Reds rewarded for staying the course instead of panicking about dismal May

Jun 8, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds outfielder TJ Friedl (29) high fives catcher Tyler Stephenson (37) after the victory over the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
By C. Trent Rosecrans
Jun 10, 2024

CINCINNATI — It wasn’t what anyone outside the Cincinnati Reds’ clubhouse wanted to hear as the team went through a dismal May that saw the team lose two-thirds of its games, but still, manager David Bell kept calm, praised his team and vowed to stay the course.

The team wasn’t playing as badly as its record indicated, Bell said. The front office didn’t panic, nor did anyone in the clubhouse. To a man, each player would say that things in the clubhouse weren’t much different.

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At times, that sounded ridiculous, even as the team lost eight straight games to start the month. The team lost its first game of June, but then took the next seven, going from sole possession of last place in the National League Central to tied for second (with two other teams) after Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs. The team is also currently tied for a playoff spot.

Although the team’s winning streak was snapped, the Reds still took three of four from the Cubs. Since being 10 games under .500 at 20-30 after May 23, the Reds have swept the Los Angeles Dodgers and won 12 of their last 16.

“This game’s hard and there are going to be a lot of games where you do everything right and you still lose,” said Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson. “You’ve just got to keep showing up every day.”

At no point did Bell make like the manager in “Bull Durham” and throw bats at players in the shower or flip a table.

“A chair,” Bell noted. “But it wasn’t about that.”

Bell threw a chair in the dugout in a victory over the San Diego Padres last month, but it was after Jake Fraley was hit in the hand by Joe Musgrove and was taken out of the game. Bell’s frustration that day was not about the way his team — or even the other team — was playing, but about another injury. Inside the clubhouse, Bell kept his message the same.

That stability is paying off now.

“All the way, every player, coach or anyone that’s been around the game, we’ve all experienced how things pay off when you handle them the right way and the way that you believe in,” Bell said. “You can definitely doubt that, so it is a reinforcement and a reminder. It creates a confidence and belief that this group can do that.”

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While manager breakouts and players-only meetings make for good copy, even last year’s noted speech by Luke Maile was more about doing less rather than doing more, not pushing because the results were bad.

“There’s power in teamwork,” Bell said. “We all have to do our part individually, but when we can rely on each other, count on each other, and trust one another, it’s a big part about not only our style of play but what I think will get us to be the best we can be in the end. I believe it can overcome a lot and it makes it a lot more fun throughout the entire process.”

It’s helped that several of the team’s slumping hitters have come alive in this stretch. Starting with the series at home against the Dodgers, outfielder Will Benson has hit .345/.429/.690, India .354/.468/.542 and Jeimer Candelario .263/.323/.526.

Candelario, who signed a three-year, $45 million deal this offseason, had struggled to start the season but had three homers during the team’s winning streak.

“I feel like I’m getting better,” Candelario said. “When I get there, you will know for sure.”

The team has also gotten its leadoff man TJ Friedl back. Friedl returned from his broken thumb on May 29. After recording just one hit in his first three games, he had at least one hit in each of the team’s seven games during their winning streak. Since June 2, he’s gotten on base at a .394 clip and hit three homers.

As the rotation turns

After he threw at least 100 pitches in each of his last five starts, the Reds pushed Hunter Greene’s next start back until Friday in Milwaukee.

“He feels good, considering,” Bell said. “It wasn’t his idea, that’s for sure, it was ours. It’s just trying to stay ahead of him and keep him strong. We had the ability to do it with the off days.”

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The Reds called up Carson Spiers on Sunday, but he was put into action immediately after Frankie Montas left in the second inning in the loss to the Cubs. Spiers struck out seven Cubs in 5 2/3 innings of relief.

It’s Spiers’ third stint with the Reds this season, moving between Louisville and Cincinnati. In five games with the Reds, he’s allowed five earned runs over 19 1/3 innings, good for a 2.33 ERA.

Tuesday the Reds will have a bullpen game against the Cleveland Guardians and Nick Lodolo will start the second game of the series. With Greene going Friday in Milwaukee, Andrew Abbott and Montas can pitch the next two games against the first-place Brewers. The off day Thursday allows Lodolo to pitch on regular rest in Pittsburgh on June 17. With Graham Ashcraft’s demotion and the bullpen day, the Reds won’t need a fifth starter until the second game of the Pirates series on June 18.

Spiers, who has been a starter in Triple A, would seem to be a logical choice for that role.

“We’ll have to see where we are,” Bell said. “There’s a lot of moving parts here and we have some off days,”

Spiers said he’s not focused on what role he’s been asked to play, just that he’s gotten opportunities to pitch and doing his best regardless of his role or uniform.

