It was Graham Ashcraft’s season debut, and he had pitched well in his first time back on the bump since landing on the 60-day IL in 2023 with a foot issue. His own throwing error hadn’t helped his cause, but the Cincinnati Reds were firmly in a fistfight with the Philadelphia Phillies in Citizens Bank Park on April 2nd.
Same Phillies club that lost in the World Series in 2022 and in Game 7 of the NLCS last year, they were. Bryce Harper and Schwarber and the lot of them. It was a legit, tone-setting game early in 2024 for a young Cincinnati club looking to make its mark for the first time in [/checks notes] seemingly forever, and a couple balls found their way to their own budding superstar shortstop.