Yovani Gallardo (4.91 ERA, 4.04 FIP) is fresh off the disabled list and, hopefully, ready to pitch. I'm a big fan of the "shut Gallardo down until next season" movement, but the Brewers likely never seriously considered that option, and probably know more about his health than I do, anyway. Or at least, I hope they do.
Still, the facts remain. Like many heavily used pitchers the last five years, Gallardo has seen a drop in velocity and his effectiveness has suffered. Gallardo is in the middle of the worst season of his career, he was arrested for a DUI earlier on the year, he's been injured, and now he has to come back against a Reds team that, over Gallardo's career, he has a 4.53 ERA against. The 2013 season has not been kind to Gallardo.
Seven current Reds batters have faced Gallardo 10 or more times and the results are not pretty:
Player | PA | Line |
Brandon Phillips | 49 | .238/.304/.381 |
Joey Votto | 38 | .276/.421/.517 |
Jay Bruce | 35 | .406/.457/.688 |
Ryan Ludwick | 24 | .350/.458/.850 |
Ryan Hanigan | 23 | .286/.348/.381 |
Zack Cozart | 19 | .353/.389/.529 |
Todd Frazier | 10 | .333/.400/.333 |
Mat Latos (3.04 ERA, 2.94 FIP) will take the mound for the Reds. Sometimes I forget that Latos is just 25 years old. He has taken a big step forward in 2013, posting his best season since 2010, when he had a 2.92 ERA for the Padres. Latos's stats are all trending in the right direction. His strikeouts are up, his walks are down, his home runs are down, and he's having perhaps his best season while his BABIP is almost 40 points higher than his career average.
Latos throws four pitches primarily: A 93 MPH four seamer (31%), an 86 MPH slider (26%), a 93 MPH cutter (16%) and a 92 MPH two seamer (13%).
Latos has faced four Brewers batters at least 10 times. Here is how they have fared:
Player | PA | Line |
Aramis Ramirez | 21 | .316/.381/.474 |
Norichika Aoki | 14 | .231/.286/.692 |
Carlos Gomez | 12 | .500/.500/1.250 |
Martin Maldonado | 10 | .100/.100/.100 |
Lineups:
I have not yet seen the lineup. If you have, feel free to post it in the comments.
In the bullpen:
- Rob Wooten pitched one inning (19 pitches) last night and also pitched Thursday.
- Donovan Hand pitched 1.1 innings (24 pitches) last night.
- Burke Badenhop pitched one inning (6 pitches) last night.
- John Axford pitched one inning (16 pitches) last night.
- Brandon Kintzler pitched one inning (12 pitches) Thursday.
- Michael Gonzalez faced two batters (12 pitches) on Wednesday.
- Jim Henderson last pitched on Tuesday.