Cincinnati Reds Keep Hope Alive With Dramatic 9th Inning Win vs San Diego Padres | MLB Playoff Chase

Cincinnati Reds Keep Hope Alive With Dramatic 9th Inning Win vs San Diego Padres | MLB Playoff Chase

All right, Nick. Coming in a little late. Uh, I got to admit I was just watching the game. I I just quite honestly just I mean I I wasn’t behind. just was watching the game thinking to myself, well, um it’s two to two. Uh I’d like to say we could just go live in the 10th at this point, but uh but but maybe maybe just maybe we could find a way to get Yeah, maybe just maybe we can find a way back back to the uh the Golden Oreos that are just sitting down here from last night. So, there’s that. Um kind of feels like dja vu perhaps. We’ll see. I’m I’m hopeful we get uh we get a good break, some good fortune in here. Um this is becoming more and more maddening every day that the Mets continue to try to give us an opportunity to make something of this and uh if we don’t if we don’t find a way to make something of it after what the Mets have done. It’s uh I don’t know. This this one stinks. I I really feel like the Reds have had a lot of good at bats tonight against good pitchers all night. I mean, you know, Stevenson was robbed of a two-run home run. No, thanks, Adak. I guess we’re synced pretty well. Really nice of you. Oh, I didn’t even I just assuming I have the radio on. I’m just assuming he said he’s thrown five straight balls. No, he he said that this in a very very disheartening way. He he dropped the This game feels very much like the game last night. Yeah, probably you Stevenson hits a home run. Let’s go. Let’s go. Nice. All right. Allar closer. What a night for Tyler Stevens. It should have had two home runs. Nice. All right. He enjoyed it, too. Oh, yeah. I got to run the Twitters right now, too. Andrew went to bed. I can’t believe Tyler Stevenson just hit that home run. Chris Welsh was all over. If you had the radio on, Chris Welsh literally spoke it into existence. Said Tyler Stevens hitting 375 against fast balls this year, tops in Major League Baseball. That ball was absolutely smoked, dude. All right. Well, we still got to get three outs. Yeah. I cannot believe that just happened. We actually hit home runs tonight. Should have been four home runs tonight in Petco Park. Crazy what happens when you put uh Vincent and Stewart in the lineup. I mean, genuinely speaking, how can you sit here and act like that’s the that there’s not really many other ways to play this game? I mean, these pitchers are so good. Like Robert Suarez, your chances of getting three straight hits off that guy is tough. But you know what? He might make a mistake pitch and you can smack it. He supplies the power, as they say. He supplies the power. No, he supply the power there. That’s for damn sure. I can’t believe that, man. All right. All right. Well, this this gives us a chance here. I It has to be Amelio, right? Cuz San Anton’s pitched three days in a row. Yeah, it’s going to be Amelio. Gavin Sheets. Red’s killer Raone man and Jackson Merrill. I mean you’re through Tatisa Machado but still not Loriano Merrill. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s begun. Solo home run. Can’t beat you. No. Just throw the ball over the plate. If he walks the first lead off hitter again like I I just You ever tried Oreos and water, Nick? I cannot say that I’ve tried Oreos and water and water. Some of the chat said, “Leave Phillips in.” And I I don’t No way. No, Phil pitched yesterday, too. Not even that. I mean, you have you have to I’m not I’m I’m like I’m like maybe I’m like overly um protecting him, but it’s like I’m trying to get that guy to believe that he’s that he’s that guy. He has he has thrown the ball well, and I am not ruining that at all right now. Yeah. All right. Anyway, I am using milk, folks. But I also would say there was one point where someone did suggest it in water and um I gave it a shot one time and it’s actually pretty legit. Not as good as milk, but just saying. All right, here we go. [Music] day. There you go. Fast balls over the plate. Let me see if we can sync this. All right. Give me a pitch clock. I’m I’m one and one. Yeah, I’m one. I pause it at five. You’re going to get it about at eight. Okay. I feel like I’m like six seconds behind you based off your reaction. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Bang. Four. Set. Pitch. Fly out. There you go. Yep. Play to the park. Play to the park. Throw it down the middle. Try him with a white Russian, says Felons. Now, I got to tell you, that’s an elite comment. Might try that at some point. Back to baseball. while we have a second uh future talent member for four months of Nutter Nation said small ball wins games says our three homers on five hits should be four should be four you’re not going to let that die are you no I mean of all seasons too to try to to stretch anything out power-wise. We’re going to stretch it out tonight. Uh Mike Dean says, “My wife saw Latell pitching. Asked me when Yukon Cornelius started pitching for the Reds. Also, she asked if Nick has a registry link for baby gift.” So, there you go, Nick. Oh, I don’t think you’re allowed to on baby number four. I think two outs. Oh, come on, Amelio. That’s two outs, folks. We got two outs in the bottom of the ninth. A 4-2 lead. I feel like Cowboys had a couple like hot mic situations tonight. Not like overly hot like he’s just like like a half second. It’s like a half second situation where is he like pushing a button and it’s not working fast enough. Love that swing. Good pitch. Well, the guy is two for three with a triple and a double today. So, let’s not act like he’s uh has no chance here. Beautiful. Tag him. Game over. Reds win. Reds win. Reds win. We’ll talk about what it means here in just a few minutes. Reds do win. It’s kind of a big deal. Some are saying ain’t a huge deal. Reds win. [Applause] Change in the air to deep right field. Indy and the team. He’s done. Get out of here, baseball. He’s gone. Oh my god. Can you believe it? Johnny B has tried it out. The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series in force rate. It was a sweet and won the game. That ball is fair. Cincinnati’s ahead. Two games to come out. Welcome Joe Randler to Cincinnati. Adam Dunn has done it again. Benzinger backing and calling and the 1990 World Championship belongs to the Cincinnati Red. Yes. This is Adam from Milwaukee. Hey Adam, how you doing? I’m good. How are you? Good. Do you think John Henber is a good player? Done up there with the bases loaded. The outfield deep and around toward right to the 10 on the way to the plate. Swung on. Long drive right field and this do their win. And a high drive back into deep right field. Junior has just knocked the door down to the 500 block. Vincent scores a winger. That ball had a family and DA Cruz is Oh my goodness. Look at this kid run. My oh my. That is a triple. Then Mlan’s first big league foul. Spencer Steer’s first big league hit is a home run to straight away center field. Troy Botto again. The pitch. Botto swings high in the air. Right field. Yes. He pointed to the dugout to say I told you. That is Joey B’s 315th career. Go ahead, Revy. Only Johnny Bench had more as a Red. And I can’t tell you how much it means to play in front of everyone here in Cincinnati as a Red. What a gift. What a tremendous gift. So, thank you. Thank you. I think I can speak for all of Red’s country. Joey Vado, thank you. High five. That’s racing back to the world. The multia central division champions in the air begin [Music] with red. [Music] you down the right field line [Music] for a three run home run big day by Raone Hernandez a strike away and out away is home round ball to third Frasier gloves throw to first and home for the second time in his major league career Yeah. Heat. [Music] the second. [Music] What a dream to the career Bruce. As soon as you think you’re dead and gone and you’re down and out, here come the Cincinnati Reds that try to steal your heart yet again. I don’t know if I am just completely insane, which I think at this point I might be, but I must admit during the three minute uh intro there, I was kind of digging in to see if we had the tiebreaker over the San Francisco Giants. Am I all the way back, Nick? I don’t know if I’m all the way back. I am thankful that they found a way to win this game because it was going to become very disheartening that the Mets continue to absolutely just fall apart and we have yet to take advantage of it. It is going to be either one of two things at the end of this year. We are going to find ourselves asking how in the hell did we make the playoffs? How in the absolute hell did we make the playoffs? or we are going to be absolutely ripping our