Press Clippings May 21, 2017 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 2012-, Zack Cozart and Drew Stubbs produce back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, all off the Braves Mike Minor, setting a club record MLB.COM Arroyo eyes win vs. Rockies in series finale By John Fay / Special to MLB.com | 6:42 AM ET + 0 COMMENTS

Rookie left-hander and veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo meet up in the finale of the three-game series between the Reds and Rockies in a 1:10 (ET) p.m. game at .

Freeland has gone at least six innings in his last five starts and has six quality starts in eight outings. But he's battled a bit of wildness lately, walking four in each of his last two starts. Overall, he's walked 22 and struck out 29 in 46 innings.

"He's got great action in the hitting area," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "Everything is going down. The is going down. The doesn't have great depth, but it's going down. The life on his ball in the strike zone makes it very difficult for a hitter to get out, so therefore, he gets a lot of ground balls."

Arroyo is coming off a rough outing in which he allowed five runs on eight hits over five innings in a 9-5 loss to the Cubs in Chicago.

The Reds had won his previous five starts before that outing.

Arroyo is 5-4 with a 5.00 ERA in 15 games (13 starts) against the Rockies. Coors Field has been rough on him. He's 2-3 with a 7.27 ERA at Coors, and he's 3-1 with 3.19 ERA against the Rockies when he's pitching at his home park.

Three Things to Know

• The Reds and Rockies meet again July 3-7 for a four-game series in Denver.

• Billy Hamilton entered Saturday hitting .367/.383/.506 against the Rockies with nine steals in nine tries. Part of it is going against Rockies leadoff man .

"He's a great leadoff hitter," Hamilton said. "I always want to try to out-do him."

• Carlos Gonzalez is 9-for-17 with two doubles against Arroyo. Oddly, Gonzalez has no RBIs off Arroyo.

John Fay is a contributor to MLB.com based in Cincinnati. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League or its clubs.

Three homers aid Reds in comeback win By Jeremy Vernon and John Fay / MLB.com | May 20th, 2017 + 33 COMMENTS

CINCINNATI -- In a seesaw battle Saturday, the Reds held off the first-place Rockies for a 12-8 win at Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati jumped to an early lead before the Rockies scored six times in the fifth and took an 8-3 lead. Not to be deterred, the Reds responded by scoring nine unanswered runs over the next three innings to snap their season-high seven-game losing streak.

Trailing by a run entering the fifth, the Rockies quickly tied things up after an RBI groundout by DJ LeMahieu, and took the lead on an Ian Desmond two-out single four batters later, chasing Reds starter Tim Adleman from the game after just 4 2/3 innings. Reds starters have pitched 22 2/3 innings over their last six games.

Colorado tacked on four more runs in the frame, taking a commanding 8-3 lead into the bottom of the fifth. But unlike the night before, Cincinnati was able to respond after a big inning by the Rockies.

They got one run back on a solo homer from Eugenio Suarez in the bottom of the fifth. That was it for Colorado rookie right-hander Antonio Senzatela, who went five innings and allowed four runs on five hits.

"He didn't quite locate his pitches like we've seen him," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "Velocity was fine, but just a little out of whack on the command. But hung in their with their guy. Outlasted their guy. We got the six-spot for him. After he gave up the , he turned it up a notch and got the last two outs.

"He was not at the top of his game, but nevertheless, a learning experience for him."

The Reds put together a six-run inning of their own in the sixth against Colorado relievers Chad Qualls and Mike Dunn. Upon scratching across three runs to cut the deficit to 8-7, Scott Schebler provided the exclamation point with a three-run homer to right field for a 10-8 lead.

"It's a big moment," Reds manager said. "There are so many moments that are in that game that the optimal thing doesn't happen. When it does, it's a sensational feeling. Talk about re-invigorating a ballclub. That inning and that three-run homer in and of itself brought our group back to life, especially after being down by so much."

The Reds did it against a bullpen that had converted 20 of 22 saves and had a 2.04 road ERA.

"Today was a rare occurrence," Black said. "This hasn't happened. It's one of these days where they strung together hits. They found some holes. "It's baseball. A baseball game was played. They some homers in the sixth inning themselves and crawled back into the game with their bats."

The Reds tacked on two more runs in the seventh, and left the ball in the hands of reliever Asher Wojciechowski to close out the game and spell a tired bullpen. Less than 24 hours after getting called up from Triple-A Louisville for his team debut, the right- hander tossed 3 2/3 innings of one-hit ball to help stave off a Colorado comeback and earn his first Major League win.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Welcome back: led off the bottom of the sixth inning by crushing a 1-1 pitch into the stands in left field to make it an 8-5 game, jump-starting the Reds' rally. The solo shot gave Mesoraco his second RBI of the day in his first time back in the lineup after missing four games with a sore left hamstring.

