Reds rally past Marlins behind Austin Wynns, take final game of series

Cincinnati’s latest breakout star!

Austin Wynns swatted the game’s tying homer off former National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara in the Top of the 3rd inning today in Miami, and he later iced the cake with an RBI double to plate the final run in Cincinnati’s 5-2 win over the Marlins in the finale of the three-game series.

Let’s be honest - it’s never great when you’ve got to lean on the unexpected offense of your third-string catcher to eek out a victory over a rebuilding team going nowhere and avoid a sweep. That said, it’s that much more satisfying when that precise scenario plays out, and the Reds are running themselves up into a good problem to have in the coming days because of it.

Wynns is out of options, yet the 34 year old has shown he can fill in admirably for a time at the most brutal position on the playing field already this year. Should the Reds choose to try to pass him through waivers when catcher Tyler Stephenson returns from his rehab stint in a week or so, there’s an increasingly good chance someone claims him - a claim that would leave the Reds in a big ol’ pickle depth-wise should either Stephenson or Jose Trevino get banged up again during the remaining ~140 games of this season.

Having a lot of solid options is a good thing! It’s just going to force the Reds to make some difficult decisions, especially since the once DH-only Spencer Steer and his balky shoulder a) have begun to throw enough to play on the dirt again and b) chipped in today by going 2 for 3 with a walk, ribbie, and run scored. If, say, his shoulder was still limiting to DH-only duties, optioning him (or placing him on the IL to build up strength) would open the DH duties to a rotating consortium of Reds catchers, but now that may not be so obvious a route.

Anyway, the Reds have a Three Catcher Problem on their hands, one that helped lead them directly to a 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday afternoon.

Tony Graphanino

WPA Chart & Box Score via FanGraphs

Other Notes

• After a trio of iffy-ish starts (where his defense didn’t exactly bail him out), Brady Singer bounced back with a quality outing today (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K on 88 pitches). Surely that was satisfying for the Leesburg, FL native, Eustis (FL) High School product, and former University of Florida star.
• Speaking of Eustis (FL) High School, they’ve only ever produced two big leaguers: Singer, and former Reds draft pick (and former Reds catcher) Chris Okey.
• The Reds head to Denver next, with a three-game weekend series against the Colorado Rockies on the docket beginning Friday at 8:40 PM ET. Andrew Abbott and Kyle Freeland are scheduled to split the mound to begin things in that one in an all-lefty matchup.