WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 29: Curtis Mead #45 of the Washington Nationals celebrates with CJ Abrams #5 and James Wood #29 at home plate after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning during the game between the San Diego Padres and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Friday, May 29, 2026 in Washington, District of Columbia. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Nats had chances to win last night, but they came up short. Some of the weaknesses at the back end of their roster showed up, and they lost 7-5 in a bullpen battle. Now they will look to bounce back at home against a tough Padres team.
Blake Butera has made some peculiar changes to the lineup. Clearly, he wants to go lefty heavy. The struggling Jorbit Vivas will start over Curtis Mead. Jose Tena will also be starting at DH. That means James Wood will go to right field and Dylan Crews will slide to center. Drew Millas will also be back behind the plate. Foster Griffin will be on the bump.
The Padres have a very similar lineup to last night. Rodolfo Duran will replace Freddy Fermin behind the plate. Otherwise, it is the same personnel. We saw Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis start to wake up, so hopefully that does not continue. Blake Butera’s college teammate, Michael King, will be on the mound.
The Nats will look to avoid going under .500 in this one. Michael King will be a good test, but this lineup has been resilient. Hopefully Foster Griffin can build on his strong outing against the Braves. If they don’t win today, those narratives about the poor home record will re-appear. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MAY 6: Brady Singer #51 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches during the second inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on May 6, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
There are 122 pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings so far in 2026, and only five of them have a higher ERA than Cincinnati Reds starter Brady Singer. Two of those are members of the Colorado Rockies, though, so we’re going to go with just three.
Singer sports a 6.52 FIP throgh his 46.0 IP, and only Jameson Taillon and Jacob Lopez have higher marks. Only Taillon (2.83) owns a higher HR/9 than Singer’s 2.74. Singer has served up a trio of dingers in each of his most recent two starts.
Singer sports just a 15.7% K%, a mark that ranks 11th worst in the game among those 122 pitchers. Interestingly enough, each of Chris Paddack (13th) and Andrew Abbott (9th) rank down there, too, as does former Reds pitching stalwart Nick Martinez (now of Tampa). Is that a pattern, or a fluke?
Hitters own a .328 average off Singer’s offerings so far this year. Only Michael Lorenzen (again, of Colorado) and Simeon Woods Richardson of Minnesota have yielded higher averages.
This is not an exercise to bash. This is an exercise in identifying what we’ve seen so far this season from the guy in the heart of the rotation that was supposed to provide steady, boring, average ball once every fifth day as a stabilizer amid a rotation that had lots and lots of questions (and injuries) around him. The Reds need the Singer they knew last year, and they’ve gotten nothing close to that so far in 2026.
Singer will start for the Reds on Saturday night in GABP as they try to stave off an Atlanta Braves club that’s rolling at the moment. They ripped through Cincinnati’s patchwork staff on Friday to take the series opener, and they can claim the series victory if Singer can’t put a stop to them tonight.
First pitch is set for 7:15 PM ET as it’s going to be carried nationally on FOX. Here’s how the Reds will line up to begin this one against veteran southpaw Martin Perez, with a righty-heavy lineup on the docket:
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - MAY 28: Jeremy Peña #3 of the Houston Astros hits a solo home run against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Globe Life Field on May 28, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (26-33), who are 7-3 in their last 10 games, will play the second game of their 10-day, nine-game homestand today against the NL Central division leading Milwaukee Brewers (34-20).
RHP Peter Lambert (3-4, 3.79 ERA), a free agent signing this offseason, will start for the Astros opposite the Brewers and RHP Brandon Sproat (1-3, 5.84 ERA).
DRIVING THE LAMBO: Today’s Astros starter RHP Peter Lambert has been solid in his seven starts for the Astros, going 3-4 with a 3.79 ERA (17ER/40.1IP) with 40 strikeouts and a .200 opponent average.
Lambert pitched last year for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in the NPB, posting a 3.98 ERA (55ER/124.1IP) with 111 strikeouts in 23 appearances in Japan.