"In that situation, I'm just trying to get on base," Mesoraco said. "We're down a couple of runs. Your first goal is to get on base. It was a sinker kind of over the plate. I put a good swing on it. It worked out."

Helping his own cause: Two batters after Alexi Amarista's double, Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela stepped to the plate and slapped the first pitch he saw from Cincinnati reliever Drew Storen up the middle for a two-run single. The hit extended Colorado's lead to 7-3.

QUOTABLE

"It was kind of a crazy back-and-forth game. It's just fun to be a part of." -- Schebler, on the 12-8 victory.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW

In the top of the fifth inning, the Rockies' Nolan Arenado attempted to go from first to third on a one-out single to center by Mark Reynolds. Arenado slid in before Billy Hamilton's throw reached Suarez at third and the third-base umpire called him safe, but it looked like Arenado may have slid over the bag and been tagged out on the foot by Suarez. After a replay review, the call was overturned and Arenado was ruled out.

WHAT'S NEXT

Rockies: Left-hander Kyle Freeland (4-2, 3.13 ERA) gets the ball for the final game of the three-game series at 11:10 a.m. MT Sunday. Freeland is suited for Great American Ball Park: His ground-ball rate in 66.2 percent, third in MLB.

Reds: Righty Bronson Arroyo (3-3, 6.31 ERA) will take the mound for Cincinnati in the final game of the series at 1:10 p.m. ET. In his last start, Arroyo gave up five runs across five innings as the Reds fell to the Cubs, 9-5.

Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.

Jeremy Vernon is a reporter for MLB.com based in Cincinnati.

John Fay is a contributor to MLB.com based in Cincinnati and covered the Rockies on Saturday.

This story was not subject to the approval of or its clubs.

Wojciechowski comes up big for Reds learned of callup late Friday night and drove to Cincinnati on Saturday morning By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | @m_sheldon | May 20th, 2017 + 1 COMMENT

CINCINNATI -- The Reds' biggest comeback of the season required a big offensive boost, but the path to a 12-8 victory over the Rockies on Saturday that snapped a season-high seven game losing streak was paved by a journeyman pitcher who wasn't even in the organization one month ago.

Asher Wojciechowski, who was signed as a free agent for Minor League depth on April 21 and assigned to Triple-A Louisville's rotation, was called up to fortify a tired bullpen. And did he ever with 3 2/3 scoreless innings while retiring his first 11 batters in a row for his first big league win.

"I was without a job, and then for a day like this to happen is pretty remarkable," Wojciechowski said. "And I'm on cloud nine right now, it feels so good."

A six-run Rockies fifth inning gave them an 8-3 lead and had manager Bryan Price summoning Wojciechowski for mop-up work. It was his first game back in the Majors since five games with the Astros in 2015. He was released by Arizona on March 28 at the end of this year.

Wojciechowski, 28, provided a clean top of the sixth. Cincinnati, which got a solo homer from Eugenio Suarez in the fifth, piled on with a six-spot of its own in the bottom of the sixth.

Meanwhile, Wojciechowski kept rolling through Colorado's lineup.

"Asher was sensational," Price said. "He came in attacking the strike zone. Again, it comes back to throwing it over the plate and opposing hitters let you know what you need to learn to pitch successfully at this level. And he did that. It was a really nice recipe for success. It's 3 2/3 essential innings.

"He couldn't have come up bigger and to come out and throw another scoreless inning, and do it again and then take himself into the ninth was beyond impressive in my opinion."

Wojciechowski learned of his callup during Louisville's 18-inning game on Friday night. He did not get home and to bed until 2 a.m. and drove to Cincinnati on Saturday morning. He admitted to running on adrenaline.

"First inning, definitely," he said. "But then once I started throwing strikes and after that first pitch, I mean, I started to calm down. It's still the same game of baseball I've been playing for a long time."

Wojciechowski, who threw 42 pitches with 29 strikes, picked up three-straight flyouts in the eighth. According to Statcast™, his averaged 92.8 mph and topped out at 93.6 mph, but he got swings on 14 out of 21 on his four-seamer.

"When Asher came in, that was awesome," Devin Mesoraco said. "That was exactly what you need to come back and he did a great job."

With two outs in the ninth, Pat Valaika notched a pinch-hit single up the middle for the lone hit against Wojciechowski. Price turned to Raisel Iglesias to get the final out.

"Every extra out that he could get that kept us from going to Iglesias," Price explained. "Iglesias would have been in that game if there was some trouble. The thing was all the lefties were stacked at the bottom of their lineup and the kid is pitching on three days' rest. I figured a baserunner would be good to go get him."

Iglesias got the final out with a ground ball, and Wojciechowski understood why.

