Sal Stewart Delivers 2-for-3 Day After Francona Keeps Him In Lineup
sal stewart stayed in Terry Francona’s lineup Sunday and answered with a 2-for-3 day and a walk against the Cleveland Guardians. Francona had planned to rest him, but the Reds manager kept the rookie third baseman in the order after Cleveland shifted its pitching plan again.
Francona Sticks With Stewart
Francona first altered the plan Saturday, when the Guardians pushed right-hander Gavin Williams back a day and started left-hander Joey Cantillo instead. Stewart stayed in the lineup then, went 0-for-2, and still reached twice on walks, including one with the bases loaded for an RBI.
On Sunday, Williams was back on the mound and Stewart was back at third base. The result was cleaner: 2-for-3 with one walk, the kind of line the Reds had been waiting to see from a rookie whose bat carried the club early in the season.
Stewart’s Season Has Swung
March and April set a much different tone. Stewart won NL Rookie of the Month honors and hit.281/.373/.570 with nine home runs, 29 RBI, and a 154 wRC+.
May has dragged that production down. Since the calendar flipped, he has hit.175/.268/.254 with a 43 wRC+, while the Reds have hit.238/.313/.399 and gone 4-14. That gap is why Francona’s choice to keep Stewart active against both a left-hander and then Williams carried more weight than a normal lineup decision.
Guardians Pitching Shaped The Test
The weekend turned into a direct look at how Francona views Stewart right now. He was willing to keep him in against Cantillo, then stayed with him again when Williams returned to the hill. Stewart’s Sunday line did not erase the slump, but it gave the Reds a cleaner answer than Saturday’s 0-for-2 showing.
For now, that is the useful read for the Reds: a rookie in a skid still got the nod twice, and he responded well enough Sunday to make the next lineup call harder to simplify.
