Photo: Redleg Nation Staff
Doug Gray 61
Max Meyer was dominant for the Marlins on Monday night and struck out 14 Cincinnati hitters without allowing a run or a walk. The Reds fell behind 6-0 before breaking through against Miami’s bullpen, but it was too little and too late as the Marlins held on for a 6-3 win to open up the 3-game series in Florida.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (11-12) | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Miami Marlins (10-12) | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| W:Meyer (2-2) L: Lodolo (2-2) SV: Tinoco (2) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Miami would get things started early by putting together a rally in the bottom of the 2nd inning as they picked up four singles, with the last two by Jesus Sanchez and Ronny Simon both bringing in a run as the Marlins grabbed a 2-0 lead.
On the other side of things, the Reds were wishing that they could have saved some of those runs from Sunday’s 24-2 win. Max Meyer was making the Cincinnati hitters look silly as he racked up strikeout after strikeout while keeping them off of the scoreboard. The Marlins offense would tack on another run in the bottom of the 5th when Eric Wagaman hit a solo home run to make it 3-0. Matt McLain came through with a leadoff single in the 6th and stole second base, but the next three hitters struck out as Meyer increased his total on the day to 14.
Nick Lodolo got the first batter in the bottom of the 6th to strike out, but then walked the next guy and gave up a single to put two men on. A pop up in foul territory led to the second out of the frame, but it would be the last of the day for Lodolo as Cincinnati called on Alexis Diaz to enter the game with runners on the corners. He got out of the jam with a shallow fly out to center.
Diaz would return to the mound in the 7th and ran into some trouble after giving up a 1-out single and hitting the next batter. A stolen base would put runners on the corners, but Diaz induced a weak grounder that he fielded and caught Eric Wagaman in no-man’s land and tossed to third where Noelvi Marte tagged him out. For the time being it seemed things could go in the right direction, but that moment was brief as four pitches later Kyle Stowers connected for an opposite field 3-run home run to make it a 6-0 ballgame.
The Reds offense no longer had to face Max Meyer anymore and in the 8th inning they finally got things going in the right direction against Tyler Phillips. A walk, wild pitch, single, and a ground out brought in the first run of the day for the Reds. Then Gavin Lux came through this his first home run of the season – a 2-run shot to center that made it 6-3.
After Emilio Pagan shut the Marlins down in order in the bottom of the 8th inning, Cincinnati’s offense got one more go at it to try and extend the game past the top of the 9th inning. They couldn’t do it as Jesus Tinoco needed 11 pitches to get three fly ball outs and hold on for a Marlins 6-3 victory.
Key Moment of the Game
Kyle Stower’s 3-run home run in the bottom of the 7th. While Miami never trailed in the game, that home run was pivotal as Cincinnati scored three runs in the next half-inning that would have left the game tied up without it.
Notes Worth Noting
Miami stole six bases in seven attempts on the night. Five of the steals came with Alexis Diaz on the mound.
The Reds batters struck out 14 times and walked zero times while facing starter Max Meyer. The Marlins relievers didn’t strike out a single batter and walked one. Spencer Steer and Noelvi Marte were the only two Reds hitters who didn’t strike out on the day.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Miami Marlins
Tuesday, April 22, 6:40pm ET
Nick Martinez (0-3, 6.00 ERA) vs Edward Cabrera (0-1, 6.52 ERA)
61 Responses
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Klugo Welcome back, Díaz. Good to see ya.
Not.
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Rut I dare say Alexis has several things to work on… wish that had been part of his recent stint in aaa
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MFG Diaz should be sent down to work on a slide step.
He has been exposed and every team will now run on him.
Shocking that this has not yet been fixed by Diaz or the Reds.
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Jmb Even though Baty isn’t doing well so far, I think I’d still send Diaz for him. Baty would be a guy ti turn to if CES doesn’t get right.
