Walks haunt Frankie Montas, Reds in 9-3 drubbing in Seattle

A tought night for Cincinnati’s Opening Day starter.

Monday marked Jackie Robinson Day across Major League Baseball, honoring him on the day he made his MLB debut back on April 15th, 1947. Back in 2007, future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr. made a special request to then-commissioner Bud Selig to wear the #42 on Jackie Robinson Day to help spread the honor, an action that quickly grew into every single MLB player wearing #42 every April 15th.

Junior, of course, went into the Hall in a Mariners cap after splitting his career between the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds. It was fitting that those two clubs faced off on Monday in Seattle in their series opener, the game itself set to start at 7:42 PM local time.

Things went sideways immediately for Cincinnati, however. Opening Day starter Frankie Montas struggled terribly as the starter on the night, walking the first two batters he faced before serving up a 3-run homer to Jorge Polanco that put the club immediately in a hole. He went on to walk the very next batter as part of a brutal 45-pitch Bottom of the 1st, eventually exiting after Mitch Haniger hammered him for another homer with nobody out in the Bottom of the 3rd - a homer that came immediately after Montas had issued his 5th walk of the abbreviated outing.

The Reds leaned hard into new signing Nick Martinez, the starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter-turned reliever. He bridged the gap for them in lieu of Montas by firing 4.0 IP of lone ER ball, precisely the kind of ‘fireman’ role that is nice to have to help save the bullpen - even if it means the Reds rolled out nearly $30 million of 2024 salary to get them through 6.0 IP (with 6 ER allowed) in a game they were already destined to lose.

Buck Farmer helped get the Reds to the finish line, but did so while also getting hammered for 3 ER after allowing 4 H and a BB in his 2.0 IP. Pair that with a relatively effective return-to-form start by Mariners righty George Kirby, and the Reds were doomed to a 9-3 defeat.

Tony Graphanino

[Link to FanGraphs WPA chart & box score]

Other Notes

• Jake Fraley homered off a lefty as part of an overall 2 for 4 night. Not bad for a performance against his former club!
• Jeimer Candelario also belted a solo homer on what, to me, looked like his best swing of the season. It was a 415 foot shot over the CF wall in the Top of the 1st that, for a fleeting minute, gave the Reds a breath of life on the evening.
• While his own walks have yet to emerge (much less haunt), Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s bat has finally begun to wake up a bit. He homered on Sunday, smashed a pair of doubles in Monday’s series opener, and is now 6 for his last 18 (and 8 for his last 27). Fingers crossed this is the masher we know CES can be finally waking up.
• Tuesday’s game between the Reds and Mariners is set for a 9:40 PM ET start time and will feature talented righties Hunter Greene and Logan Gilbert as the scheduled starters.
• Tunes.