hair out if we have any trying to ask ourselves how in the world we were that close to making the postseason and all of these things went wrong in all of these games that we had a chance to win. Tonight felt like one of those games, Nick, that they had a chance to win and they weren’t going to. Maybe it was just the pessimism I have creeping in, but they found a way to win. And uh Nick, I don’t want to overblow it, but I also don’t want to understate it. It was a good win. It was a win that keeps the season alive. And that’s just kind of where they stand now. It was a fun baseball game. One of the probably more exciting baseball games to watch really start to finish all year. And yeah, like this was a game that man, the Reds had pretty good at bats all night. I mean, they faced good pitchers. I mean, Michael King has been one of the best starters in baseball for uh about two and a half years. And then you go into the Padres’s bullpen, which is just absolutely insane. And you were robbed of a two-run home run by Tyler Stevenson. Um, but you found a way to win. And there hasn’t been enough of those finding a way to win this year, but you you stay alive. that that’s all you can ask for. And if you’re wondering, the Giants tiebreaker. Uh they split 3-3, as I’m sure you probably know by now. I found that out. So then you go to your next tiebreaker, which is very interesting because it’s record versus your own division. The Giants just won, so they are now 18 and 20 against the NOS. The Reds are 14 and 18. So that could still be decided. Um Reds have a lot of division games. cuz I don’t know the the the Red’s last like six games are all division games, right? Last seven. No, last last Yeah. And the Giants the Giants also have a good amount of division games left as well. And you can say that it’s exciting that they do have to play the Dodgers seven times. Um they also have to play the Diamondbacks three times, including tomorrow. but they do have uh the Rockies um for the last three games of the year. So, you know, it I I would say it’s a tossup in that in that in that category. And it will also be very poetic if there’s a way in which somehow we go back to the opening day fiasco of Ian Jabau blowing the game and being the reason they don’t make the playoffs. So, I don’t know. We’ll see. Or they also blew they also blew a five nothing lead in San in San Francisco, too. Yeah. Well, let’s not go there. Tonight, they won. The Reds won tonight and that is what we’re going to talk about. By God, we have finally found a way to have a positive show, a show that’s that’s kind of makes you feel a little bit good. So, let’s keep that going. You know, we stayed up late to watch this. And Tyler Stevenson let us feel some joy, which is very very nice of him. And uh we will talk about that here in just a bit. If you got anything to get to before we jump into the box recap, let’s do that. Uh, as always, the box score recap is presented by Nick Kirby. Take it away, Nick. All right, Reds taking on the Padres’s game two of three in San Diego. Reds enter the day two and3 in their last 15 games at Petco Park. Zack Latell on the hill for the Reds against Michael King. Sal Stewart got a start at first base and batted second. In his first at bat, he destroyed a home run to straight away center field. 419 ft. 107 off the bat. One- nothing Reds. Will Benson, how about that? He got his first start since August 1st. And in the second inning, Will Benson destroyed a home run 409 ft. 108 off the bat. Made it two nothing Reds. Then in the bottom of the second, Will Benson made one of the best catches of the year. He slammed into the wall, hit his head actually against the top of the wall. Was a scary moment there for a minute, but somehow Benson stayed in the game, probably knowing it was his last chance to play maybe in 2025. Top of the fourth, Reds were inches away from blowing the game open. Tyler Stevenson was robbed of a two-run home run by Fernando Tatis Jr. Some really good defense out in right field in this one. Zack Latell then had only given up one base runner and retired 11 straight batters entering the fifth. But in the bottom of the fifth, Latell walked the leadoff batter Ramon Lauraniano. Then Jackson Merrill ripped a triple down the right field line. That made it two to one. And then Merryill would score to tie the game on a Tatis sacrifice fly. All squared away at two. The top of the six felt like a chance that was going to haunt the Reds. Ellie de la Cruz ripped a single at 102 off the bat. Tatis though made another great play, cutting off a ball and holding Ellie to a single. But then Ellie stole second and took third when the throw from the catcher got away. But Ellie would be stranded there as Hayes and Lux struck out. Zack Lattell finished off a very strong outing. He goes six innings. This gives up two hits, two runs, one walk, four strikeouts. Uh the Reds went with their youngsters in the bullpen. Zack Maxwell came in in the seventh in a two-2 game. Maxwell’s first three pitches were not even close to strikes, but he rebounded and got through a scoreless inning where he did not walk anyone. Maxwell also struck out Luis Arise, who this season has the lowest strikeout rate since Tony Gwyn in 1995, just arise 18th strikeout of the entire season. Connor Phillips came in in the eighth and he worked around a walk, struck out two batters for another big scoreless inning. We go to the ninth. Red’s first two batters went quietly. Gavin Lux worked a walk with two outs and then Tyler Stevenson hit a ball that there was no chance of robbing him on this one. Home run to left field. 42 Reds and Amelio Pagan goes 123 in the ninth. Reds win 4-2 over the Padres’s. Reds now 73 and 72 on the season. And the Reds somehow someway three games back with 17 to play. quite literally insane. Uh here we go. Deep DSC deep drive of the day is uh is brought to you by Will Benson. Will Benson. Now, this might be because Tyler Stevenson hit his home run a little too late. And sometimes, you know, when you’re running the ones and twos and you got to go and update the entire graphic and those types of things, I might just be too far behind. But I get it. Uh we’re going to probably take the farthest one. Maybe not the most impactful one, but it is off the bat of Will Benson. That is his 10th home run of the year. 107.9 off the bat. That is uh flying off the bat. 409 uh in regards to feet and uh win probability would be 68.9%. And if you rounded that up, it would be 69%. Which is nice because it’s a 10% jump in win probability. DSC. They are a leader in renewable commodities for bofuel production, specializing in used cooking, oil collection, aggregation, and sales. Visit www.deepsouthcommodities.com for more information. And thank you to John and his team for the DSC deep drive of the day. Um, listen, it hit the ball over the fence, man. They hit the ball over the fence today. And, uh, it wasn’t pretty at times. This offense com once again found a way to get guys on, get them to third. Ellie, as you mentioned in the rundown there, he steals second base. He finds a way to get to third base. You got less than two outs with a guy on third base yet again and they don’t get him in. And you just kind of wonder that is the formula that this team wants to pride themselves on. Yet, it feels like that situation is the formula that gets them in the most trouble and leaves you at the end of the game frustrated because they can’t produce and they can’t find ways to score. But tonight, thankfully, we ran into a little bit of a of a power surge, Nick. Uh I would say we hit three home runs, but I’m gonna I’m gonna say it again. We did hit three home runs, but Nick, you can say it. Should have been four. Should have been four. Should have been four. I I’m going to You should just do that all night. By the way, every time we say that the Reds hit three home runs, you should say it should have been four. So, shout out to Tyler Stevenson. Could have had two home runs, but uh turns out the other team had gloves on and they also play defense. So, um listen, I I guess at the end of the day, it feels like we’re beating kind of a a dead horse a little bit here where we’re we’re we’re trying to play the same song and dance when it comes to what this offense needs to be. And it’s uh it becomes ever more apparent, I think, to everybody, I would hope, that this team lacks something specific. And when they get that one specific thing, which is a little bit of pop, their offense is their offense is formidable. Their offense can can can play up to the standards that they need to play at to win games that are meaningful. And tonight, that’s exactly what happened. Yeah. Origin only had two runners in scoring position the whole night. They