The Cardinals came in for a doubleheader on a day when the Reds were already running on fumes out of the bullpen. Cincinnati had spent the previous day chasing a 7-1 loss, and the relievers who were supposed to bridge the gap were still carrying the bruise marks from it.
Tejay Antone was the clearest example of the problem. He had pitched in four games in six days and then went out for a 0-0 game in the top of the 8th inning, got the first two batters, and still had to work 30 pitches after giving up a homer. That came after 11 pitches on Saturday, 16 on Thursday and 9 on Tuesday. In a single stretch, he had been asked to keep showing up and keep covering innings that kept getting heavier.
That workload matters now because the Reds did not have the luxury of choosing comfort over necessity. Nick Lodolo threw 73 pitches in 5 scoreless innings in his second game back from the IL, Julian Garcia needed 35 pitches for 2 scoreless innings, and Ron Marinaccio got the last out of an inning before needing 43 more pitches to get through a 5-run 9th inning. Marinaccio had also thrown 21 pitches on Saturday, while Sam Moll worked Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, and Luis Mey pitched Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Pierce Johnson had been kept under 10 pitches in each of his appearances, Brock Burke had two days off after pitching 3 of 4, and Connor Phillips, who had been in AAA since May, threw an inning yesterday.
There was a little room in Emilio Pagan, who was described as fairly fresh, but even that came with a catch: he was being used only in save situations. That makes him less flexible when the game does not line up cleanly for a save chance, which is exactly the kind of complication a doubleheader can create when one bullpen is already stretched thin. Tony Santillan, meanwhile, had two pretty good rehab appearances and had thrown an inning on Friday and another yesterday, but that still left the Reds trying to piece together two games with an 8-man bullpen that had already been leaned on hard.
The practical answer is that Cincinnati may have to keep running relievers back out there on consecutive days, even if that shortens what is available later. The larger question is who is next in line for Marinaccio, because no replacement had been confirmed before the first game of the doubleheader. With the bullpen already taxed and tomorrow looming as another demand, the Reds were left trying to survive the day with depth they did not really have.