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Steve Baty isn’t doing well so far?? Baty has a career ops+ of 69, he’s been a awful major leaguer to this point in his career and I cannot imagine a scenario in which he is the guy we turn to for first base. Diaz has no trade value, I’d guess Baty doesn’t either, but he is certainly not the answer to replace CES…hell he would just barely be a replacement for this season’s Candelario
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SteveAReno What in the world happened? The Reds ran into Max Meyer Mr. Domination pitching. It’s that simple. Miami is giving the Reds fits.
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SteveAReno I’d like to switch him with Randy Wynne.
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Jim Walker Aside from Diaz being Diaz, which sadly isn’t a good thing right now, I thought the top of the 5th inning was a critical point.
With the Reds trailing 2 nil, Fraley had a one out single. Marte followed with a gap shot double that the Marlins CF hustled to cut off short of the track and hold Fraley at 3B. Trevino then K’d and Friedl grounded out to 2B to kill the Reds’ threat.
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Jim Walker And as sure as I say Marte is starting to look like he belongs, I’ll jinx him. Nevertheless, Marte is starting to look like that guy from late in 2023 that folks were thinking could be 2024 rookie of the year material.
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Melvin His offense is coming around. His defense not so much.
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Jim Walker Marte is not a 3B long term. He will most likely end up as a corner OF, at least that seemed to be the opinion of many “scouts” et al when the Reds acquired him.
And is there a more time tested and truer baseball axiom that if a guy can hit, they will find a place to play him (and that predated the DH by 50 years or so) 😉 Consider Pete Rose. He started his career at 2B and ended it at 1B. Between those times, he also played everywhere but SS, C, and CF as a “regular” (and even logged 73 CF appearances).
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Jmb Marte should be in left, EDLC at 3B, McLain at short, Lux at 2B.
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Steve Elly should not be moving to third base, I don’t understand why this fan base is so hell bent on moving him. He is the best defensive shortstop on this team. Also, for all of the complaining we have done over the years regarding the reds moving players from their natural position, we seem to ignore all of that when it comes to Elly.
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MBS Marte has got a lot of offensive potential. Until his last season that was cut in half with a suspension, he carried a .800+ OPS every level including the majors.
I want Marte in RF, but to be fair our 3B situation is really bad, so I guess I can see why they haven’t moved him.
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Dennis Westrick Less that 2 outs, runners in scoring position, Reds failed to score, AGAIN! Just saying!
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Doc Top of the 8th, runners in scoring position, Reds scored 3. Just saying…
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Ksdavis Sam LeCure was on Mo Egger today. Diaz was one of the subjects. Sam was talking bout Diaz being unable to hold runners on. Hit the nail on the head
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Melvin Yep. Their catcher stole 3B on him tonight.
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CI3J It’s because Diaz has an extremely slow delivery to the plate.
Diaz pitching from the stretch is still slower than most pitcher’s windups.
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redfanorbust I wonder what if anything is different about Diaz’s delivery from the first two years? I don’t recall anyone talking about his delivery being too slow and runners running with abandon on him. That type of problem is alarming but even more is hitting coaches have not done anything to address it. Puzzlements abound.
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Redsvol 5 steals in 1.1 innings may be some type of record. I’m surprised none of the national sites have reported on it.
I think Diaz can get back to being valuable, but not if he’s going to take 4 seconds to get the ball to the plate b
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redwolf unable to keep them off the bases too
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Jmb 5 steals in 1.1 innings on Diaz?!!!
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CincyDo 100% agree that Meyer was dominant. Mid 90s FB/sinker, high 80s slider and change up, located well. Give him credit. Lodolo needs to get to that level. His FB clocked in at low 90s, that’s concerning
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2020ball His FB looks essentially the same speed as it has been all his career, you think he can just magically add another 2mph with the snap of a finger?? Without injury? Care to expand how he “needs” to get to this level?
If Lodolo can simply prove he can stay healthy a full season, I’d say thats about all he needs to do. Telling him to somehow work on adding velocity is ridiculous IMO. Would likely sap his movement on his 4 seam and sinker as well. You’re comment is far more concerning as far as I can see.