were 0 for two with the run scoring position. The Padres were 0 for six. It’s hard. Like that’s the thing. I think people go, “Oh, the Reds can’t even, you know, they can’t even get guys in on third base.” It is harder than it’s ever been in the history of this sport to get guys in from third base with less than two outs because pitchers strike out twice as many batters as when your grandpa watched the baseball game. Like, it’s a different game. That’s why one swing of the bat changes it. The team that hit home runs tonight won. The team that didn’t hit home runs tonight, they lost. It’s it’s really that simple. Yes, there might be some games where you, you know, have that game against the Blue Jays where you do get five hits in a row, but it’s not a sustainable method of winning. And yeah, we’ve been preaching that drum all year, but man, can you just play some of these guys that give you a chance on any given night? It’s not going to work every night, but what they’ve been doing hasn’t worked all year. Yeah, it’s a good point. I I think that um that’s the most disheartening thing at times about the lineup is that there are some guys that have the capabilities or the potential to possibly run into a baseball and and I think that many people probably think, oh, you know, there there goes the whole Will Benson fan club. Again, I’m not even really talking about just Will Benson. There’s other players that have been on the bench at prolonged periods of time. And we also have a kid that just came up in South Stewart who’s not played regularly. Like the one quote that we got when he came up here from Tito himself was that we didn’t bring him up here to sit him on the bench. Well, the damned if you didn’t. I mean, I don’t know what sitting on the bench is for you, but I got news for you. If if if you only play like half the time, guess what? You sit on the bench. Like, that’s what you that’s kind of who you are. You’re more of a bench roll type guy. You’re not an everyday player. And Sal Stewart certainly seems like he has been a guy that they don’t trust enough to put in the lineup every single day. And I we have this infatuation with always trying to make sure we put guys in the lineup that you know just don’t have enough pop probably more or less to make a huge impact on a game because if they need to make a huge impact on the game, they’re going to have to get like like you said, Nick, they’re probably going to have to get two, three, four hits. Um, Gavin Lux is kind of a guy that comes to mind a little bit and I’m not trying to pick on him specifically, but it’s like late in a baseball game, would you rather see Gavin Lux at the plate or Sal Stewart or Will Benson or I’ll even keep going like even Reese Hines. There’s guys that make you think that there’s a small chance that they’re going to run into a pitch and it completely flips the game on its head. And Tyler Stevenson did that tonight. He did that tonight. Uh, for all intents and purposes, the ninth inning felt like it was over. I I I I just I was in shock when he hit it because we have not seen that all year. Like, we’ve not really seen that type of situation play out in the way it did all year long. And uh yeah, I hopefully if nothing else, it’s a it’s a huge wakeup call moving forward with with either whether it’s Tito, whether it’s Freddy Benvdz, whether it’s uh I don’t know, Brad Mills, I think, is he still on the bench? I don’t know anymore at this point. I have no clue. Um I’m just saying like who whoever the rest of the season off. Yeah. Whoever his quota, whoever Tito has in that dugout, I don’t give a damn who it is, man. If maybe Derek Johnson could could come in and provide some insight. I don’t know. But whoever it is that makes these lineups up, if there if if tonight wasn’t a little bit of an indicator on what this team should try to maybe push forward uh moving forward, man, I don’t know. I I I don’t I don’t I don’t know how it could be more clear, but we’ll find out. We’ll see. Um but it was a nice night. It was it was a it was a good win. And uh to be honest, the only difference between tonight and a lot of other games this year is they just hit a home run. They hit a couple home runs because they did not get many hits. They did not have many scoring opportunities. Like you said, the offense didn’t look great, but they scored runs and uh that’s all that really matters. Yeah. And they were facing really really good pitching tonight, too. Like like So yeah, I mean I’m not going to Yeah. They didn’t look great, but they weren’t supposed to look great. You’re not supposed to look great when you face uh Michael King, uh Mason Miller, and Robert Suarez. You’re probably not going to look great in that that game, but you found a way to win against a stacked stacked pitching uh matchup for the uh the Padres’s. Shout out to Gavin Lux, though. He did walk twice today. He’s the only Reds player that walked in the entire game and obviously had that two out walk that even brought Tyler Stevenson into the plate. So, um I I’m a big walk guy, so shout out to Gavin Lux for that. Um yeah, I mean South Stu I mean um South Stewart obviously. Um I mean hitting one straight out the dead center in in Petco Park. Um that’s no easy feat just crazy. That guy only hit eight home runs in the minor leagues last year and he just looks like a bonafide slugger. He’s had an interesting career because when the Reds drafted him, the first video everyone saw was him in like I think it was a high school home run derby in Chorus Field just jacking home runs. Then he kind of comes to the minor leagues and he kind of didn’t really have a lot of power. Was a really good on base guy, but then the powers kind of developed which was kind of what you thought you had and then you thought he was an on base guy and then he kind of found his his his power power uh uh here this year. Um and especially as the year has gone on. Uh Tyler Stevenson, man, that’s really encouraging. He’s one of the guys that can get hot. I think people sometimes maybe forget that Tyler Stevenson has had some 900 plus OPS months. He’s capable of that. Um and then yeah, I mean it just I I enjoyed watching Will Benson play baseball. I do not know how there’s a soul on this planet that does not enjoy watching Will Benson play baseball for your favorite team. I mean, the guy gives you everything he’s got. Um, I mean, that was a scary scary collision. Um, uh, up against the wall. Um, I hope he’s in the lineup tomorrow. I guarantee you he ain’t saying a word about about being sore or anything tomorrow when he comes in. Yeah, I I I would be willing to bet that Will Benson, based off the based off of his opportunity history, is not going to be turning down any opportunities. Um, yeah. I I I I there’s people obviously in the chat speculating on what happens if Will Benson was in right field last night instead of Marte and the ball that was hit in right center field with with TJ Friedel crashing and and and Will Benson obviously if he was out there, would he have just made the catch period? It’s hard to say. Hard to guarantee anything in those in those types of situations. But, um, I I do think that that that that Will Benson’s defense has been completely underrated in regards to what many people would perceptually think about him. Um, he played a great center field, just a fantastic center field when he was given the opportunity when TJ Freda was out on uh, paternity leave and and he’s obviously looked good looked good tonight as well and made some plays and we’ll see what the opportunities look like moving forward. And to be clear, I I I I just want to reiterate, I think there’s a lot of people that think that that we um and I don’t like I don’t want to speak for Nick, but I we’re on the same page for the most part with this whole thing. Like we we don’t want people to think that we believe that Will Benson is is is this is this great player that just somehow never gets a chance and you know, if he was playing every single day, he’d be, you know, borderline all-star worthy or whatever. I was like, “No, that’s not really it. It’s it’s more or less just that he has clear god-given skill sets that some other guys just don’t have that we decide to play. They they don’t have the speed or they don’t have the power. And yes, he might swing and miss more. I don’t know. But the one thing that’s held this team back, he kind of has a little bit of that. he profiles he profiles as a guy that could help in that area and that’s why we asked for it. That’s why we wanted to see it. Doesn’t mean that it’s a guaranteed success. Uh doesn’t mean it’s going to be guaranteed to uh to to to get us to the postseason or anything like that, but it certainly feels like it would help our