The Cincinnati Reds take their tattered pitching staff further on their road trip Monday, this time to the City of Brotherly Love. That’s where you’ll find the Philadelphia Phillies, who are so hot right now they’re shelling popcorn.
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Seriously, they were once 9-19 and fired their manager, but since Don Mattingly took over, they’ve started destroying everything in their path and now have the exact same 24-23 season record as the Cincinnati Reds. That’s good enough for second place in the NL East right now, and the Reds can thank them for the company in the basement of the NL Central as the Phillies enter tonight’s game fresh off a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates to also put them at 24-23 on the season.
Former near-redee Kyle Schwarber has been leading the charge for the Phillies, his 20 home runs so far this season are the most in all of baseball. The Reds, who do not have Kyle Schwarber on their roster even though he comes from Middletown, will try to rally against him tonight, hoping that Nick Lodolo can finally establish himself after missing more than a month on the shelf with blister problems and return to the excellent form he showed in 2025.
The exhausted bullpen could surely use the rest.
Monday’s first pitch will come from right-hander Andrew Painter at 6:40 pm ET, and Terry Francona has changed his lineup once again to feature Matt McLain as the Reds’ leadoff hitter for the night. TJ Friedl and Ke’Bryan Hayes will bat back-to-back at the bottom of the order, and both are currently among the bottom 9 hitters out of 223 with at least 120 PAs this season.
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Here you have the complete poster for the departure. Let’s go red!