Reds at Diamondbacks, Game 1 - Preview and lineups

David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Sports!

Thom Brennaman used to call Arizona Diamondbacks games. Did you know that? He never talks about it, though, which is odd. Very, very odd.

Anyhoo, the Cincinnati Reds continue their western road trip tonight by opening a weekend series in The Land of the Endless Strip Mall, taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks as the snakes chase one of those elusive NL Wild Card spots. In other words, they’ve still got something to play for, so if the Reds show up and ho-hum their way through this series the way they largely did in the previous one against the woeful Seattle Mariners, things could get ugly in a hurry.

And, since it’s all westy and things, you’re going to have to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to find out.

Luis Castillo gets the nod for the Reds in the series opener, and he’ll do so while having been firmly passed by teammate Sonny Gray on the ‘holy crap he’s an awesome pitcher and actually on the Reds’ leaderboard of late. Not that Castillo has been bad, per se, but he’s not exactly been the dominating dynamo of dragonfire he was the first half of the year. Considering he’s likely only got 3 or so starts left in him this year, at most, it sure would be nice to see him spin a few gems before being shut down.

Meanwhile, the snakes will counter with former Red Mike Leake, who is having a perfectly Mike Leakiean season to date. He truly is a Mike Leake type.

First pitch is set for 9:40 PM ET, so put on a pot of coffee.

Reds Lineup

Snakes Lineup