Marlins shortstop JT Riddle gets a Kentucky homecoming in first trip to Cincinnati
Already in his third year playing in the Majors, JT Riddle somehow has never gotten to play at Great American Ball Park.
The shortstop, who grew up about 60 miles away in Kentucky, went down with an injury just before the Miami Marlins’ trip to Cincinnati in 2017 and was still rehabbing another injury when they played their annual road series against the Cincinnati Reds in 2018.
On Tuesday, Riddle finally gets the Kentucky homecoming he’s been denied. Riddle, who was also starred for the Kentucky Wildcats, got tickets for nearly two dozen friends and family members who made the trip across state lines from Frankfort, Kentucky, to Ohio to watch him and the Marlins (3-7) play the Reds (1-8) at 6:40 p.m.
“Probably about 20,” Riddle said, “and there will probably be some others.”
Although Riddle didn’t grow up rooting for Cincinnati, the Reds are the closest MLB team to his hometown, so he made his fair share of trips to GABP throughout his childhood.
And despite a relatively slow start to the season, Riddle will get his chance to bust out of a slump in front of some familiar faces. Riddle, who is batting just .200 in 20 at-bats entering Tuesday, started at shortstop and batted sixth, and should be there for the entire three-game series as Cincinnati will send three right-handed starting pitchers to the hill.
Here are the full lineups for the series-opener against the Reds:
Miami Marlins
Curtis Granderson, LF
Brian Anderson, 3B
Neil Walker, 1B
Starlin Castro, 2B
Jorge Alfaro, C
JT Riddle, SS
Lewis Brinson, CF
Peter O’Brien, RF
Jose Urena, SP
Cincinnati Reds
Jesse Winker, RF
Joey Votto, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Eugenio Suarez, 3B
Scott Schebler, CF
Derek Dietrich, 2B
Jose Peraza, SS
Tucker Barnhart, C
Luis Castillo, SP
This and that
▪ Miami’s trip to Cincinnati is also a reunion for Derek Dietrich with his former team. The Marlins designated the slugger for assignment in the fall, then the Reds signed him in February. Dietrich batted .254 with 60 home runs in six seasons with the Marlins.
▪ Brian Anderson’s rough start to the season got worse in Miami’s series loss to the Atlanta Braves. Anderson went 1 for 10 in Atlanta, but manager Don Mattingly doesn’t see the slugging third baseman pressing too seriously. “If you’re swinging at anything and you’re chasing out of the strike zone, you’re not getting yourself a good pitch to hit, you don’t have a good game plan when you walk up there, then it’s something that you’d be concerned about,” Mattingly said, “but we haven’t seen that with Andy.”
▪ Peter O’Brien, who has exclusively played right field this season, took grounders at first base Tuesday. There’s no plan to use him more at first. The slugger just wants to stay fresh there in case a situation arises.
This story was originally published April 9, 2019 at 5:59 PM.