He began this season at Triple A Sugar Land (1.84 ERA in three appearances) before being called up to join the rotation on April 17.
FOR STARTERS: Astros starters have a combined ERA of 3.33 (30ER/81IP) over the last 14 games (since May 15) with a 1.04 WHIP. In that span, they have allowed just 47 hits in 81.0 innings for a Major League-best .168 opponent average, while also ranking second in the AL in WHIP and fourth in ERA. Astros starters have allowed one-or-fewer runs seven times in the last 14 games.
HOMER HAPPY: The Astros have slugged 17 homers in their last eight games. Houston now ranks second in the AL in homers with 77, trailing only the Yankees (86) in that category.
THE LINEUP: The Astros have yet to repeat a lineup this season, using 59 different lineups in their first 59 games. DH Yordan Alvarez has the most starts at any spot in the lineup among Astros, as he’s hit second 47 times this season.
EVERYDAY OKERT:LHP Steven Okert worked 2.0 scoreless innings last night and has now pitched in each of the last two games, giving him 28 appearances this season, which ranks tied for fourth in the Majors. The lefty has had a strong month of May, posting a 2.25 ERA (3ER/12IP) in 12 games.
ON THE MEND: RHP Hunter Brown, who’s recovering from a right shoulder sprain, made his second rehab start last night, working 3.0 innings of one run ball for Triple A Sugar Land. Brown tossed 44 pitches in the outing (33 strikes), recording five strikeouts, while allowing just one hit, a solo homer, among the 10 batters he faced.
PITCHER OF THE MONTH?: RHP Spencer Arrighetti has made a strong case for the AL Pitcher of the Month award, going 4-1 with a 0.93 ERA (3ER/29IP) and a .165 opponent average (16×97) in five starts in May. During the month, he has the lowest ERA among AL starters, while ranking tied for first in wins and second in opponent average.
ON THE LEADER BOARD: DH Yordan Alvarez currently leads the Majors in OPS (1.056) and total bases (134).
In the AL, he ranks tied for first in extra-base hits (31), tied for first in HR (20), second in SLG (.641), second in OBP (.415), tied for fourth in hits (63), tied for fourth in RBI (39), fifth in batting avg. (.301), tied for sixth in walks (38), and tied for seventh in runs (38).
HISTORIC HOMERS:DH Yordan Alvarez is off to one of the most prolific starts in franchise history. His 20 homers through the club’s first 59 games of the season match the franchise record, also reached by 1B Jeff Bagwell in the 1999 season.
WALKER, TEXAS HAMMER: 1B Christian Walker has four homers and nine RBI in his last six games.
For the season, he ranks third in the AL in RBI (40), tied for fifth in extra-base hits (25), sixth in HR (15), seventh in total bases (109), and ninth in SLG (.512).
Walker also has not committed an error in his 58 games played.
HEATING UP:RF Cam Smith has recorded a hit in eight of his last nine games, batting .333 (11×33) with two doubles, two HR, four RBI, three walks and a 1.010 OPS in that span.
OF Taylor Trammell is riding a career-high, eight-game hitting streak, batting .407 (11×27) with two doubles, one triple, two RBI and a .984 OPS within the streak.
HIT PAREDES:3B Isaac Paredes has 498 career hits and is looking to become just the 10th Mexican-born player in MLB history to reach 500 career hits. Two of those eight played portions of their careers with the Astros in 3B Vinny Castilla (1,884 hits) and C Alex Treviño (604 hits).
TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 1976 – In the second game of a doubleheader at Fulton County Stadium vs. the Braves, the Astros set a franchise record with 23 singles and set the then-club record with 25 hits in a 16-5 win. Cliff Johnson leads the attack with four hits and five RBI. Enos Cabell adds three hits and three runs scored. The win completes a doubleheader sweep for Houston. Since this date, the Astros have reached 25 hits on four other occasions, but have not posted 23 singles in a game.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, May 30, 3:10 p.m. CT
Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX
TV: Space City Home Network
Streaming: SCHN+
Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)
May 18, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Sproat (23) pitches against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images
Last night, the Brewers opened their series against the Astros with a win they had to grind out in extra innings. Today, they will go for their fifth straight win as the series continues this afternoon.