chances based off of the other alternatives that we’re given. Um so there’s that. Um Latel, go ahead. One more point on the offense. If you thought there was going to be a night where I was not going to mention that Ellie de la Cruz had three hard hit balls, you’re sadly uh mistaken. But that was good to see and good to see that two of them were actually elevated. Obviously Tatis made Tatis and right field was incredible in this game. I mean played one of the best right fields maybe I’ve ever seen in a game. Uh Rob Deli of extra bases. Um but that ball was hit 331 ft. um 21 degree launch angle. And then he also had a line out at 371 ft at 103 off the bat. So that’s good to see. Just hope hope that he it just feels like if he just gets that first home run, maybe there’ll be some more come. I don’t know. Maybe I’m I’m uh a little too optimistic on that. But just feels like you got to get to the free throw line and hit that first free throw just to see the ball go through the rim. Yeah, I I don’t know when it’s going to happen for Ellie. And it just seems like at this point there’s a huge there’s just this huge burden on his shoulders right now of of my guess of of of trying to get one to go out. I’d love to see batting practice. Really? I’d really like to see batting practice and I would have loved to kind of be around to to have seen what it looked like last year and what it kind of looks like now and to see if there’s still balls that are just absolutely you know uh tape shot measures that that you know I even remember Jonathan India mentioning to the press about how impressive his batting practice is just because of how much raw power he has. I’d like to know if that still is there, you know, is his because he does have a different style of hitting. Now, I and I again, I don’t want to speculate and go too down too too far down the rabbit hole of of Ellie on a night like tonight because really, I don’t know if it’s the time or place, but he does the toe tap situation. Now, I do think maybe he’s a little bit more um batto ball friendly with that type of approach, like he has the ability to maybe to to to cut down on the strikeouts or put the ball in play a little bit more. But I also obviously am overly concerned that it’s zapped a lot of his juice and it seemingly would would would be preferred by me to kind of go back to the style in which you might strike out a little bit more for sure, but you’re definitely going to have a guy that’s going to run into some more pitches that’s going to ultimately either be flying off the wall or going over the wall. So, we’ll see if Ellie can kind of get back on track. I I hope that’s the case. And if it is, then it gives us a chance. As I said before, we need him just like we need a lot of other guys. And uh speaking of other guys, um Latell comes in and you know, thankfully he’s pitching in a big ballpark and thankfully that he utilized that to his advantage tonight and he did not give up a plethora of home runs, Nick, that cost the Reds uh a situation where they they had a chance to win. It’s kind of been a little bit of u Jacqueline Hyde with with Latell with the Red’s uniform on because it feels like on one outing you’re like, you know what, this was great. His first outing with the Reds, unbelievably good outing. Uh tonight, another good outing, but then he’s had some that are mixed in between there that were that were just not good at all. And and um you know, he’s that’s just kind of who he is a little bit. I think he’s just going to kind of be a roller coaster type of guy. Yeah, I was thinking last night, I didn’t I didn’t say it because I did not want to to to risk jinxing, but I was like, “Oh, you know what? This is actually a really good ballpark and a team Padres’s don’t hit home runs. They are the the rare team that doesn’t hit home runs that has had success um this year.” I think a lot of it has to do with uh fact that their bullpen is just untouchable except for against Tyler Stevenson tonight, of course. Um, but yeah, I mean Latell, it’s interesting like if you told the Reds you’re gonna have a starting pitcher with a 3.780 RA on the year, would you you feel like maybe Latell would be a little bit more like, you know, not not as down on by a lot of Reds fans, but he’s had a couple just absolute stinkers, which has obviously soured it. But, I mean, again, for your fifth starter, I mean, that’s a really good fifth starter, and that’s what he is. Um, he’s only probably got a couple more starts. I think the Reds might skip him. Not to get too far ahead. They could also skip Abbott at some point if Abbott continues to struggle. Um, not to be a Debbie Downer on Andrew Abbott, but I haven’t really been encouraged what we’ve seen from him of late and there’s a track record of him not pitching well late in the season. Uh, yeah, Abbott’s going to be a question mark moving forward. He’s going to have to have a bounceback type of game before maybe you you have a little bit of confidence in him. It’s it’s it’s even more damning if he’s not able to bounce back because I think there’s a trend now that seems pretty evident that that something’s go something’s happening towards the end of the year that he just isn’t, you know, incapable of producing like he was at the beginning. uh the bullpen. Uh this really is the story storyline I think of maybe the night that’s outside of the power pop that we got, which is, you know, you you got a couple young kids that came in and did a really really good job and uh got the Reds into a spot where they had a chance in the ninth inning to take the lead. Uh whether you want to go to Maxwell or whether you want to go to Connor Phillips, whoever you feel like you’re more impressed with, I don’t care. They both did their job and they both got experience if nothing else. I was going to say, Nick, like I’m kind of getting to the point where, man, I’m just kind of tired of of having all these kind of like moral victories. It’s, you know, Cowboy during the broadcast is talking about how, you know, how unbelievably valuable it is for these young guys to get, you know, meaningful games that they feel the pressure and they come in and they have to produce out of the bullpen. And and I was thinking, you know, that’s all fine and well. I’m just not in a mental state right now to appreciate that because I just feel like I’m getting ready to get my heart ripped out again. But that but the fact that Tyler Stevenson hit the two-run home run, you know what? I feel good about it. You know what? Kudos. I’m glad that Connor Phillips and I’m glad that Maxwell threw the ball well. They got some experience under their belt. Let’s ride that into 2026, baby. Uh I don’t know, but it was at least nice to see. I’ll leave it at that. Well, I’ll I’ll say I’d rather uh get to watch S Stewart and and Will Benson and Zack Maxwell and Connor Phillips than uh I don’t know, with all due respect, Austin Hayes and Scott Barlo and like I’d rather at least if if the season’s going down, I at least like to kind of see guys that that you do have some hope for next year. Um but uh Zack Maxwell when he came in threw three straight balls that were not competitive. And my my thought in my head was like, “Yeah, well, here’s the Zack Maxwell blowup inning that we’ve kind of been waiting for.” But to his credit, man, he bounced back. Did not walk a batter. Bounced back from down 3 0. Um got some big outs. Uh that’s awesome. And then Connor Phillips, I one of the the the best stories right now, I think, going for the Reds. Um I mean, this guy, you know, when he came up in 2023, he had some really nice moments in September. obviously also had a really really ugly moment, but he had some nice moments as a as a rookie and um in that and then obviously 2024 just could not have gone worse and uh I like probably most people kind of wrote him off just thought well he’s just one of these pitchers that you know loses his command and career just never gets back on track but to his his credits moved him to the bullpen and um I remember I I was I watched his very first outing as a reliever And uh Tom Nichols was talking about on the Dayton Dragons broadcast because they started him there because he was coming back off an injury and uh Tom Nichols said that that Phillips was really excited about this opportunity to be a reliever and was seemed like he was really embracing it and he’s done a great job and and right now I mean he feels like a guy I don’t want to go too far but he feels like a guy that could be your next Tony Santon. Like remember Santion didn’t come up till like July of last year. finished the year strong and then he rode it right into to this season. Conor Phillips feels like he could be the next Santion. Yeah, I well I don’t want to