Game thread CXXII - Royals at Reds

This could be a rough one

If you look at the standings, you might think the Royals should be able to easily handle the Reds - even in Cincinnati. They’re not quite a .500 team. If the Royals are good, you might reason, they should at least take two out of three. But, as noted in the series preview, the Reds’ Pythagorean record has them as even unluckier than the Royals with a record a whopping 12 games worse than what their run differential would suggest.

On top of that, Nick Martinez will pitch for the Reds tonight. Martinez has never spent a full major league season as a starter. He’s pitched almost four times as many games in relief this year as he has started. But, well, let’s cite the series preview again:

Nick Martinez has shuttled between the rotation and bullpen this year, but he has been fantastic since joining the rotation in August, and has given up just five hits and no runs in 12 innings over his last two starts. He has the lowest walk rate of any pitcher with at least 90 innings pitched, issuing just two free passes since mid-June, covering 36 innings. He avoids barrels and has the lowest hard-hit rate in baseball.

He can be beaten, like any pitcher, but it won’t be easy.

The Royals will send out Michael Lorenzen. Lorenzen was revolutionary in his first start against the Tigers but his Kauffman debut did not go quite as well when he gave up three runs without making it out of the fifth inning in what would ultimately be a Royals loss. Perhaps an even worse omen is the fact that he’s already started against the Reds once this year when he was with the Rangers. He allowed five runs in six innings in one of his worst starts, and the Rangers ultimately lost the game 8-4.

Lorenzen was brought in to eat some innings for the team and if there’s one thing Royals fans of recent years are familiar with, its modern inning eaters. It used to be a term that described guys who pitched so well you never wanted to take them out. Now it describes guys who probably won’t completely blow the game but also aren’t likely to pitch with any sort of dominance whatsoever.

The Royals - like many of their series against mediocre or better teams - are catching the Reds at what appears to be a bad time. They’ve been very hot and have won four in a row. The Royals are going to have to play some excellent baseball if they want to win tonight. They have it in them, but whether they’ll manage to bring it out is anyone’s guess.

Lineups

Listen, I know Hunter Renfroe is in a bad oh-fer streak. And I know Adam Frazier had three hits Wednesday. But continuing to roster him and continuing to start him is infuriating. However bad you think Renfroe’s defense in right is, Frazier’s is worse. We could have Tyler Gentry, instead!

Also, if the team lineup tweets hadn’t highlighted it, I would have forgotten that today marks the return of Player’s Weekend. Of course, gone are the fun nicknames and other goofy things. The event is just slightly more customized cleats than normal, now. How exciting. Hat tip to the Reds for putting nicknames in their lineup tweet, but un-hat tip for not including their real names, too. Meanwhile hat tip to the Royals for doing something but un-hat tip for only adding numbers and double un-hat tip for making it look like a ransom letter made of magazine clippings.