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CincyDo The mortals ask how, the immortals figure out how. His 4 seamer seems a couple mph slower if I remember right. 94-95 vs 92-93 now
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Steve Last year his fastball was 94.4, so far this season it is 93.2, so yes it is 1mph slower. He missed time at the end of last season so maybe he is still getting it back, and it is April, pitching in the colder weather can affect the mph…let the season progress and see where he ends up
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Jim Walker How many putaway pitches does Lodolo have? The diving slider for sure. But what else?
The step up Greene has taken in the last year is that he now has 3 legitimate putaways, the 4 seam fastball, the slider (in a couple of different variations), and the splitter.
Lodolo’s K rate so far this year has fallen to under 20% this year from just under 30% in his rookie season and 24% last year. He also needs to develop another of his pitches into a putaway.
Three of the Marlins singles in their 2 run inning Monday came with Lodolo ahead in the count. Two of those 3 came with 2 strikes on the batter. He did not get Ks on favorable counts to close the inning when he was in trouble. Meyers did for the Marlins. That was a major difference in the game.
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Mauired My biggest takeaway from this game is the Reds should package Diaz and Lodolo to a pitching desperate team like Baltimore that has some hitting prospects to spare like 3B Coby Mayo and C Samuel Basallo
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redfanorbust @MAURED
Hey Maured. Diaz has little to no value currently so in this kind of trade it’s basically Lodolo. According to baseball trade values Basallo you mentioned has almost twice the value of Lodolo and he is a 19 year old catcher in the minors. He must be some kind of phenom. Only trade that fits value wise is Mayo for Lodolo. However Mayo is a first baseman. Who gets the ax in Cincy to make room for him? Currently Mayo in AAA is hitting .239 with 4 homers and one stolen base. Seeing our need still for an outfielder we could pull off a OF Heston Kjerstad, OF Cedrick Mullens OF (walk year maybe resign him?) and minor league OF Vance Honeycutt for Lodolo and TJ Fridel. That suits the values of the trade and also gives the Reds the OF help they need in AAA and in the big show. Anyway just fun to bandy about names. Have a good one. -
Mauired I hear you on Diaz but value is always in the eye of the beholder. Some teams that are desperate may overpay and how for a turnaround to previous form. Obviously to get anything of value at this point Diaz would have to be part of a package. Mayo might be off to a slow start but look at his pro career and it’s easy to envision that cleanup bat protecting Elly that simply doesn’t exist in this organization at any level. I was hopeful of CES but watching him since August of 2023 swing and miss at every pitch thrown has given me strong and unfortunate memories of Aquinos untapped potential being wasted.
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DaveCT One difference was the Marlins pitching staff threw strikes today while the O’s staff did not in the last three games. We were taking a lot of those pitches on the edges for strikes, which they were. Adjustment time for game two.
Yesterday, for instance, O’s pitchers threw 233 pitches with only 125 strikes (54%). Sat, 183 pitches, 104 strikes (57%). Friday, 177 pitches, 106 strikes (60%).
The Marlins, 147 pitches, 104 strikes (71%).
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Redsvol Exactly. Tip of the cap to max meyer for me. Get them in the next game.
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old-school Agree Dave. Meyer was the #3 overall pick in 2020 draft and had lights out stuff with FB 96 bottom of the zone and a great off speed slider/curve combo. Looked a little like Spencer Strider just down a few tics on velo. This game did have the feel to me we will be looking back months and years from now at that game in Miami in early 2025 where Alexis Diaz career as a Reds closer was teetering but then unofficially ended.
Love to see Santillan and Ashcraft step up now as the Reds high leverage arms secure or put away wins.
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Tom Diesman Yes, Meyer threw a very impressive 75% of his pitches for strikes yesterday, and 71 of his 92 pitches were of the off speed variety. The Reds have only had one start this season of 75% or better strikes, that was Greene’s 78.7% performance in his 2nd start. The Reds starters have only topped 70% five times this season, Greene in starts 1-4 and Lodolo last night. League average strike percentage is 63.6%.
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DaveCT I think there is a thread to be explored with the Francona/Valaika hitting approach.
