Game 143: Reds at Mets (4:10 PM ET) - Junis vs. Quintana

Can the Reds start another win streak? Or, will they lose again? Those are pretty much the only options here, that’s how baseball works.

Elly De La Cruz homered, tripled, and swiped a pair of bags the last time the Cincinnati Reds came to New York to play some baseball. That came in the three game series against the Yankees over the Fourth of July, and last night he began his second trip through the Big Apple in 2024 in similar fashion.

Elly smashed a homer to straightaway center against the Mets in last night’s series opener, and while the Reds ultimately lost that game in extra innings, well, how well Elly does at the plate right now is one of the precious few things left to root for around this iteration of the disappointing Reds. He did it from the right-side of the plate, too - his weaker side by a considerable margin at this juncture of his career.

So, we’ll celebrate these small victories when we can!

Lefty Jose Quintana will toe the rubber for the Mets in today’s 4:10 PM ET sequel, giving Elly a chance to sock homers from the right side of the plate on back to back days. Elly is just 1 for 6 with a double and a pair of Ks in his career against Quintana to date, but that just tells me the dude is due for some positive regression.

Jakob Junis will start for the patchwork Reds rotation today. Here’s to some dingers!