Christian Encarnacion-Strand had three more hits for Louisville while Jhonny Pereda extended his hit streak, Jose Torres had an inside-the-park home run for Chattanooga, Mat Nelson homered twice in a blowout win for Dayton that put them over .500, and Hector Rodriguez homered for the 8th time this year as the Tortugas comeback fell just short on Sunday.
It’s a free Patreon preview Sunday! If you are interested in getting emailed every day during the season with additional game notes and a rundown on how the Cincinnati Reds Top 25 Prospects performed (along with other perks) you can sign up to support the site through Patreon and get all of that for a few bucks a month. If that’s something that sounds interesting you can get more information here.
The Louisville Bats lost 12-6. Box Score
- Joey Votto (rehab) went 0-2 with 2 walks.
- Henry Ramos (rehab) went 1-3 with a home run.
- Elly De La Cruz went 1-4 with a walk, double, and 2 runs scored.
- Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 3-5 with a double, run, and an RBI.
- Nick Martini went 3-5 with 2 doubles, a home run (3), and 4 RBI.
- Jhonny Pereda went 1-3 with a walk and a double.
- Michael Siani went 1-2 with 2 walks.
- Zack Brown threw 3.0 perfect innings with 2 strikeouts.
- Ryan Nutof threw 1.1 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts.
- Joel Kuhnel threw 1.2 hitless innings with 3 strikeouts.
- Daniel Duarte threw a perfect inning.
Game Notes
Elly De La Cruz walked and had a double that came off of his bat at 117.3 MPH. That’s the 4th highest exit velocity in Triple-A this season. He also has the #1 and #3 spots on that list. Since May 9th, De La Cruz has hit .330/.474/.739 with 24 walks and 26 strikeouts in 114 plate appearances.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand had three more hits on the day. That raised his line through 37 games on the season to .342/.397/.690. Since May 26th he’s played in nine games and has 10 walks and just five strikeouts. He’s also gone 11-34 with three doubles and three home runs in that time.
Jhonny Pereda has had a hit in every game he’s played in since April 19th. As the backup catcher, though, he’s only played in 14 games in that span. But he’s now riding a 14-game hitting streak and has a .375/.420/.500 line on the year.
Nick Martini hit .155/.305/.196 in the first 29 games of the season. He walked 19 times and struck out just 24 times in that span, but he couldn’t buy a hit to save his life. Things have turned around in a big way for the outfielder in the last 12 games, though. He’s hit .396/.508/.708 in his last 61 plate appearances during that stretch.
If you missed the news – Andrew Abbott has been called up and will make his MLB debut on Monday for the Reds. He had originally been scheduled to start for Louisville on Sunday.
Top Pitch Velocity: Ricky Karcher – 98.2 MPH (ball)
Top Exit Velocity: Elly De La Cruz – 117.3 MPH (double)
Furthest Hit Baseball: Henry Ramos – 426 feet (home run)
The Chattanooga Lookouts lost 5-4. Box Score
- Jacob Hurtubise went 1-3 with a double, walk, and a run.
- Rece Hinds went 1-4.
- Alex McGarry went 1-4 with a home run (3), steal (3), and 2 runs scored.
- Jose Torres went 1-4 with an inside-the-park home run (1).
- Quincy McAfee went 1-3 with an RBI.
- Carson Spiers threw 1.1 hitless innings with a walk and 2 strikeouts.
Game Notes
Things were going well for Chattanooga until the bottom of the 7th inning. Christian Roa had allowed a run in the first six frames and had allowed just three hits, but he gave up two hits and a walk while recording just one out. After a run scored on the second hit of the inning he was replaced on the mound and two singles and three runs scored later it was 5-3 Tennessee. The Lookouts got a run back in the 8th, but they went rather quietly in the 9th with three strikeouts sandwiched around a hit batter.
In the scorebooks, Jose Torres is going to get credit for an inside-the-park home run. Whether he should have been or not is another question. The camera operator didn’t track the ball well and the left fielder had no clue where it was as he lost it in the sun. The announcers also seemed to disagree on what happened, with one believing the ball hit the top of the wall, then the fence behind it before coming back into play and the other one believing hit landed in play and then bounced off of the wall and back into play.
The Dayton Dragons won 12-5. Box Score
- Blake Dunn went 1-4 with an RBI.
- Austin Hendrick went 2-5 with 2 runs and an RBI.
- Edwin Arroyo went 2-5 with a home run (5), 2 runs, and 2 RBI.
- Ruben Ibarra went 1-4 with a walk and a run.
- Austin Callahan went 2-4 with a walk, 2 runs, and an RBI.
- Mat Nelson went 3-5 with 2 home runs (9) and 4 RBI.
- Justice Thompson went 3-4 with a run and 2 RBI.
- Michael Trautwein went 1-4 with a run and an RBI.
- Yan Contreras went 2-4 with a steal (1) and a run.
- Thomas Farr allowed 1 earned in 6.0 innings with a walk and 3 strikeouts.
- Carson Rudd threw a hitless inning with 2 walks and a strikeout.
- Jayvien Sandridge threw a shutout inning with a walk and 2 strikeouts.
Game Notes
The win put Dayton over the .500 mark on the season as they improved to 26-25. It’s the first time this season that they have been over .500 and only the third day all season they’ve been at least .500 and all have been within the last week.
Mat Nelson’s two home runs now have him in 2nd place in the league with nine home runs. He’s one behind the league leader who has 10, but has played in 12 more games than Nelson and has 56 more at-bats.
Edwin Arroyo may be starting to heat up. He was hitting .182/.234/.311 in the first 36 games of the season for Dayton. He’s had a hit in each of the last five games, going 11-20 with two doubles, a home run, a walk, and just one strikeout. The last five games have resulted in a jump in OPS of 96 points for Arroyo.
