The Cincinnati Reds head to Rogers Centre on Saturday, September 26, 2026, for a 3:07 PM ET regular-season matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays. Right-hander Rhett Lowder gets the ball for Cincinnati against Toronto's Trey Yesavage. With the calendar turning toward the final days of the 2026 regular season, every game carries weight for a Reds club looking to finish strong and stake its claim heading into the offseason. Catch the action on Reds.TV or tune in on WLW 700 AM back in Cincinnati.
Cincinnati Reds at Toronto Blue Jays — Saturday, September 26, 2026
This is a late-season road assignment the Reds need to take seriously. Rogers Centre is never an easy place to win — the artificial turf rewards speed and gap-to-gap hitting, and Toronto's home crowd can make it a genuine road test even at this point in September. Cincinnati will need a sharp, focused effort to come away with a win.
Pitching Matchup: Rhett Lowder vs. Trey Yesavage
Rhett Lowder draws the start for the Reds, and the young right-hander has been one of the more intriguing arms in Cincinnati's rotation this season. Lowder works with a clean delivery and has shown the ability to attack hitters in the zone. How he manages Toronto's lineup on a given day will go a long way toward determining the outcome here.
Opposing him is Trey Yesavage for the Blue Jays. Yesavage is a name worth remembering — Toronto has been developing him as a piece of their pitching future, and facing him late in the season means the Reds won't be getting a tired arm. Cincinnati's hitters will need to be disciplined, work counts early, and not let an unfamiliar arm keep them off balance for too long.
Keys to Watch for the Reds
- Lowder's command: If Lowder locates his pitches and limits free passes, the Reds' defense can do its job behind him. Walks on the road, on turf, against a lineup that can run — that's a recipe for trouble.
- Facing a fresh arm: Yesavage is not a name the Reds face regularly. Their hitters will need to stay patient, take pitches early in the game, and make adjustments as the at-bats pile up.
- Situational hitting: Late in the regular season, the Reds can't afford to leave runners stranded. Runs with two outs and timely hits with runners in scoring position will be the difference in a tight game.
- Bullpen management: With the regular season winding down, how David Bell handles the back end of the pitching staff matters. Getting length from Lowder keeps the bullpen fresh for a potential close game.
Prediction
This is a competitive, back-and-forth kind of game on paper. Two relatively young pitchers squaring off late in September at a neutral-feeling dome environment means neither team has a massive built-in edge. The Reds' ability to grind out at-bats against an arm they haven't seen much of this season will be the real test. If Lowder gives Cincinnati five solid innings and the offense finds a way to string a few hits together in the middle innings, the Reds have the pieces to steal this one on the road. Call it Cincinnati 4, Toronto 3 in a game that goes down to the late innings.