“I just try to do my role and stay even-keeled as much as possible through the roller coasters, the ups and downs,” Spiers said. “It’s tough but for 26 years of my life I’ve been pretty even-keeled and that’s just how I carry myself and I’ve taken that into baseball as well.”

India cashes in

If bases are loaded, there’s nobody the Reds would rather see at the plate than Jonathan India.

So far this season he’s come up with runners on each base eight times and driven in at least one run in seven of them for a total of 14 RBIs. Twice he’s hit a grand slam this year, another two times he’s singled, twice he’s walked and once he hit a sacrifice fly.

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In his career, India is a .323/.385/.742 hitter with the bases loaded, including four grand slams.

Each of India’s last two homers came with bases loaded, including his ninth-inning blast in Wednesday’s comeback victory in Colorado.

India came up again Thursday with the bases loaded in the seventh inning against the Cubs. That time, though, he walked.

“That’s who he is — he’s never going to try to do too much,” said Stephenson. “He’s going to take what the pitcher gives. The walk is as impressive as anything. That pretty much won us the game right there.”

Part of what makes India successful is his eye at the plate. His chase rate — which is the percentage of pitches he swings at out of the strike zone — is the best in baseball at 15.2 percent. In his career, it’s just 20.9 percent.

“He doesn’t get overaggressive and that’s tough to do and it’s a big part of why he’s been successful,” Bell said. “When Jonathan’s at his best in his career, that’s what he’s done and he’s doing that right now.”

The week that was

The Reds’ seven-game winning streak came to an end Sunday against the Cubs, but the team has won all three series this month, including the sweep of the Rockies in Denver last week and taking three of four from the Cubs at home after taking two of three in Chicago. The Reds won just one series in May.

The week ahead

The Reds will face the first-place teams in the Central Division of both leagues, first the Guardians for two games at Great American Ball Park and then the Brewers in Milwaukee. The Reds have two days off — Monday and Thursday — on either side of the two games against the Guardians.

Injury updates

• RHP Emilio Pagán (right lat strain) made just one appearance between coming off the IL Thursday and going back on Sunday morning. His previous injury was listed as right triceps tightness, but the lat strain is related, Bell said. He’s not expected back until after the All-Star break.

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• LHP Brandon Williamson (left shoulder strain) returned from his rehab assignment on Friday. While Williamson’s results during his rehab assignment were good, Bell said he still didn’t feel 100 percent. Williamson was given a week off and will be reexamined this week.

• 1B Christian Encarnacion-Strand (right ulnar styloid fracture) is expected to restart his progression this week and start swinging “in the next couple of weeks,” Bell said.

Minor league report

• Triple-A Louisville (34-28): RHP Connor Phillips’ terrible 2024 continued Sunday when he gave up nine runs on 11 hits and three homers in just 3 1/3 innings. He has a 9.00 ERA in his 12 starts. He allowed two or fewer runs in three of his first four starts of the season and has given up more than that in every start since. On Tuesday, he allowed just two earned runs but gave up four runs total.

• Double-A Chattanooga (15-42): LHP Andrew Moore is back in Chattanooga after being demoted earlier this year. The 6-foot-5 reliever had a 4.76 ERA after his first eight appearances of the season. He was sent to Dayton, where he appeared in seven games and allowed just two runs (both in his first outing) in 13 innings (1.38 ERA) over seven appearances with 24 strikeouts and just five walks. A month later after the demotion, he was back in Double A. Saturday he pitched a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout.

• High-A Dayton (28-29): After hitting seven homers in the first month of the season to lead the Midwest League in home runs, IF Cam Collier had just two in May. Sunday he hit his first of June and now has 10 on the season.

• Low-A Daytona (27-30): IF Ricardo Cabrera hit his seventh home run of the season on Sunday, tying him for fourth in the Florida State League. He’s hitting .285/.358/.487 on the season. The Tortugas’ Ariel Almonte leads the league with 13 homers.

• Rookie Arizona (14-12): 1B Luis Reyes has 23 hits in his first 18 games for the Arizona Reds, putting up a slash line of .371/.452/.532 with a pair of home runs and 11 RBIs.

(Photo of TJ Friedl celebrating Saturday’s win: Katie Stratman / USA Today)

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C. Trent Rosecrans

C. Trent Rosecrans is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Cincinnati Reds and Major League Baseball. He previously covered the Reds for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Post and has also covered Major League Baseball for CBSSports.com. Follow C. Trent on Twitter @ctrent