Brandon Sproat is on the mound for his ninth start (and 11th appearance) of the season. He is coming off of a four-inning start against the Dodgers where he allowed three runs in four innings. Sproat’s strikeout numbers have been good—he’s averaging 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings—but otherwise he’s still been developing. This will be his first appearance against the Astros.
For the Astros, Peter Lambert gets the start. His last start was against the Cubs, where he allowed three runs in five innings. Lambert has spent most of his career in Colorado before signing with Houston in the offseason. He has improved with the Astros, with his ERA dropping from 5.72 to 3.79 and his FIP dropping from 4.54 to 3.36. This is his third career appearance against the Brewers, with a 5.63 ERA in his previous two.
After using the same lineup for the last three games, the Brewers are switching it up a little. The top five in the lineup remain the same, though Jake Bauers will man right field instead of first base. That allows Andrew Vaughn to get a start at first base today. Garrett Mitchell slides down to seventh, and Joey Ortiz gets a start at shortstop as David Hamilton covers third for the day. Both Sal Frelick and Luis Rengifo are getting the day off.
First pitch is at 3:10 p.m. It will be on Brewers.TV and the Brewers Radio Network.
KANSAS CITY, MO - MAY 18: Sonny Gray #54 of the Boston Red Sox walks in from the bullpen before an MLB game between the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals on May 18, 2026 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Ten games under .500 just has a different feel to it, huh? Life doesn’t seem too bad at six or seven games under; it’s not hard to imagine a team ripping of seven wins out of eight and getting right back into it in those scenarios.
But ten? Ten is rough. You fall ten games under in May and you’re in serious risk of becoming one of baseball’s irrelevant teams. And while the Sox have been bad in my lifetime, they’ve never really been irrelevant.
Sonny Gray takes the hill today to get the team back to nine under. That’s not much of a goal, but it’s something.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - MAY 13: Mitch Keller #23 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning during the game against the Colorado Rockies at PNC Park on May 13, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Pitching Matchup: Bailey Ober (6-2, 3.92 ERA) vs. Mitch Keller (5-2, 3.64 ERA)
The Pittsburgh Pirates are at home today against the Minnesota Twins looking to grab a win.
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May 29, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Nick Loftin (12) attempts to tag out Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 29: Jackson Merrill #3 of the San Diego Padres runs the bases after hitting a two run home run during the seventh inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on May 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images) | Getty Images
San Diego Padres (32-24) at Washington Nationals (29-29), May 30, 2026, 1:05 p.m. PST
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May 29, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz (15) celebrates his solo home run wearing a welders hood in the dugout against the Minnesota Twins during the third inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
First Pitch: 3:10 pm CDT
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN / WCCO 830 / The Wolf 102.9 FM / Audacy
YARR, and, genuinely, YAARGH and AARGH.
Pirate-themed sounds or reactions to 2026 Twins fandom? You decide. It’s not my call. The real truth of it is, it’s never been my call. Most of this is up to interpretation by you, the loyal reader. I actually have no true influence over what you do while OR after you ingest this article, and only limited influence over what you do before.
The Twins are squaring up with the Buccos again as their underwhelming final week of May continues. The suddenly-dependable-again Bailey Ober, now three starts removed from his home shutout of the Miami Marlins, has faced the Pittsburgh Pirates just once, in an 10th-inning victory in June of 2024. He’ll get the ball this afternoon, as the Twins try to wipe the slate after a crushing walk-off loss on Friday’s iPhone Channel opener.
Mitch Keller gets the ball for the Bucs, rocking his best ERA+ since his single All-Star campaign in eight seasons. That all changes today, of course, when he becomes the first pitcher in major-league history charged with 20 runs without recording an out. You won’t wanna miss this!
