Nick Lodolo closed out his spring training with a dominant performance. The Reds offense crushed the Guardians pitchers. Put the two together and the final game this spring out in Arizona saw Cincinnati pick up a 13-2 win over Cleveland.
The Highlights
The Reds didn’t take much time to grab a lead on Sunday. Nick Lodolo threw a scoreless top of the 1st inning and his offense had his back in the bottom half of the frame. TJ Friedl led off with a walk and came in to score when Elly De La Cruz doubled. Cincinnati tacked on a second run when De La Cruz scored on a wild pitch.
In the 3rd inning the Guardians would get a run back on a solo home run by Ralphy Velazquez to cut the lead to 2-1. The Reds, though, put together a big inning in the bottom half of the 3rd. Jose Trevino reached on an error to begin the inning. He would come in to score on a single by Elly De La Cruz. Austin Hays then doubled in both TJ Friedl and De La Cruz. Gavin Lux then followed up with a 2-run home run – his second homer in as many games.
Cincinnati wasn’t done, though. A single from Jeimer Candelario came next and that led to a pitching change. That didn’t make a difference as Josh Harlow entered the game and walked Christian Encarnacion-Strand. Jake Fraley then capped off the inning with a 2-run double that made it 9-1.
In the bottom of the 4th inning the Guardians brought Kolby Allard, who got pulled in the previous inning, back to the mound. Things didn’t go well for him one again, though it wasn’t quite as bad. He walked Elly De La Cruz to start the inning, but a double play followed. The Reds then put together three straight hits, capped off by a 2-run triple by Christian Encarnacion-Strand that extended the lead to 11-1.
With a big lead, Nick Lodolo was absolutely cruising through the Cleveland lineup. He threw 6.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits with no walks and he struck out seven batters. The lefty also generated nine ground ball outs with just one fly out on the day.
The Reds went all out with their replacements to begin the 6th inning and those guys were able to extend the lead with a little help from the Guardians. A 2-out throwing error led to a run coming in to make it 12-1.
Ian Gibaut came out of the bullpen to take over for Lodolo to begin the 7th inning. He worked around a single and picked up two strikeouts in a scoreless frame. The offense went right back to work in the bottom of the inning and they once again got some help along the way. Will Banfield doubled to start the inning and moved up to third on a wild pitch. He then came in to score on the third throwing error by Cleveland’s third baseman in the game.
Sam Moll took the mound in the 8th inning and he tossed a hitless inning with two strikeouts while working around a walk to hold onto a 12-run lead. Joe La Sorsa then took over for the 9th inning. After being sent to minor league camp earlier in the week he would give up his first run of the spring on a sacrifice fly. That was all that the Guardians would get as the Reds held on for a 13-2 victory.
You can see the box score for the game here.
Game Notes
Nick Lodolo needed just 70 pitches, with 53 strikes to get through his 6.0 innings on the day. He finished the spring with a 2.45 ERA in 14.2 innings with 16 strikeouts, 10 hits, and five walks.
Elly De La Cruz finished up spring training in Arizona with a .409 average, a .519 on-base percentage, and a .773 slugging percentage. He had 10 walks and just 12 strikeouts in 54 plate appearances. Spring training stats are just that – spring training stats. But I will once again say – if you want to dream on something you saw in the spring, the walk and strikeout rates for Elly De La Cruz is where you should hope your dreams come true because if those hold up even close then he’s going to go from a star player to maybe the best player in the game.
Gavin Lux capped off his spring in a big way, too, as he homered in the final two games. In his 17 games played he hit .300/.440/.525 with nine walks and 12 strikeouts.
Monday’s Game
The Reds will not play on Monday. They will be traveling back to Ohio. On Tuesday they will finish their spring training up with a game against a team of their prospects in Dayton.
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