Reds looking for early answers at the plate and in the bullpen: 3 takeaways

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CINCINNATI — A week of baseball games is hardly enough to draw any conclusions about an entire season, but through six games, the 2025 Cincinnati Reds haven’t answered questions they came into the season asking.

Who closes games? Where does the offense come from? How much impact have the changes from 2024 had on the buzzwords of “little things” and “accountability”?

None of those should have an answer after 3.7 percent of a major-league season, but hypotheses could at least be developed. So far, all three can be guessed at only with the shrugging shoulder emoji, as the Reds have won two of their six games, dropping to 2-4 following their second 1-0 loss to the Texas Rangers in as many days Wednesday. They dropped that series 2-1, just as they did the first series against the San Francisco Giants.

Now the Reds hit the road for the first time, heading to Milwaukee to face the Brewers for four games. Last season, the Reds were 24-28 against NL Central teams, 4-9 against the Brewers and 2-4 at American Family Field.

As the Reds head to Milwaukee, here are three takeaways from the first homestand of the season.

Where are the hits?

The Reds had 14 runs on 14 hits in Monday’s 14-3 drubbing of the Rangers. In the other five games, the team has totaled 10 runs on 28 hits (an average of two runs and fewer than six hits per game), including back-to-back shutouts against the Rangers.

Of the team’s regulars, only shortstop Elly De La Cruz is hitting better than .250. That, of course, has a lot to do with sample size. No player has more than 26 plate appearances, so it’s difficult to make sweeping generalizations beyond a rough stretch against good pitching.

The pitchers who have beaten the Reds include the second-place finisher in 2023 National League Cy Young voting (Logan Webb), the 2021 American League Cy Young winner (Robbie Ray), a guy who tied the record for most wins in a single postseason (Nathan Eovaldi) and the second pick in the 2021 draft (Jack Leiter).

Elly De La Cruz is hitting .333 with two home runs. (Katie Stratman / Imagn Images)

The team is hitting .218/.271/.352. Those are poor marks, for sure, but it’s not as if the Reds are the only team struggling early. After blowing a lead to the Dodgers on Tuesday night, the winless Atlanta Braves were hitting .137/.238/.220. Ahead of their game Wednesday in Miami, the New York Mets were hitting .179/.275/.346.

The two main concerns about the Reds offense were the outfield and the corner infielders. Through six games, the outfield is hitting .167/.214/.182, going 11-for-66. The corner infielders are more in line with the rest of the team (which isn’t a good thing) with a .214/.267/.310 slash line.

The team still has catcher Tyler Stephenson and outfielder Austin Hays on the injured list. Hays could return as soon as the start of the next homestand, beginning April 11 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

At this point, it’s just a matter of seeing through a slow start, some challenging weather conditions and good pitchers. It’s not something that can be fixed easily, but a few more 14-run games would help.

“If I thought yelling at them would get a bunch of hits, I’d go do it right now,” Reds manager Terry Francona said following Wednesday’s loss.

Where are the hits, part deux?

As frustrating as it was for the Reds to manage just seven hits in their back-to-back losses to Texas, it’s not as if the Rangers were crushing the ball. Texas had just seven combined hits in those two games, as well; one of them happened to be a home run and another was with a man on base, leading to 1-0 victories.

The Rangers, picked by many to make the World Series, managed just 12 hits in the series — two fewer than the Reds had in Game 1. 

Through six games, Reds starters have allowed just 19 hits, ranking second in baseball behind the Phillies. Philadelphia starters allowed 17 hits in the opening four games. 

The Reds believed in their starting pitching entering spring training, especially bolstered by the acquisition of Brady Singer to hopefully add bulk innings. He allowed just one hit over seven shutout innings in his Reds debut, while fifth starter Carson Spiers went six innings, giving up just a run on three hits.

The Reds’ good starting pitching has come without lefty Andrew Abbott, who made a rehab start Tuesday and will make another for Triple-A Louisville on Sunday, and right-hander Rhett Lowder, who is still in Arizona ramping up his work.

Of the five starters who pitched for the Reds in the first week, only Singer walked more than one batter in a start. In Hunter Greene’s loss Wednesday, he threw 94 pitches, 74 for strikes.

When Francona was talking about his team’s approach at the plate, he may as well have been talking about opponents’ struggles with his team.

“It’s a little bit of a catch-22 — if a guy’s pounding strike one and you’re in a hole, that’s not really going to work,” he said. “Today and yesterday, they threw all their pitches for strikes, so you have to respect not just one pitch or two but actually three, and that made it really difficult.”

Reds starters are averaging a little more than six innings, just more than three hits, fewer than two runs, 5 1/2 strikeouts and one walk. 

“They’ve been doing their job,” Reds second baseman Matt McLain said. “We’ve got to step up and do ours.”

Bullpen in progress

After Ian Gibaut blew a save opportunity on Opening Day, veteran Emilio Pagán came to the mound to protect a lead the next day and picked up the save.

All eight relievers from the opening-day roster have pitched in a game and only Graham Ashcraft hasn’t appeared in multiple games.

Five of the eight pitchers haven’t allowed an earned run, with Gibaut, Sam Moll and Brent Suter each allowing runs. Suter’s runs came in the ninth inning of the team’s blowout victory Monday.

There’s good news as closer Alexis Díaz threw live batting practice Tuesday and is scheduled to pitch Friday and Sunday in a rehab assignment for High-A Dayton. He could return shortly thereafter, bolstering the bullpen. 

Bullpens are fickle, of course, and one bad day can blow up ERAs, so it’s hard to judge. The bullpen can be blamed for one loss, but the offense shoulders a much larger share of the blame.

“They’re big-league hitters,” Greene said. “Everybody is extremely talented and definitely have the tools to come together and do a lot of damage. That time, I’m sure, is going to come soon for us.”

(Top photo of Gavin Lux on Wednesday: Jeff Dean / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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