say I hope so because I think that that then it would sound like that would be Conor Phillips’s ceiling is Tony Santion and there’s no disrespect to Santion and in in saying that’s his that’s his ceiling or anything like that. But my my hope at one point was uh was Connor Phillips being one of the the you know not corner pieces of the rotation, but let’s face it, Connor Phillips had a pretty stark drop off. Um you know, quite literally since spring training of 2024, it just did not go well ever since then. And now he’s bounced back a little bit to his credit. It is funny that the two stars of spring training of 2024, Nick and Connor Phillips and Zack Maxwell, who also, by the way, was a guy that gave up like what, quite literally like four home runs that went about 425 ft a piece out there in spring training, which is a story for another day maybe. But it is funny on a night like tonight, we’re talking about both of them in a very positive light at the big league level. Not even Reds MIB, baby. They’re in the show and they’re showing out. It’s nice to see that. Well, to Maxwell’s credit, when you saw that, I don’t think he had pitched above high A at that point. So, he was still very, very young. Um, in terms of baseball, he was drafted in 2022. He was drafted uh who just came up was he drafted with South Stewart. They were in the same draft. Okay. Yeah. For those that are wondering, uh really quick backstory for those that are wondering what the hell we’re talking about. In 2024, uh we did go to spring training and uh there was a situation where Nick got extremely excited and said, “Oh my gosh, that’s Zach Maxwell. He’s pitching.” He’s like, “No one’s really ever seen this guy pitch before.” He’s like, “He’s he’s up and coming. He’s going to be he’s going to be one of their better relievers, maybe.” And I’m like, “Okay, well, Zack Maxwell walks out there, very first inning, he throws in spring training. I’m not kidding you.” Gives up like four home runs and they were all moonshots. I mean, the balls were just flying out of the park. I was like, “Okay, Nick, yeah, this guy, he looks like he’s going to be he’s going to be that guy.” And uh the Conor Phillips story is is a story for another day. If you don’t know about that, then I just I can’t help you there. But uh but but you just had to be there to know what happened. Anyway, uh but uh uh yeah, bullpen great tonight. Emilio Pagan, give him some credit as well. Shout out to Amelio Pagan. I I don’t know what else to say besides the fact that he came out, did his job, and you know what? if he doesn’t do his job. It’s a shame because everybody acts like, you know, he’s he’s the world’s worst pitcher. That’s maybe what comes with the closer territory. But, uh, but Amelia Pagan, very, very stressfree save, and I appreciate those and, uh, shout out to him. But, the bullpen in total, as uh, Craig had it up there, they went, uh, three innings pitched, one hit, and, uh, no runs with one walk, four strikeouts. So, there’s your, uh, there’s your line on the bullpen. And yeah, listen, it’s um it’s not easy holding the Padres’s to two runs and they did it. So kudos to them. Yeah. Yeah. And uh I mean Amelio Pagan, you’re just please please do not walk anyone. He didn’t walk anyone. He threw strikes. Uh how I think he threw like six strikes to to uh Jackson Merrill. Well, four, but um he was just pumping in strikes uh to to Merill. Actually, Merryill actually swung a couple pitches way out of the zone, but nonetheless, they were all strikes. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, J. I I think the best thing you brought up that I kind of forgot about was just the fact that I thought the exact same thing that you thought you thought about with Maxwell. It’s like he’s got this track record. The track record obviously is that he’s going to lose it at some point. He’s not going to be able to throw strikes. And those first three pitches did not look ideal at all. And sure enough, he kind of found it. And uh you know, one thing I do like about the old big sugar, as they call him, I love his confidence, man. Yeah, I love his confidence. It seems like he’s just he’s he’s he’s looking for a fight when he’s out there. And I appreciate that of him. He’s a little got a little bulldog in him. And uh you know what? We’ll see if that can’t translate to uh to more opportunities moving forward and see if he can’t find a way to still have some success. uh because it does seem like the list of people that Tito can turn to late in baseball games has shrunk quite significantly. Well, and and like for offseason talk, I mean, I’ve said it a million times, but the last thing you want to do is go put in a bunch of money, the limited money the Reds have into relievers because they’re so fickle and you can sign relievers like I mean Rogers, look at him, 6 million. I mean, he was the guy we were probably most excited about as a reliever. Like, this guy’s a sure thing, a sure thing as a reliever can be, and he completely was a dumpster fire this year. So, the last thing you want to do is have to go put in a bunch of money. And um Maxwell’s looked really good. Phillips looked really good. Luis May, we’ll talk about him in a second, has pitched very well down at Triple A. That’s three arms that, man, have the potential to to to be at least three big league arms. Maybe not all of them will be perfect, but could could one of them be an a legitimate eighth inning guy? Could one of them be like a legitimate like sixth inning guy? And I’m just, you know, and one of them just be, you know, your last guy in the bullpen, but they’re all big leaguers. Well, makes makes the job this offseason a lot easier if that’s the case. Yeah. And they’ll they’ll add depth pieces as we go. As we’ve as we’ve, you know, found out each and every single year, this front office is going to add depth pieces when it comes to the staff in general. And uh we may run into another Scott Barlo or find another, you know, diamond in the rough. Uh let’s face it, Fernando Cruz came out of left field to a certain extent. Never expected him to be as successful as he was. And uh you know, as crazy as it sounds, we also had Luke Weaver who just never converted to be a bullpen guy as well. So you don’t know where these guys are going to come from. I mean, let’s face it, uh the Yankees, for all intents and purposes, I know it’s changed. I haven’t followed them closely. I know that at some point uh Devin Williams was was was struggling and Luke Weaver was throwing the ball. Well, I think Luke Weaver is struggling a little bit at this point, too. I don’t follow them super close, but that just shows you how insane if you’re a Reds fan and have a little bit of history to yourself. It’s insane to think to yourself that you’re actually going to turn to Luke Weaver over Devin Williams in the bullpen at any point ever in the history of baseball. But that shows you how crazy this bullpen thing can get. And uh to your point, Nick, uh maybe it’s not the wisest of decisions is to feel like you can go out and get such any sure thing in the bullpen. Uh but tonight, they did their job and we are thankful for it. Uh as always, you can turn to 988. You can text andor call day or night. It’s an anonymous hotline uh to to get some help in a time of crisis. You can also visit manap.org to get help. That’s manap.org. It’s okay to not be okay. We have a plethora of super chats, a plethora of them and we are going to go through them right now. Putrid talent says odds we see Benson start again this season. I’d like to say the odds are high for tomorrow. That’s that’s what I’d like to say. Um do I think that’s going to happen? Maybe not. Roth coming in hot again on a night like tonight. Here comes Roth. A t- o btr. This show is absolute gold is what he said. Thank you, Michael. Thank you. I could use some positive encouragement. Um that’s that’s very nice of you. Vandy, go ahead. Will Benson has homerred in each of his last two starts, separated by about uh five weeks. Yeah. And a half. so long that if you didn’t pay your bills from the last time he started, you’d be in a lot of trouble. Uh Vandy 81 says, “Uh, back to the doghouse for Benson for no reason.” Hey man, super chats are coming in hot for Will Benson on a night like tonight. Uh, thank you, Vandy. Says, uh, Ned Flanders, Fan Graphs just upgraded the Red’s chances. See, you can’t look at fan graphs, Ned. That that that ain’t going to make you feel good. It’s just it’s a bad place to turn to in a time like this. Van Graphs just upgraded the Red’s chances of making the playoffs from 3.2%. To 4.2%, but we all know it’ll be 100% if Will Benson can stay away from those sharp outfield pads. And from Tito Franka, um the the Red’s uh playoff odds were