Nick Lodolo resurrected his wipeout slider from the injured list on Monday, using it to devastate the St. Louis Cardinals lineup for 5.1 IP in his first start in 16 days. It was the latest in a string of excellent outings from the Cincinnati Reds pitching staff, backing up Hunter Greene’s rock solid 6.0 IP on Saturday and the bullpen - and big offseason acquisition Nick Martinez - frollicked as the Reds swept the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.
As of Tuesday morning, the entirety of the Cincinnati pitching staff has been valued at 6.8 fWAR, meaning only three teams in all of baseball (Philadelphia, Boston, and Kansas City) have a more valuable overall staff, to date.