On Monday, the Cincinnati Reds open a road series in the desert southwest against the slumping Arizona Diamondbacks.
Cincinnati beat Colorado on Saturday 6-5 and has split the first two games of their three-game series in Mile High City. Scooter Gennett hit a home run and had four other hits on Saturday for Cincinnati and Tony Cruz added a home run for the Reds.
Arizona was beaten on Saturday by the Oakland A’s as they mustered just two hits in the game falling 3-0. The loss was Arizona’s seventh in its last eight games and 14th in its last 16 overall. Even with such a poor month, the D-Backs are just one game out of first place in the NL West.
Scooter Gennett leads the Reds with a .337 batting average and team highs in hits with 65 and home runs with 10. Eugenio Suarez has the team lead in RBIs with 40. Cincinnati has a team batting average of .240 while opposing hitters are averaging .266 at the plate against Reds pitching. On Monday, the Reds will send Homer Bailey to the mound. The right-hander this season is 1-6 with an ERA of 6.21, 35 Ks and 23 BBs.
With A.J. Pollock still out injured the leading hitter for Arizona is David Peralta with a .268 batting average and is tied in home runs with Nick Ahmed at seven. Daniel Descalso leads in RBIs with 22. Arizona has a team batting average of .213, while opposing hitters are averaging .222 at the plate against Diamondbacks pitching. On Monday, Arizona will send Matt Koch to the mound. The right-hander this season is 2-3 with an ERA of 3.77, 25 Ks and 12 BBs.
