[jksander]

April 24, 2026: Noah Schultz (0-1, 3.86 ERA, 21.0 IP, 22 K’s, 0.86 WHIP) pitched against Cincinnati’s Lance Lynn (4-0, 1.84 ERA, 14.2 IP, 16 K’s, 1.02 WHIP), who started one game this year and did the rest of his damage as a multi-innings reliever. But aside from his one start, he hasn’t thrown more than 40 pitches in a game, so he’s an interesting pitcher to face. We had him off kilter from the start, with four walks in the first two innings before we broke through with an RBI single by Valenzuela that put us up 1-0. But it was Ha-seong Kim who shut their fans up moments later, when he hit a grand slam out of left to extend that lead to 5-0. The Reds went to the bullpen with two outs in the third, while Schultz pitched us through six shutout innings. Cody Bellinger hit a two-run double in the top of the seventh, coming around to score a few minutes later off a Meidroth single, giving us an 8-0 lead heading into the stretch. Luis Sanchez took the ball in the bottom of the inning and was pretty much unstoppable through the eighth, and Ryan Helsley took over in the ninth ... with two outs he blew the shutout when Matt McLain hit a two-run homer out of left, but we got out of there with an 8-2 win anyway, which is just as good. Schultz improved to 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA, allowing just three hits with nine strikeouts, and Sanchez got through his two innings with a hit, a walk and five K’s. Hensley’s two hits, two walks and two runs were enough to spoil the shutout, but we still outhit the Reds 8-6, and our power was dominant thanks to Kim with two hits, a walk, a run and four RBIs.

April 25, 2026: Brandon Pfaadt (1-0, 2.70 ERA, 13.1 IP, 16 K’s, 0.90 WHIP) pitched against Cincinnati’s Matthew Boyd (0-0, 3.38 ERA, 13.1 IP, 14 K’s, 1.65 WHIP) in game two, and Heston Kjerstad hit a two-run homer in the top of the first to get us on the board! Bellinger, hitting right behind him, went out of the park as well with a solo blast, giving us a 3-0 lead midway through the first. The Reds scored in the bottom of the first off an RBI double by Noelvi Marte that gave them two quick runs, and a two-run homer by Edgar Quero just minutes later put them into the lead 4-3 ... it’s gonna be that kind of game. In the top of the third we tied it on an RBI double by Chase Meidroth, taking the lead back with a Bellinger double, leading 5-4 at the inning’s midpoint, and we added a solo homer by Kjersted, his second of the game, added a little cushion as we headed into the bottom of the fifth up by two runs. Three more runs scored in the sixth, and Julian Merryweather took the ball in the bottom of the inning with a 9-4 lead in hand. Bazardo took over with two outs and a man on in the seventh, keeping the lead as it was, and Valenzuela hit a solo homer in the eighth to put us into double figures scoring! Kjerstad hit his THIRD HOMER of the game in the top of the ninth, a two-run blast that gave us an even dozen, and Bazardo finished them off quietly as we won 12-4! Pfaadt improved to 2-0 with a 3.93 ERA thanks to five innings with five hits, a walk, two strikeouts and four earned runs, and we outhit the Reds 15-7 ... obviously the star of the night (and of the season thus far!) was Kjerstad, who went 3-5 with three homers and five runs batted in, improving his average to .354 with six homers already in just 20 games.

April 26, 2026: Sean Burke (1-2, 7.07 ERA, 14.0 IP, 13 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) pitched in game three against Zac Gallen (3-0, 1.90 ERA, 23.2 IP, 19 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) Yordys Valdes hit a three-run homer in the top of the third to put us on the board, and Noah Syndergaard took over with one out and men on first and second in the bottom of the sixth, striking out Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Tyler Stephenson each swinging to keep the shutout alive. He kept it that way through the seventh, our lead at 3-0 heading into the stretch, and Jonathan Cannon took over in the eighth, the inning our luck came to an end ... with one out and runners on the corners, Encarnacion-Strand hit a three-run blast out of right and just like that we were tied up 3-3. Cannon got us out of the inning without giving them a lead, and Andre Lipcius hit an RBI single that scored Tauchman in the top of the ninth to put us back in the lead! Ben Joyce took over from there, but it didn’t go well ... he gave up three hits in a row, the Reds tying the score on a double by Edgar Quero that put two in scoring position. Jose Alvarado took over in the high leverage spot, getting Spencer Steer to strike out swinging, but Jorge Soler hit a three-run homer out of the park in left to walk it off as a 7-4 Reds win. Would have been nice to have that sweep, but we played well all three games, so we’re making progress. Burke had 5.1 good innings with three hits, three walks and six strikeouts, improving his ERA to 5.12, but Cannon and Joyce each had blown saves, and it was Joyce who took the loss, falling to 1-1 with a 9.64 ERA ... he’s only played in five games, so it’s a small sample size, and he may need to get more innings as a middle reliever before trying to close out games. They outhit us 11-8, our bats led by Valdes who had two hits, a walk, a run and three RBIs ... he’s now hitting .197 and seems to be coming out of his slump at last.

We’re back in Chicago tomorrow through Wednesday as we end the month against the 10-12 Rays, who are in fourth place in the AL East. Our 9-12 record has us on track for 70 wins, but we’re continuing to show signs that we’re significantly better than last year, and I feel strongly that we should be able to stay in contention in our division if we keep our heads on right.