May 29, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) hits a home run against the Philadelphia Phillies in the third inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers will try to extend their best stretch of the season on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium.
They’ve won 13 of their last 15 games, including each of their last six for their longest winning streak of the season. That followed a stretch of nine losses in 14 games.
“It just feels like we’re showing up and playing baseball. That’s how it felt when we were playing bad, and that’s how it feels when we’re playing good,” said third baseman Max Muncy after Friday’s win. “That’s the way you want it to be. You want to go out there and do your work every single day.”
Muncy homered in the series opener, one of four Dodgers home runs in the win. After hitting just 11 home runs in their previous 14 games at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers have exploded for 13 home runs in the last three games. When the Dodgers hit at least three home runs, which they’ve done in each of the last three games, they are 11-0. When they hit at least two home runs, they are 19-1. MLB teams this season have a .706 win percentage when homering multiple times.
Couple that power and offense with a stingy pitching staff, that’s the recipe for 13 wins in 15 games. Dodgers pitchers — actual pitchers, not counting the Miguel Rojas ninth inning on Tuesday — have allowed only 26 runs in those 15 games.
The Dodgers are 10-2 when facing an opposing left-handed starting pitcher, the best such record in baseball this season. They have a tough task in Jesús Luzardo of the Phillies, who was a handful during last year’s National League Division Series. Luzardo struck out eight and walked only one in his 7 2/3 innings during the series, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits. He pitched seven scoreless innings against the Dodgers last season in Philadelphia in April, then went seven innings again in a loss at Dodger Stadium, allowing four runs, including two home runs in September.
With Luzardo starting, expect Miguel Rojas to start at second base and the now-returned Santiago Espinal at third base. The Dodgers are being cautious with Muncy, who was hit by a pitch on his right wrist on May 22 in Milwaukee. Muncy missed three full games, played defense in the ninth inning but did not hit on Tuesday. He played Wednesday and Friday, with Thursday’s scheduled off day in between.
“It still hurts a little bit right now, but we’ll play through it. The barrel is dropping a bit right now, but that’s to be expected,” Muncy said Friday. “I’m trying to make some of those adjustments, and getting that kind of result tonight feels great.”
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MAY 26: Amed Rosario #14 of the New York Yankees hits a two-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium on May 26, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images
If you asked me what the highlight of Tuesday’s 15-1 drubbing of the Royals was, I’d pick Cam Schlittler’s casual six-inning, one-run start. But a close second would be Amed Rosario’s four-hit, two-homer performance. Ok, it’s important to note that his second homer came against a position player on the mound, poor old Tyler Tolbert. However, there was nothing flukey about the rest of his performance; he was scalding balls all day, with all of his hits having exit velocities exceeding 100 mph. Seriously, just look at all this hard contact:
At first, I thought this was just another entry in the annals of “random backup infielder has great game offensively”. (You will always hold a place in my heart, Jayson Nix on April 7, 2013 against Justin Verlander.) But then I looked at Rosario’s FanGraphs page and did a double take – the man’s running a 130 wRC+!
Granted, it’s only been 31 games and 97 plate appearances, which is far from a representative sample size. Rosario has had 31-game stretches where he was even hotter in the past. If I had to choose between “Amed Rosario is a middle-of-the-order bat now” and “this is just a hot streak”, I’m choosing the latter every time.
However, there’s one crucial detail that gives me pause; the shape of his production is totally new. Rosario’s .261 ISO this year represents not only a career high for him, it’s the highest mark he’s run over any 31-game stretch in his career, ever. That seems to me like it’s a sign that something has changed with him.
There’s also the matter of his platoon splits. Rosario owns a career 121 wRC+ against southpaws and a 84 wRC+ against righties. So, surely his hot hitting so far this year is because he’s being shielded against same-handed pitching, right?
Not really, as it turns out. Of Rosario’s 97 plate appearances this year, 52 have come against lefties and 45 against righties – basically an even split. Of course, since lefties only make up less than a third of MLB pitching, having only 50% of your plate appearances come against righties means that you’re being platooned. However, the fact remains that about half of Rosario’s PAs have come against righties this year. His wRC+ against them? It’s the exact same as his line against left-handers – 130. Uh, I thought he was supposed to be a platoon bat?