Justice Thompson kept his hot-hitting going, too. Since May 19th the outfielder is hitting .348/.388/.630 for Dayton.
The Daytona Tortugas lost 8-7. Box Score
- Hector Rodriguez went 2-5 with a home run (8), 2 runs, and 3 RBI.
- Carlos Jorge went 2-4 with a walk, double, and a run.
- Victor Acosta went 1-3 with a run and he was hit by a pitch.
- Logan Tanner went 1-4 with a run.
- Kevin Abel threw 2.0 shutout innings with 4 walks and 2 strikeouts.
- Joseph Menefee threw a shutout inning with a strikeout.
Game Notes
Daytona didn’t have a hit in the first six innings of the game before a 1-out single by Carlos Jorge broke up the no-hitter. The Tortugas trailed 8-0 entering the 8th inning. That’s when things got a bit wild – here’s how the inning played out: Single, single, pop up, strikeout, single, walk, walk, hit batter, error, hit batter, and a strikeout. Five runs scored and all of a sudden it was a game. In the top of the 9th a leadoff walk was followed up by a 1-out homer from Hector Rodriguez that made it a 1-run game. Carlos Jorge then doubled and moved to third on a fly out, but he was stranded there when a strikeout ended the inning and game.
Hector Rodriguez is now tied for the league lead with 8 home runs. He’s 8th in the league with a .293 average, 2nd in the league with a .537 slugging percentage, and 7th in the league in OPS.
Carlos Jorge, who had been in a 4-26 slump over the last eight games busted out with two hits and a walk. He’s now hitting .316/.395/.484 with 18 walks, 15 steal, and 38 strikeouts in 177 plate appearances.
Joseph Menefee’s outstanding start to 2023 continued with another shutout inning of relief. The left-handed reliever hasn’t allowed a run since April 18th and now has an ERA of 1.62 on the season. In his 16.2 innings this year he’s struck out 23 batters with eight walks and eight hits allowed.
Top Pitch Velocity: Zach Maxwell – 99.8 MPH (single)
Top Exit Velocity: Cam Collier – 101.6 MPH (error)
Furthest Hit Baseball: Hector Rodriguez – 377 feet (home run)
General Reminder
The complex leagues begin play on Monday. The Dominican Summer League Reds will play at 11am ET and then 10 hours later the Arizona League Reds will take the field at 9pm ET. If you’re looking for rosters, don’t expect to see them until Monday.
Top 25 Prospects Rundown
6/5 Game Preview
| Team | Record | Time (ET) | Probable | Box Score | Listen | Watch |
| Louisville | 30-26 | OFF | DAY | Here | Here | Here |
| Chattanooga | 27-23 | OFF | DAY | Here | Here | Here |
| Dayton | 26-25 | OFF | DAY | Here | Here | Here |
| Daytona | 21-30 | OFF | DAY | Here | Here | N/A |
| AZL Reds | 0-0 | 9:00pm | TBA | Here | N/A | N/A |
| DSL Reds | 0-0 | 11:00am | TBA | Here | N/A | N/A |
what is Louisville’s record with Votto in the line up?
not good. Not good at all. But I think that’s more a reflection on the Louisville pitching staff than Joey’s rehab at bats.
I will say the last 2 games, 3 of the 4 pitchers he faced were lefties. Once he gets activated, I hope he doesn’t even play against lefties. I think that ship has sailed. I also think he is strictly a DH at this point.
What’s the Reds record with him in the lineup the last 15 or so years?
Not good. Not good at all.
Duarte since May 1st, 15.3 IP, 2 ER, 1.17 ERA , with 19 K’s, 6 BB’s
I agree. It may be time to see Duarte in Cincinnati. He actually broke camp on active roster in 2022 before injuring his elbow early in April.
Would have to create an open spot on 40 man roster though. There are a couple relievers they could designate and not miss them. The major league bullpen is getting overused and worn out. Gonna be a year of attrition.
Elly vs RHP – 277/393/654/1.047
CES vs RHP – 333/378/637/1.016
Nick Senzel vs RHP – 185/272/277/549
Stuart Fairchild vs RHP – 200/308/354/662
Tyler Stephenson vs RHP – 201/307/292/599
You can’t convince me that EDLC and CES wouldn’t help the Reds right now. Yes, I understand that the pitching needs help too, but at least with those two you could hope to just outslug the other team every night.
You are comparing gold and silver.There is a difference between AAA right handed pitching and MLB right handed pitching.
True, but there’s enough evidence that the the latter can’t hit gold (I’ll allow more time for Stephenson based off his last two years and that he’s coming off injury), and the former can handle silver. Once you’ve proven you can handle silver, it’s time to take on gold.
Interesting cherry picking of data in the main article. EDLC data ignores the first 21 ABs, whereas CES line is for the entire season. I believe that is called confirmation bias. Only use the data that support your preconceived opinion.
Perhaps a comparison of CES and EDLC over the last 10 games would be interesting.
I believe this comment is boring and adds nothing of value. Thanks Doug for the work you do
Confirmation that you are being a weird jerk.
Doug used various points of data for multiple players here. And every single night in his Patreon write ups. He’s not comparing players he is providing information about players.
Any update on Marte’s potential injury?
That’s a fun hit streak note for Jhonny Pereda. You would think he might be playing a little more often than he has though.
Robinson was hitting better for a long while so that explains hi low at bats.
While it may be true that you cannot walk off the island (for the Caribbean kids at least), it may be true you can walk out of Arizona. Que todays AZL boxscore
There’s one way to tell (probably) whether CES or EDLC is ready for the Majors .