'That’s our identity': The 2026 Reds are playing cleaner baseball

ARLINGTON, Texas — In March, the Cincinnati Reds lost Hunter Greene (elbow) and Nick Lodolo (blister) to injuries. At the end of camp, Terry Francona had a message for the team.

“I told our guys, ‘Our margin for error might be less. Let’s not make errors,’” Francona said.

Now following Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Texas Rangers — a game that the Reds won with pitching and impact defense — the Reds don’t have a single error through eight games this season. That matches their longest-streak of errorless games to begin a campaign since 1900.

“Being good at the little things is big messaging,” Will Benson said. “The big homers are great. The little things, I’m seeing, are super important toward putting your team in the best position to win. Guys are getting paid a lot of money to get us out. Hitting comes and goes. Defense always has to be there.”

Starting pitcher Rhett Lowder, the rookie who pitches like a veteran, was the star of the show on Saturday. The ability to use any pitch in any count is a powerful trait. Lowder is so unflappable that a 2025 season wiped away by injuries wasn’t able to stop his momentum. He’s a top-10 pick with very, very underrated stuff. He says that he really had to grind against the Rangers, and he still managed to throw six shutout innings.

Lowder, Graham Ashcraft, Tony Santillan and Emilio Pagán, who combined for a shutout, also benefited from help behind them. Benson showed impressive range as he chased down two catches. TJ Friedl somehow made a diving catch after slipping on the foul line chalk in left field. Jose Trevino made the play of the day, a pirouette throw on a slow roller right in front of the plate.

“That’s huge,” Friedl said. “That’s our identity. Making the tough plays and letting our pitching do all of the work. Today was a great example of that.”

The Reds’ defense looks better than it was a year ago. A healthier Matt McLain is more confident at second base. Ke’Bryan Hayes will give the Reds a full season of elite third base defense. TJ Friedl will play more left field, a position where he can be great, and a standout defender in Dane Myers will spend time in center. Sal Stewart is picking up first base very well.

The X-factors are going to be Elly De La Cruz at shortstop and Noelvi Marte in right field (he’s expected to get more playing time going forward vs. RHP). Those two have to make the routine plays. So far, so good.

While the Reds have the sixth-worst OPS in MLB through the first eight games of the season (I expect the bats will get going) and while Greene and Lodolo are out, the Reds have still won five out of eight games.

“If the bats aren’t working,” Benson said. “You’ve got to have defense.”

It hasn’t just been defense, and Saturday’s win was another example.

“Whenever you take care of the ball and run the bases right — Matt had a couple of dirt ball reads and Sal went first to third when I thought it’d be close — that’s what it takes to win close games,” Hayes said. “That’s doing the little things.”

McLain had the play of the day on the bases. He read a pitch that the Rangers’ catcher couldn’t hold onto, took second, forced an errant throw and then advanced to third base.

The Reds scored both of their runs on Saturday in the first inning. Stewart drove in De La Cruz to give the Reds a 2-0 lead. On the play, De La Cruz was in motion for a stolen base, and he ended up scoring from first on a single by Stewart.

“(It was a) run and hit,” Francona said. “We don’t want our good hitters taking when you have a guy running. More good things will happen than bad. I tell them if you line out, I’ll say I put a hit and run on.”

For the first few months of the 2025 season, the tagline for the Reds’ season was coined by Spencer Steer: “When we play clean, we win.” The problem was that last year’s Reds kept beating themselves early in the year. I kept a list through May, and there were 12 losses through the first 52 games of the season that turned against the Reds’ favor due to self-inflicted mistakes.

The Reds’ defense should be better this year. Also, these players are getting older. They have a better feel for specific situations. Having played for Francona for a full year, they know what he’s looking for.

The offensive production from the outfield, the consistency of the middle relief core and the starting pitching depth will all need to be better for the Reds going forward than they’ve been over the last eight games. But overall, the Reds’ clean brand of baseball is another way that this year’s team can win games that the Reds would have lost in 2025.