This level of performance against righties is unprecedented for Rosario. Unfortunately, FanGraphs’ Player Graphs function doesn’t support L/R splits for wRC+, but for our purposes wOBA works just fine. See if you can spot the year that is unlike all the others in this graph:
So, Rosario is hitting for more power than ever, and he’s hitting righties better than ever. How is he doing it?
The first question is easier to answer: Rosario is swinging the bat harder than ever. That seems to have something to do with his power surge, doesn’t it? Case in point: StatCast’s bat tracking metrics go back to 2023. That year, Rosario’s fast swing rate – defined as the percentage of swings at 75 mph or faster – was 15.2%. In 2024, it was 16.7%. In 2025, it was 29.9%, which was already a pretty big increase.
This year, it’s 44.0%.
Over the course of four seasons, Rosario’s gone from swinging hard about as often as Luis Rengifo to Bryce Harper. I guess that’ll help you hit the ball harder. But what about his disappeared platoon splits? Does swinging faster more often automatically make you a more well-rounded batter? I, uh, have some doubts about that.
Ultimately, I can’t point to a clear-cut reason as to why Rosario is suddenly hitting righties as well as he hits lefties this year. I do, however, have a theory. After many hours of grueling research (read: I floated this topic on the PSA slack and Peter gave me this link), I happened upon this tweet from Driveline Baseball:
Don’t be fooled by the formatting of the twee. The most revealing video, at least in my mind, isn’t the big one on the left but the bottom right one, showing Rosario’s 2025 (blue) and 2026 (red) swing trajectories from various angles. In particular, pay close attention to the bird’s-eye view graphic. Notice how Rosario’s 2026 bat path starts off at a markedly lesser angle than its 2025 counterpart, and remains close to parallel to the front of home plate throughout its voyage through the strike zone? My theory is that this revamped bat path has allowed Rosario to perform well against pitches from right-handers which break away from him, alleviating his platoon splits.
It has been found by past baseball research that pitches that break away from same-handed hitters result in the largest platoon splits. It seems that righty pitchers have taken this to heart when facing Rosario; they’ve fed him more and more breaking balls in recent years, with more gloveside horizontal movement.
How do you combat this? Well, one way, it seems to me, might be to “flatten” your bat path as Rosario is doing in 2026 – trying to keep the barrel of the bat as parallel to the front of home plate as long as possible. This would increase your chances of making better contact with, say, sliders spinning away from you, especially if you’re able to catch them out in front of the plate. Lo and behold: it’s still an extremely small sample size, but Rosario’s xwOBACON against breaking pitches from right-handers is by far the highest of his career.
Can Rosario sustain this level of performance going forward? I can’t say for certain. But it’s at least very encouraging that there seems to be real, tangible changes in his approach that are fueling his early-season performance. Keep an eye out for Amed Rosario – he might be playing a bigger role in this Yankees lineup in the coming weeks.
Mar 11, 2023; Dunedin, Florida, USA; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Hayden Juenger (76) throws a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles in the fifth inning during spring training at TD Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
This is the stuff that other teams do that I make fun of, but the Jays, after deciding that Austin Voth was the guy that could be the bulk guy yesterday, and when he has a bad game, he gets DFAed. If you believed in him, you wouldn’t let one game change your mind.
Hayden Juenger has been added to the roster.