In Cleveland, the hitters were known to produce higher contact rates and lower exit velocities, with more base runners. I was blacked out on MLB.com for the three Mariners games so i got to hear their announcers (who are terrific). They pointed out the Reds hitters do not swing as often as other clubs and were not hitting the ball very hard.
So … amateur hour here. Baseball Savant has them at 44.5% swing rate vs. 47.2% league avg. And they are at a hard hit rate of 37.3% vs. league avg. of 40.8%. Their exit velo avg of 88.4 mph compares with league avg. of 89.4.
If the objectives are higher contact rates, chasing less, fewer strikeouts, and more base runners, the Reds are at a chase rate of 24.9% vs 28.1% for the league; in 2024, their chase rate was at 27.1% (league avg, 28.5%).
Their contact rate in the strike zone is 82.3% vs the league avg. of 82.1%; in 2024, it was 82.0% (league avg. 82.2%.
Their strikeout rate is at 23.0%; in 2024, it was 24.4%. Their current OPS is .326 vs. league avg. of .313; in 2024, it was .305 vs .312 for the league avg.
I repeat the disclaimer of amateur hour, but do think there may be some growth as a club in areas that were a concern before Francona and Valaika.
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LDS Time to send Diaz back to Louisville until he gets it right. Back to the discussion on W/L and pitchers, though Lodolo wasn’t his best (couldn’t really expect him to be) and the Reds looked lousy against Meyer, the game was winnable until Diaz gave it away. It won’t go that way in the books, but Diaz lost this game.
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VaRedsFan It’s likely that the Marlins use a different pitcher if they are up 3-0, rather than the one they used at 6-0.
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SultanofSwaff Lol I liked how Diaz pointed at the fly ball that became a home run.
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Mauired LoL I missed that. So funny. Reds have a couple extremely low IQ baseball players in Diaz and Candelario. Both should be gone asap.
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VaRedsFan Diaz also had something going on with his finger. There was blood, the trainer applied some substance (probably super glue-like), and he was also biting at one of his fingers. Something obviously split open, or there was a blister. This could be a perfect excuse to IL him to at least get his fingers healed, but more so to get him off the 26-man roster.
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MBS If that is true I would for sure IL Diaz. I also don’t have a problem with sending him down to AAA to work on things. He didn’t seem ready to me when they did call him up.
I’d like them to bring up Torres, but he’ll need a 40 man spot. IDK what’s going on with Phillips, but he hasn’t seen any action this season. Maybe he’s a 60 day IL candidate. If not I’d probably DFA Wynne to make room.
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Tom Diesman Torres, LaSorsa, and Abreu would all be interesting non-roster candidates to replace Diaz.
I think to free up a 40 man spot using Phillips, they’d have to call him up to the MLB 26 man roster and them move him to the major league 60 day IL. Seems like they’ve done that once the last year or so, but not common.
The easier way would be to move Spiers to the 60 man IL since I believe I heard Francona say yesterday that Spiers MRI revealed he would not need surgery, but would be shut down from throwing for up to 6 weeks.
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Mauired Why not just bring up Richardson or Zulu to replace Diaz. Already on the roster and I imagine either would be an upgrade. I think both warrant a long-term look in the bigs.
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MBS @Tom, I didn’t know that rule. If they did that, is the time retroactive, or would the start date be after he reaches the 26 man.
@Maui, yes those would be easier options. I think Torres is a bit more advanced than Richardson, and better than Zuleta. Really Zuleta’s 40 man spot is tedious at best. Miley will be taking a spot soon.
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Tom Diesman Ah found it, they did this with Christian Roa last year on 8/19:
“Roa hadn’t pitched at Triple-A since Aug. 2 and landed on Louisville’s 7-day IL before the Reds called him up and placed him on the 60-day IL for the purpose of opening up a spot on the 40-man roster. ”
I do not know if they can date it retroactive to the injury in the minors or not, but that is a good question.
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Mauired Mbs Zulu looked pretty good in his cup of coffee last season. Power arm too. I don’t think his spot is tenuous at all. Hope not at least.
