The Cincinnati Reds have injury issues that are hurting this stretch of their season. Joey Votto has been out four games and is risking a trip to the disabled list after straining his left quad. Jay Bruce is also on the disabled list for a hurt knee and not eligible to play until Wednesday at the earliest. Struggling with depth, the Reds are in need of a big pitching performance from Johnny Cueto in order to help out against the Washington Nationals.
Cueto continues to lead the league in ERA (1.25) while looking for his fifth straight win. Cueto is needed to keep the pressure off Cincinnati's batting lineup who is hitting just .208 and averaging 2.8 runs in their last 11 games. They are even worse on the road, hitting .197 while averaging just 2.4 runs in nine road games. Cueto likes the road, being 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in three outings while being 4-0 with a .88 ERA in his last six overall games. Three of those were complete. Cueto has pitched at least seven innings while allowing two or fewer runs in each of his last nine starts.
The Nationals will send Doug Fister to the mound who is making his first start against the Reds while just his third for Washington. In his last start, Fister gave up just one run in over seven innings while striking out six against the Arizona Diamondbacks. His debut for the team was a rough one. He gave up seven runs and nine hits which included three home runs against the Oakland Athletics. Washington is 4-6 in their last 10 games and is hoping to get back to .500 and start making a run in the National League standings. Nate McLouth could help. He is 6 for 19 against Cueto, the best of anyone on the roster.
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