"I was hoping to finish the game, but I was just happy to help the team today. And what a great team win," he said.

Mark Sheldon has covered the Reds for MLB.com since 2006, and previously covered the Twins from 2001-05. Follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon and Facebook and listen to his podcast. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Reds prospects combine on no-no By William Boor / MLB.com | May 20th, 2017 + 0 COMMENTS

A trio of Reds prospects combined to throw the first nine-inning no-hitter in Dayton's history as the Dragons topped Bowling Green, 2-0, on Saturday.

Scott Moss set the tone early and struck out five through six frames before handing the ball to Carlos Machorro, who fanned three in two perfect innings. Brian Hunter then came for the ninth and retired the side in order to notch his fourth save and complete the no- hitter.

"The first inning, I was kind of fighting myself, through my mechanics at least," Moss told MiLB.com. "Honestly, I was thinking too much about mechanics instead of going out there and pitching," Moss said. "Just working around guys on base and knowing that I can get ground balls or flyouts and just throwing the pitches that I wanted to throw was the biggest key."

The no-hitter was the second of the season for the Reds' organization as the club's No. 9 prospect Tyler Mahle threw a for Double-A Pensacola on April 22.

The Dragons offense gave the pitching staff a couple of early runs as Hector Vargas drove in a run in the second and (No. 7 prospect) came through with an RBI double in the third. Those two runs were the only ones necessary as the trio of cruised the rest of the way.

The strong start was nothing new to Moss, the Reds' fourth-round pick from the 2016 Draft. The 22-year-old lefty has been throwing well lately, giving up one earned run or fewer in each of his past six starts.

Moss threw 51 of his 84 pitches for strikes and improved to 6-1 while lowering his ERA to 1.91 through nine starts.

Machorro, like Moss, has been in a rhythm lately. Following Saturday's performance, the 20-year-old hasn't allowed a hit in four of his past five appearances, including each of his past three.

Hunter, who is now 4-for-4 in save opportunities, made quick work of the Hot Rods, striking out one and throwing six of his 10 pitches for strikes to close things out.

"Honestly, I didn't even see the hit column until about the middle of the fifth," Moss said. "You go straight to the catcher, Cassidy Brown, calling the right pitches and doing everything right as a catcher. And that's who you have to thank for this."

William Boor is a reporter for MLBPipeline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wboor. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Rodriguez collects 5 hits, drives in 4 for Daytona By William Boor / MLB.com | May 20th, 2017 + 0 COMMENTS

Alfredo Rodriguez put together the best game of his young career in the second half of Class A Advanced Daytona's doubleheader sweep of Tampa.

After going 0-for-4 in the first game, the Reds' No. 10 prospect went 5-for-5 with four RBIs, both career highs, as Daytona came away with a 13-2 win in the late game.

Rodriguez, who signed with the Reds for $7 million last July, is in his first full season with the organization and is hitting .278 through 40 games.

The 22-year-old led off the game with a double and bookended a five-run third with a leadoff double and an RBI single. Rodriguez drove in two more with a fifth-inning single, then capped his day with an RBI single in the sixth.

For as good as Rodriguez was in the second game, Chris Okey, the Reds' No. 12 prospect, was just as good in the first game.

Prior to going 2-for-4 in game two, Okey went 1-for-3 with a career-high six RBIs in Daytona's 7-1 win.

Okey, a second-round Draft pick from 2016, had a pair of RBI groundouts, but did the bulk of his damage with a sixth-inning grand slam, his first homer of the season.

William Boor is a reporter for MLBPipeline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wboor. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Three Cincinnati Reds minor-leaguers combine to throw no-hitter C. Trent Rosecrans , [email protected] 10:33 p.m. ET May 20, 2017

Three pitchers – Scott Moss, Carlos Machorro and Brian Hunter – combined to throw the first no-hitter in the 18- year history of the Reds’ low-Class A affiliate on Saturday. The Dragons beat the Bowling Green Hot Rods 2-0 at Fifth Third Field.

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Moss, 22, threw six hitless innings, walking three and striking out five. Machorro threw two perfect innings, striking out three batters. Hunter pitched one inning to pick up his fourth save of the season, getting a ground out for the final out of the game.

Shortstop Hector Vargas had an RBI single in the second and DH Tyler Stephenson had an RBI double in the third for all the scoring the Dragons would need. Stephenson had three hits.

Moss, a fourth-round pick out of the University of Florida last season, improved to 6-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.91.

Big comeback ends Reds’ 7-game skid Zach Buchanan , [email protected] Published 9:06 p.m. ET May 20, 2017 | Updated 12 hours ago

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Scott Schebler took mental notes before his at-bat in the sixth inning on Saturday. With his helmet on and his bat in his hand on the steps of the dugout, he watched how left-hander Mike Dunn approached Joey Votto, who like Schebler bats from the left side.