Juenger has a 3.15 ERA in 17 games, 20 innings, 22 hits, 8 walks and 23 strikeouts. Hayden was on our ‘Just Missed Out’ list on the Prospects list this year. Tom wrote:
Hayden Juenger was a sixth round pick back in ‘21. He popped onto lists by jumping all the way to AAA in his first full pro season, working as a multi-inning reliever. Things have stalled there, though. He gets some strikeouts, but walks too many and generally hasn’t found the consistency he needs to join the major league staff. He deserves a nod here because, with a nice rising fastball that sits 94, a promising cutter and a good change-up he has the repertoire to work as an MLB long reliever. So far this season he’s shelved his slider and emphasized the cutter, which has helped him avoid walks so far.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - MAY 29: Nicky Lopez #33 of the Texas Rangers bats against the Kansas City Royals at Globe Life Field on May 29, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Texas Rangers lineup for May 30, 2026 against the Kansas City Royals: starting pitchers are Kumar Rocker for the Rangers and Seth Lugo for the Royals.
Texas scored a lot of runs yesterday and won a game. They will try to do that again today.
The lineup:
Pederson — DH
Jung — 3B
Nimmo — RF
Burger — 1B
Duran — SS
Osuna — LF
Jansen — C
Lopez — 2B
Helman — CF
3:05 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -119 favorites.
Looking to bring in a fresh bullpen arm prior to Saturday afternoon's game against the Marlins, the Mets decided to option right-hander Tobias Myers down to the minors.
The decision was a tough one with Myers being such a valuable piece for this pitching staff, but having an option remaining made him the odd man out this time around.
“Not an easy decision given how important he’s been,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Opener, multi-inning guy, high-leverage, can get the last three outs -- it’s just the situation we were in pitching-wise heading into today’s game.
“He’s one of the guys with an option, the other two are available today -- we told him you’re going to be back here soon and he understood, obviously not happy about it, but it’s the situation we’re in and he’ll be back here.”
The versatile reliever has hit a bit of a rough patch on the mound of late as well, giving up runs in five of his last seven appearances to bring his ERA to 4.05 for the season.
Myers will look to turn things around in Triple-A, though, on more of a regulated program.
“It’s just going to be more scripted,” Mendoza said. “Where if you’re going to go and throw 35-45 pitches, then he’s able to get the three or four days after that, something that at this level with the competition you aren’t able to do.
“Then once his 15 days are up and we have to make that decision, he can either go and continue to get stretched out or go back into the role we’ve been using him in -- he’s very versatile and an important player for our team.”
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 19: (Editors Note: Digital toning has been applied ) Martín Pérez #33 of the Atlanta Braves walks off the field into the dugout during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park on May 19, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Braves have a chance to win their series against a solid Reds team in Cincy with a win tonight and give them a chance for another Sunday sweep.
Martin Perez takes the mound for Atlanta and he is posting near-career-best numbers through 46.2 innings, with strikeout and walk rates that near his career highs and a 3.80 xFIP to pair nicely with his 3.83 FIP at the age of 35. He’s chucking a 5 pitch mix of relatively slow pitches that generally have decent movement and it’s getting the job done for that fifth starter spot. This is a dangerous ballpark for pitchers though, ranking as a top 5 offense-friendly ballpark and especially susceptible to home runs.
The Reds will start veteran Brady Singer, who is having his worst major league season so far this year, with a 6.52 FIP and 4.46 xFIP on 46.0 innings. Given his home ballpark, I would trust xFIP to be more accurately representative than FIP, but that would still be a career-worst xFIP. It’s not hard to see why, as his fastball velocity is down nearly a full MPH from last season and his strikeouts have cratered to by far a career low rate of 6.65 per 9 innings. At only 29, Singer may be hitting the cliff early or this may be a blip on an overall solid mid-rotation starter career. Let’s hope this swoon lasts at least one more game and Atlanta can take advantage. Singer relies heavily on his sinker and slider, with a sweeper, cutter, and four-seamer sprinkled in. All of his pitches have been hit varying degrees of hard this year, but he does still have good extension and historically his slider has been fairly effective. What he is doing well this season is limiting walks, so the Braves should look for all of those pitches he’s throwing in the strike zone and look to hit them hard, particularly the sinkers. If they can do that, they should find success against Singer in this small ballpark.
Game Info
Game Time: Saturday, May 30th, 7:15 pm EDT
Location: Great American Ball Park, , Cincinnati, OH
