link in the above sidebar (which I’ve re-linked right here) for more information on how you can do just that.
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Per usual, you can view these games from outside the Reds TV market by catching the FDSN stream through MLB.tv.
St. Louis Cardinals v Cincinnati Reds
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