actually down to 2% uh back in early June. So, double from early June. That’s getting it done right there. Big big double. Uh Michael, now if we could just maybe double and then double and then double and then double it one more time. I think that gets us to 100%. I’m not totally sure. Michael Roth says uh it would be very nice if the uh vegetable people had snagged Mason Miller at the trade deadline. His salary is $765,000 and under Padres’s control through 2029. Should have sent the entire Dragon the entire Dragons roster for him. I don’t know if they would have got him. Yeah. And on top of that, if we’re being honest, the Dragons, man, they they just won like 18 and 19 baseball games. We would The poor people of Dayton would have never gotten to experience that. So, I don’t know if that’s a good deal for the Reds if we’re being honest. They got to sell tickets next year in Dayton as well. And uh I don’t know if they would have sold him if it wasn’t for that win that winning streak. But on uh on Mason Miller, I mean, he the return that they gave up for him was crazy. and the Padres’s. A lot of people around baseball speculated that the only reason that they gave up that much for Mason Millers because they’re actually going to try to convert him to a starter next year. Um, but I mean, they gave up the number three prospect in baseball. The rest don’t even have a prospect. I mean, that they legitimately almost gave up Chase Burns plus like three other top prospects. Like, that’s what it would have to probably the Reds would have had. I think the Reds would have had to put Chase Burns to beat the deal for Mason Miller. And I think people have to realize that the Padres’s get the number three prospect in the sport. So the only way to beat that is probably Chase Burns. Yeah, you said the number three prospect in the sport, not the number three prospect on the Padres’s or in the Padres’s organization. the number three in all of baseball plus I think three other top prospects although they also got JP Sears as a pitcher in there as well. There was a two they acquired two players but I mean right you would had to you would have to throw in Chase Burns. So if you want Mason Miller and you want to give Chase Burns then we’ll talk. If you don’t there’s no point even really talking about that because that’s what you would have had to done to beat it. They were going for it. I mean I give I give uh the Padres some credit. They’re they’re they’re they’re going for it and they they realize that they’re going to need to be, you know, uh a damn good baseball team to to compete out in the West in in the first place. I mean, the the Dodgers uh are are are really good. No doubt about it. But, you know, the Giants aren’t bad either either. The Giants aren’t bad either. I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole tonight, but the Giants I don’t want people sleeping on the Giants. Uh the two teams the two teams also were in drastically different spots, too, at the trade deadline. I mean, the Reds, they were Padres’s were three games ahead of a wild card spot. I’m trying to look it up here on the fly. They had a um 88% chance to make in the playoffs. The Reds had an 11. I mean, you’re going to give up your your Chase Burns for with 11% odds to kind of go in this year. The Padres’s had 88. And the Padres’s also they’re kind of going to they’re probably going to have an expiring team at some point. They have Manny Machado signed when he’s 41 years old. That Xander Bogart’s contract like they they know those contracts are not going to age well. Like that’s part of their they have to go for it right now. Well, it all we’ll see how that ends up going. I mean, I I think that if if they have the if they have the luxury or the cash to be able to just not worry about those contracts when those contracts come to be, then then we’ll, you know, we’ll see. I mean, it’s kind of the same situation of when you sign these crazy contracts with these franchise quarterbacks in the NFL and everyone’s like, “Oh my gosh, that’s an insane deal. Patrick Mahomes is making how much money and now Patrick Mahomes is at this point playing on a very team-friendly deal.” You just don’t know how these contracts end up looking and in 5 10 years from now because that money might might be very negligible. But to your point, Nick, it could be the opposite of that as well. I don’t know how the CBA is going to go. Um I I think it’s already the bubble seems like it should burst. I I I have a hard time believing that Major League Baseball brings in this much money that it makes sense to sign these guys for that much money. Maybe I’m completely wrong. I’ve not seen the checkbooks to be fair. No one’s opening up the books in Major League Baseball for their for their professional sports franchise. Uh Derek Brown says, “Uh, we know our offense is below average at best. Just have to get hot and stay hot. Can we? We will see. Now is the time for a fairy tale season end. Yeah, that’s what it’s going to take. You do this long enough.” Yeah, trust me. Yeah, you do this fandom thing long enough. I mean, gy Christmas. Boy oh boy has it felt like a long time. Some are saying a lifetime. Michael Roth says uh Sal Stewart’s home run flex to his buddy and mentor Machado. One of the coolest moments of the season. Uh yeah, that was that was cool. He’s flashing his wrist. I like the story with the Rolex there that they were sharing on the broadcast as well. So shout out to them. Uh Putrid Talent uh said, “My wife now automatically throws the show on after games. Only took two and a half years of never missing a show. Postgame show is now a ritual. That shout out to Putrid’s wife. Thank you, Mrs. Putrid talent. That’s right. Let’s go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining the club. You know, it’s almost like once you once you jump though, once you’re on the bandwagon, it’s hard to get off. You know, you got to stay on even in the good times and the bad. Phoenix girl, shout out to Phoenix Girl. I wish I lived in Phoenix from time to time, especially when it’s when it gets really cold. Uh, are you telling me there’s still a chance? I think I am telling you there’s a chance. I mean, there’s definitely a chance. There’s definitely a chance. I don’t know what our odds were um to win. What was it the other night when we finally came back and and and won and then walk-off fashion after we blew the lead? I should know this, but my brain is completely fried at basically 1:00 a.m. What was it after the the the Blue Jays win? It was the the Blue Jays walk-off. That was last Monday. Yes, that’s who it was. The first the Reds odds were uh 4.3%. That’s it. They’re up. They’re up. I don’t know. Did it Maybe. Let’s check the No, no, no, no. I meant I meant I meant I meant Let me be very clear. I meant what was their percent chance of just winning that game when they were down. Because when they lost the lead, I’m hoping that you were going to tell me their chances of winning that game were like 4% at some point and we came back and won. But you’re going to tell me it’s higher than that, I’m guessing. I’ll I’ll I’ll dig it out. You dig that up and you let me know. Uh let’s see here. We got another one from Derrick Brown. We got multiple super chats from Terrick Brown. Derrick Brown’s hot. said, uh, Aaron Judge was non-existent in the World Series last year. It happens to even the best in the game. If Ellie, Marte, and Mlan, that’s another way to spell Mlan. Holy smokes, Derek. We have like five different ways to spell Mlan now. And none of them are right. And I got to tell you, Derek, I love you. That’s a great super chat. But that Mlan is crazy sauce. That’s a crazy MLAN. MC MC L A I N is how you do it. But you know what? Tonight we’re going to we’re going to honor that Matt Mlan steps up uh steps up to the potential we believe is there plus some S pop and we could slide in. That’s Listen, they are they are capable of doing it. I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but they’re capable of doing it. Derek Brown chimes in again and says the exact same thing. So, I don’t know if you’re gonna ask the super chats of the world to ask for a refund because it just double dipped on you, but I gotta tell you, Derek, I’m gonna read it again because you paid for it. And that’s what we do on this show. We honor people who pay the money for the supers. Derek Brown says, don’t hold your breath if you heard this before. Aaron Judge was non-existent in the World Series last year. It happens to even the best in the game. If Ellie, Marte, and Mlan, that’s a crazy way to spell Mlan, by the way. Mlan, man, there’s like five different ways that people spell MLAN. All right, I’m not going to do this bit anymore. Steps up to the