The Reds kicked off a stretch with a favorable schedule with a dominating win on Friday night in Miami. Tyler Naquin got the Reds on the board quickly with a solo home run.
Wade Miley and the Reds were on cruise control from that point on. The Reds put four more runs on the board in the 4th inning, and that was more than enough for Miley on this night. Mike Moustakas also had a big night for the Reds, capped off by a 427 foot home run in the 8th inning.
The Reds are now again a season high 12 games over .500. The Reds could increase their lead for the second wild card spot to 3.0 games with the Padres loss late tonight.
Biggest Play of the Game
Source: FanGraphs
According to Fangraphs WPA statistic (winning percentage added), the biggest play of the game was Tyler Naquin’s solo home run with 1 out in the 1st inning, giving the Reds a 1-0 lead. That play increased the Reds probability of winning by 10.8% (from 47.9% to 58.6%).
Positives
Tyler Naquin just continues to rake. Naquin increased his MLB current leading hit streak to 16 games and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Naquin’s OPS is now up to .835. That is only 8 points lower than the incredible Jonathan India.
Tyler Naquin is now 5 HR away from becoming just the fourth different Reds CF to hit 24+ HR in a season (Griffey Jr, Eric Davis and Gus Bell) https://t.co/hRutY98kmg
— Nick Kirby (@Nicholaspkirby) August 27, 2021
What more can you say about Wade Miley? Just a casual 7 shutout innings. He only walked one batter. Miley lowered his ERA down to 2.74 on the season. What a season. Miley also doubled in a run after the Marlins intentionally walked Schrock with 2 outs.
It appears the death of Mike Moustakas was greatly exaggerated. Moose had 2 extra base hits, including a 427 blast. The Reds offense is already good……you add Moustakas putting up his career numbers, and we are really in business.
Tonight was the first time that Marlins SP, Zach Thompson had ever allowed 5 runs (13th start of his career).
Jeff Hoffman pitched two scoreless innings in relief. He has looked really solid in the bullpen and provides the Reds a quality long man/SP depth.
Negatives
Lol, nothing here folks. Go Reds.
Not so random thoughts……….
This was just a nice, easy win. You won’t always be able to dominate the bad teams like this, but the Reds looked the part of the playoff team vs the team playing out the season. The Reds are really dominating the bad teams overall. The Reds are now 43-23 (.652) vs teams below .500 on the season.
Up Next:
Reds at Marlins
Saturday, 6:10 PM
TV: Bally Sports Ohio / MLB Network (out-of-market only)
Vladimir Gutierrez (3.68 ERA) vs Sandy Alcantara (3.35 ERA)