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SultanofSwaff Interesting that Candelario has sat for the last two days and Marte has started. Wondering if this is the beginning of Marte getting a long look at third. He’s delivered offensively so far. Top 50 prospect at one point and is just 23.
In a perfect world he hits like crazy and plays passable defense at third until Sal Stewart is ready to take over. Then the Reds figure out if he’s better suited for first or a corner outfield spot.
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AMDG The players are new to Francona.
It probably took him 2 months to really just how bad Candelario truly is?
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Jim Walker Or heaven forbid, an actual lights out every day DH versus mixing and matching at DH to give regular starters a “half day off” while their normal position plate appearances are taken by a bench player. 😉
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SultanofSwaff More concerning for me was his fastball velo. 91-93 when he sat around 96 in the past.
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AMDG They only reasonable explanation for sending Diaz out there would have been because they were essentially “giving up” on the game, by saving their better pitchers for future games.
Which is understandable, since their offense was shut down for 7 innings, and Francona probably figured to surrender, and fight another day.
Which is unfortunate, because after Diaz was Diaz, and put them in a deeper hole, the offense came to life.
At that point, putting in Pagan was a waste, since they had already given away the game with the decision to use Diaz.
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greenmtred Another reasonable–to my mind–explanation would be that Diaz is on the roster, the bullpen is not loaded and is getting worked a bit lately, and Tito and DJ need to see if he can contribute.
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AMDG Whatever magic he had in 2022 and the first half of 2023 has long been gone. He’s given up over 5 BB per 9 IP since mid June of 2022.
And in his 8 appearances heading into last night, he had given up 8.2 BB per 9 IP in 2025. So, he’s clearly continuing in that trend.
I’m not sure what else the Reds are looking for with him. He is who he is. Yes, their bullpen isn’t that great, but Diaz only makes it worse.
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jon His last outing was good.
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CFD3000 Sometimes the opposing pitcher is nearly unhittable. Last night, Max Myers beat the Reds pretty much single handedly. But the takeaway is still positive. Despite that dominant start, the Reds still had a chance to win the game. I’m encouraged by recent signs – Lux has been an on base machine and may be finding some power, Marte is starting to look good at the plate with tons of potential and still only 23, Hays has arrived and is making an immediate difference and Fraley is showing signs of waking up. That’s all without McLain or EDLC at full throttle. Tito will figure out how to use (and not use) Diaz. It’s early days and I like what I’m seeing. Time to win a bunch of games against some weaker teams. Go Reds!
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Jim Walker I liked a Brantley comment about Meyer’s night. Myers got a strike call against Hays on a pitch that nicked the front of the strike zone at the knees as it dove downward. The strike box on the screen indicated it was, in fact, a strike.
Brantley quipped that if a pitcher gets a strike call when the top of the ball just touches the bottom of the zone, he is probably having a very good game.
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David I could be quite wrong about this (regarding umpires) but I have observed if a pitcher shows good command from the start, then he sometimes gets those “borderline” calls because he has regularly thrown strikes.
And not to say the umpires are biased, but actually “seeing” a pitched baseball (at the ML level) is not easy, and the umpire could have sincerely thought the pitch was a strike, based on other pitches that had been thrown previously.
Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux immediately come to mind, as two guys that could throw strikes, and then “widened” the strike zone because of their command of pitches.
When pitchers get calls regularly on “borderline” pitches, it starts to make the hitters very defensive.
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redfanorbust I wish I knew what the difference are with Diaz 2022/2023 compared to Diaz 2024. Has the league figured something out? I am sure Reds pitching coaches have picked him apart on film and eye test. Now suddenly he is slow to the plate and runners on base run wild on him. Don’t ever remember hearing that this was such a problem for him in the past.
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Doug Gray He’s not throwing as hard. Diaz averaged 95.8 MPH in 2022. In 2023 it dropped to 94.7. Last year it dropped to 94.1. This year it’s 93.3 (small sample size).
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Mauired Wasn’t a problem because his stuff was better previously and he allowed less base runners. Furthermore I was extremely nervous that he was being brought in with base runners on in the first place. I think he got out of that jam but it seemed like a recipe for disaster.
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