potential we believe in. Plus, there’s some South Sewart pop we could be in. All right, it’s getting late. I’m getting a little goofy. I’m sorry, Derek, but I had to have some fun with the double super chat and that crazy sauce of a spelling of MLAN. Uh, we have like 20 different supers, guys. I gotta go to bed. Holy smokes. We got Sal Stewart on the line. How does the tiebreaker work with us and the Giants since we split and where do we stand on that? Sorry if you talked about this already. Well, S, I had mentioned during the during the break when we were getting ready to do the show, the intro, I was trying to figure out what the Red’s record was against the Giants. It so happens that they played what feels like a year ago. They played in the first month of the season twice uh once at home, once on the road. They split three games a piece. Nick already had mentioned that it comes down to your divisional record at that point. We are currently two games behind them in the divisional record department. But the truth is there’s a lot of divisional games left that could get we have more we have more games than the Yeah. And that can get swung in a heartbeat. They play they play the Dodgers seven more times. They also have to play the Diamondbacks tomorrow. They off to play the Diamondbacks in another three-game set and then they finish the year against the Rockies. So far from over. We’ll worry about that when we get there. Hopefully the Reds start playing good enough baseball to where they can catch the Mets and we’ll worry about the Giants at another time. I do think the Giants will cool off a little bit at some point, but you know, the Reds are going to have to play really, really well to jump them regardless. So, I think that should be the main focus. Future Talent says, “Do Chatterbox have a Discord page?” We do have a Discord page. Um, Craig will or Craig and or um Kirby will just throw that in the chat real fast. It’s a link you can get in the Discord. Ken says, “Uh, Trace and Nick Red’s fan from Israel. Thanks for your professionalism.” That’s I don’t know about that. Consistency. I think that’s very true and nice to say. And humor this year on a roller coaster year. How close are we? That’s a great question. I don’t know how close we are. You don’t know how close we are. Nobody knows how. Some days I think we’re close. Some days I think we’re just completely completely over our skis and we are, you know, one guy from slumping away from not ever feeling like this team’s ever going to get to a spot where they’re going to be they’re going to be competitive enough to win. Um, we’ll see if this offense can become competent. They are very close. Um, as long as the pitching doesn’t regress, we’ll see. But uh Inquila the Great says, “Heard Benson was told to start uh man we are just crushing Ben. We are we are crushing Tito or whoever the hell we talk and Quill the Great said Herd Benson was told to start his off season.” Yeah. I mean there is something about that. Remember when Marte was getting benched getting getting in like the fifth inning we fifth or sixth inning where we’re we’re putting a defensive replacement for Marte out there after he’s hit a home run in the game. Sit on the bench boy. We don’t like we don’t like guys that hit the ball over the fence around here. Michael Roth says uh Benson’s home run was a rally killer. And Quill the Great says I work I work the graveyard 9 9p to 8A and I have Sundays off. Talk to me about buying a Bengals ticket. my wisdom. My long-distant girlfriend is asleep. Um, what? I I I don’t Was that a Was that a Was that an inappropriate joke that I just read that I don’t even know? I’m so confused right now. I thought that was the most interesting super chat I’ve seen in a while. I’m so confused, man. Uh, Michael Ross says uh uh what’s he say? He says, “Uh, not giving up Burns for Miller, but you better believe I’d pull a Baltimore Colts and pack the semitrs and ship the entire Dragons roster for Miller.” Well, that’s fair. I don’t know. At this point, who knows what’s coming and going. Uh, before we get any more super chats, let’s do this. Uh, from a from a show perspective, uh, there are some folks that love minor league baseball. Let’s jump into Red’s MLB when you’re ready, Nick. Uh because the amount of super chats I just went through, my brain is it’s it’s not it’s not really in a good spot right now. Real quick, someone else was asking about the the next tiebreaker because I guess it is possible that the Reds and Giants could have the exact same record. It then is the rest of the league. So the non so the the National League um the Reds would lose that because the Reds did great against the American League. The Giants have a significantly better record against the National League as a whole. So, um, all right. So, I I guess in theory, Trace, the the the only thing you wouldn’t want to do is like sweep the A’s and like that be a big bulk of your great play over the last couple weeks. Like, so the A’s game, I guess in theory, maybe matter a little less, but every game is like almost right. You got to win a lot of these games. I think it’s very realistic that they will not tie in the division on in the division somehow. I mean I if they do they do and I guess it stinks but we had our chances to beat the Giants fair and square months ago and we didn’t. So hopefully we just beat them period. There’s no tie. Um all right. Anything else you have before you get reds in my OB? No. All right. Take it away. Well, unfortunately, our Daytona Tortugas playoff game was rained out. They were supposed to play game one of the Florida State Division series got postponed because of rain. They’re going to play tomorrow uh Wednesday night, I guess, today at 6:35 um against St. Lucy. They’ll not play three straight days in a row. No longer uh an off day. Uh we did have action though in Triple A. The Louisville Bats, they won three nothing over Toledo. The Bats have now won 10 straight games. They’re 14-1 in their last 15 games. Blake Dunn, three for five, hit his fifth home run. Blake Dunn now hitting .357 over his last 50 games. And the home run hit 419 ft. CES was two for four. CES, he’s also playing well of late, hitting .304, nine extra base hits over his last 13 games. Reese Hines, two for four. Hector Rodriguez, 0 for four, he struggled a little bit. uh did have one hard hit ball in the game. And then in the bullpen, Luis May, another scoreless inning. Did a walk and hit but pitched around it. Uh nine games for Luis May being optioned. He has a 1.96 erra, 13 strikeouts. And the thing you really like to see, only three walks. Buck Farmer also threw a scoreless inning. Uh last 12 games for Buck Farmer has not given up a run. 13 and two/3 innings, zero runs for Buck Farmer. Will Buck get a chance here with the Reds? Uh down to DoubleA Chattanooga. They won 4-2 over Rocket City. Win number 69 on the season for our lookouts. They’re 69 and 60. They of course start their playoffs next Tuesday. Edwin Royo had a great day. Three for four double and a stolen base. Royo hitting 307 in his last 54 games. Cam Kier 1 for4. Leo Balazar 0 for4 did walk. Um Ethan O’Donnell one for three with the walk. Ruben Abara one or sorry Jay Allen 144. And that is your Reds MIB. Dayton’s done. End it on a high. Good for Dayton. Good for Dayton. Um hopefully they’re they’re uh they enjoy their time in the Is it was it called the Gym City? I think I’m not sure. Gym City. Yeah, gym city. Um, all right. We got more baseball. Uh, Nick, anything to add before we do the who, what, when, where, and why? No. All right, let’s jump into that now. All right. Uh, Reds, uh, Padres’s 8:40 on, uh, Wednesday night. Uh, Andrew Abbott against Nick Paveta. Uh, Nick Paveta having a breakout year, his ninth big league season. Uh, 13 and five with a 2.85 RA. uh never had an ERA under four before this year. Pitching very well and pitching well of late, 2.43 RA over his last five starts. And how about this? He’s gone six plus innings in nine of his last 10 starts. Uh pretty good contract so far for the Padres’s four-year 55 million, although he does have an opt out after next season. Uh throws up to seven pitches, mostly relies on a four seamer curve sweeper and a cutter. Fastball average is 93.8. Batters really struggling against the sweeper 152 average. Uh career 3.41 RA in eight games against the Reds. Only four of those starts. Uh last year though, uh only went four and a third. Give up six hits and three runs. Two of those homers. Um active Reds though, not pretty numbers against Paveta, 11 for 60. That’s a 183 average. Uh Austin Hayes 0 for 18 with six strikeouts. So if Austin Hayes is in the lineup over Will Benson, we riot. Um Josie Trevvinho is three for seven. Ellie de la Cruz two for three with a homer and Spencer Steer one for two with a homer as well. Uh Andrew Abbott the lefty for the Reds. Last start struggled against the Mets. Nine hits in four and two/3 innings. Last three starts an erra of 8.56. 20 hits allowed in 13 and 2/3 innings. but he’s dominated the Padres’s. Uh 0.92 erra in three starts earlier this year. Five innings, just one run at Great American Ballpark. This will be Andrew Abbott’s first ever game at Petco Park. So that 0.92 RA in three starts all at Great American. Active Padres’s against Abbott are 12 for 52. Machado 1 for nine. Tatis 3 for9. Croninworth 1 for seven. Jackson Merrill 1 for six. and Luis Arise two for six with the homer. The lineup card tomorrow is going to get very toxic. It’s going to get very, very toxic on X. I can tell you right now if there’s not some names in that lineup that perhaps many people would expect. I’ll just be reading the comments. I’ll enjoy it. I’ll be watching for it because I fully expect it to be exactly what I expect it to be, which is surely they’re going to give Austin Hayes a day off. 0 for 18. Nope. Over for 18, six strikeouts. Nope. I hope I’m going to say nope again just to try to put it out there that maybe it will actually be the reverse jinx effect. We shall find out. But I’ll admit, folks, uh did not think that this road trip was going to go all that well based off the fact that last night just did not uh it felt like that was the final nail in the coffin. But you know what? Keep we we’re like the Undertaker. We just keep rising back up. Every time you think we’re completely gone, we’re completely out and we’re completely dead, here come the Reds. So, I just want to say one last time on the way out, if you haven’t already, hit the like button. That would be very, very nice of you. Thank you to everybody that obviously tunes in on a nightly basis. And um Nick, you have one more thing to add for me, Joe? Did you get the last super from Put Talent? I did not. And I and I I seen that. And uh I just want to say thank you, Putrid, for shouting out Craig as well. Craig is doing a lot of work behind the scenes. And he says, uh Craig, these updated MLB picks are great. So shout out to Putrid for that. Shout out to Craig for updating all the stuff on the back end. And uh Nick, you got something tiebreaker with the Padres’s tomorrow. So somehow the Reds got the Padres’s six behind them at the moment. The Reds would win the tiebreaker against the Padres’s with the win tomorrow. In a in a weird way, they got to win tomorrow anyway just because they got to keep the they got to keep pace for sure. But uh but yeah, it’s funny how every game feels like a 100% must win when we already admitted yesterday that they could lose four maybe five games from now until the rest of the season. But boy oh boy, you don’t doesn’t matter what day it is. It can’t be one of those four or five days that they’re supposed to lose. That’s how it feels at least. We’ll see. Yeah. Something special is going to have to happen. I don’t know when it’s going to happen or if it’s going to happen, but boy oh boy, it’d be nice to start uh with what happened tonight because this one, I’m not saying they stole it, but this one feels like they kind of found a way to win a game that they otherwise shouldn’t or wouldn’t have won more times than not. And that is a nice thing to be a Reds fan on uh on situations like that that happen. So, uh, without rambling anymore, it’s late. I also want to say thank you to everybody that, uh, that wakes up in the mornings and listens to the podcast. If you didn’t watch the game, uh, I all I got to tell you is that, uh, I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to see it. Rough, one last time. This is the last off the street. Last super chat. Last super chat. I’m telling you right now, it’s the last super chat. If you super chat again, we’ll try to get to it tomorrow. But on the way out, we’re going to let Roth with his one last one. So, here goes nothing. Roth says the only name better than M Clay is Trace adding an to Aquilla. Aquilla the Great. I do do that. I do do that. He’s got me. Maybe it’s Anquilla. Anyone’s guess. Let’s get Aquilla’s girlfriend on the show so he can What the hell is going on? Let’s get Aquilla’s girlfriend on the show so he can see her while he’s working. Nick, hope your wife is feeling okay. Rough, my man. Let’s all get some sleep. I can’t get through that super chat without figuring out where the hell your stream of conscious is going, brother. We’re one hand, we’re here, one hand, we’re there, and then the last thing you say is, “Shout out to Nick. Hope his wife’s doing well.” Hope all of you are doing well. We’ll see you all again tomorrow. It’ll be another late night edition of Chatterbox Reds, but most importantly, hopefully it’s a winning edition of Chatterbox Reds. Take care everybody. We’ll see you tomorrow. Love you. Hit the like button on the way out. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music]

00:00 Watching The 9th Inning
02:13 Tyler Stephenson Home Run
16:08 Full Game Recap

The Cincinnati Reds (72-72) take on the San Diego Padres (79-65) tonight, Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at Petco Park for the second game of their three-game series, with first pitch at 9:40 p.m. ET. This matchup follows a dramatic Padres walk-off win on Monday, where Fernando Tatis Jr.’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning sealed a 4-3 victory, leaving the Reds desperate to snap a four-game road skid and keep their faint Wild Card hopes alive. The Padres, one game behind the Dodgers in the NL West and holding the second Wild Card spot, aim to maintain their momentum at home, where they boast a 44-25 record.

Pitching Matchup: Zack Littell (RHP, Reds) vs. Michael King (RHP, Padres)

The Reds send Zack Littell (9-8, 3.81 ERA, 1.14 WHIP) to the mound. Acquired from Tampa Bay in July, Littell has been inconsistent in Cincinnati, posting a 4.78 ERA across six starts with the Reds, including a rough outing against the Mets where he allowed five runs in 4.1 innings. However, he’s shown capability against the Padres before, holding them to two runs over five innings in an April start while with the Rays. Littell’s 3.83 FIP and low walk rate (1.8 BB/9) suggest he can keep games close, and Petco Park’s pitcher-friendly environment could play to his flyball-heavy style. He’ll face a Padres lineup hitting .252 (6th in MLB), with Manny Machado (23 HR, 84 RBI) and Luis Arraez (.283 BA) leading the charge. San Diego has struggled against right-handers recently, posting a .241 average over the past 10 days, which could give Littell a chance to settle in if he avoids early damage.

The Padres counter with Michael King (4-2, 2.81 ERA, 1.09 WHIP), who returns from his second stint on the 15-day injured list (left knee inflammation). King has been a standout when healthy, with 65 strikeouts in 57.2 innings and a stellar 2.45 ERA at home across six starts. In his lone career start against the Reds in 2024, he allowed three runs over 6.2 innings, striking out seven. King’s high strikeout rate (10.1 K/9) and ability to limit hard contact make him a tough matchup for a Reds offense that ranks 22nd in strikeouts per game (8.7). Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz (.267 BA, 19 HR, 81 RBI) and TJ Friedl (.266 BA, 12 HR) will need to capitalize on any mistakes, as King’s slider and fastball have been tough to square up.Team Context

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Andrew Abbott, Scott Barlow, Hunter Greene, Zack Littell, Nick Lodolo, Nick Martinez, Zach Maxwell, Emilio Pagán, Connor Phillips, Lyon Richardson, Tony Santillan, Brady Singer, Brent Suter, Yosver Zulueta, Will Banfield, Jose Trevino, Elly De La Cruz, Santiago Espinal, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Noelvi Marte, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, Sal Stewart, Miguel Andujar, Will Benson, TJ Friedl, Austin Hays, Gavin Lux, Rhett Lowder, Alfredo Duno, Tyson Lewis, Steele Hall, Cam Collier, Chase Petty, Edwin Arroyo, Héctor Rodríguez, Aaron Watson, Adolfo Sanchez, Arnaldo Lantigua, Mason Neville, Sheng-En Lin, Mason Morris, Julian Aguiar, Luke Holman, Ethan O’Donnell, Liberts Aponte, Tyler Callihan, Ricky Cabrera, Carlos Jorge, Leo Balcazar, Jose Franco, Tristan Smith, Cole Schoenwetter, JeanPierre Ortiz, Ty Floyd, Graham Ashcraft, Fernando Cruz, Alexis Díaz, Carson Spiers, Brandon Williamson, Jeimer Candelario, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Edwin Ríos, Jake Fraley, Stuart Fairchild, Jacob Hurtubise, Blake Dunn, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson, Barry Larkin, Tony Perez, Joey Votto

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