Don’t chase the slider, he observed to himself. Wait for a fastball.

After getting ahead, Dunn obliged. Schebler crushed it into the right-field seats for a go-ahead three-run homer, capping a six-run inning and helping the Reds to a 12-8 victory at Great American Ball Park.

And it’s a good thing Schebler paid such close attention, because his memory stopped recording immediately after he made contact.

“He threw one over the plate for me to hit, and I put a good swing on it,” Schebler said. “I kind of blacked out after that.”

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak, and it was all the more unlikely considering how similarly it began to the losses that preceded it. The Reds were once again saddled with a short start, this time by right-hander Tim Adleman lasting just 4 ⅔ innings. Once again, a normally stalwart reliever fell apart when pitching at less than optimal rest.

Over the course of an endless fifth inning, the Reds went from leading 3-2 to trailing 10-3. Right-hander Asher Wojciechowski, called up that morning to serve as emergency relief, got warm in the bullpen. The towel was being thrown in.

Instead, the Reds achieved twin goals – winning the game, and saving the bullpen for the days to come. Wojciechowski turned in 3 ⅔ scoreless innings, retiring his first 11 batters and leaving after the 12th singled, with only an out remaining in the game. Between his entrance and exit, the Reds offense caught fire and scored nine unanswered runs.

“We certainly have an offense that can come back in games,” said catcher Devin Mesoraco. “The key is to get that guy to come in and kind of shut them down for a couple of innings to give us the opportunity. Today it all went according to that plan.”

The rally began in the fifth, when Eugenio Suarez hit a solo home run to cut the lead to 8-4. A four-run deficit the night before had been too close for Price to stomach a position player pitching on his mound, so the Reds wouldn’t give up just yet. Then Mesoraco started the sixth with an upper-deck home run of his own to cut the Colorado lead to three.

The Reds just kept coming. Rockies right-hander Chad Qualls was pulled after putting two on with one out, giving way to Dunn. Dunn walked Votto to load the bases, and Adam Duvall cut the deficit to two with a single. Suarez narrowed it to 8-7 with a sacrifice fly.

Then Schebler destroyed his 11th homer of the year, bringing him into a tie for the team lead. Cincinnati added two more runs in the seventh to widen the cushion for Wojciechowski.

“There are so many moments that are in the game that the optimal thing doesn’t happen,” Price said. “When it does, it’s a sensational feeling. Talk about reinvigorating a ball club.”

The Reds offense has been asked to do a lot of heavy lifting in the last week. The last time a Cincinnati starter made it through six innings was a week ago, when Lisalverto Bonilla tossed a complete game. The rotation has covered 22 innings in that span, and the bullpen has handled 27 ⅔.

During that span, the offense has averaged six runs a game. That wouldn’t have been enough to outpace the pitching staff at any point in the last week. Saturday, it took at least nine.

“You know what? I think these guys are conditioned to not lose the faith around here,” Price said. “There’s no reason to lose the faith. They enjoy playing together, and I think that’s what keeps us together.”

Reds recap: Scott Schebler, Asher Wojciechowski spark comeback vs. Rockies Zach Buchanan , [email protected] Published 7:46 p.m. ET May 20, 2017 | Updated 12 hours ago

The Cincinnati Reds seemed destined for another lopsided loss Saturday at Great American Ball Park, but roared back to win 12-8 over the Colorado Rockies and break a seven-game losing streak. Here are the main storylines.

Box score:Reds 12, Rockies 8

Left for dead, the Reds stormed back. The Reds entered the bottom of the sixth trailing 8-4, still within striking distance thanks to a solo home run from Eugenio Suarez the inning before. The game immediately got even closer when catcher Devin Mesoraco smashed a leadoff homer to the second deck in left to star the sixth.

Scooter Gennett followed with a single, and two batters later Zack Cozart walked to put two on with one out. Rockies manager Bud Black went to left-hander Mike Dunn to face Joey Votto, but Votto drew a walk to load the bases. Adam Duvall then made it a two- run game with a single, and Suarez cut the deficit to one with a sacrifice fly.

That brought up Scott Schebler, who entered the game with a career .213 average against lefties. Schebler got ahead 2-0 before depositing a waist-high fastball high into the seats in right for a three-run homer, putting the Reds ahead 10-8.

The Reds added two more in the seventh, on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Zack Cozart and a bases-loaded fielder’s choice by Duvall.

Tim Adleman didn’t get it done. More than anything, the Reds needed a long start Saturday. Adleman did not accommodate them, recording just two outs in the fifth before leaving the game.

Up until that point, he’d pitched a solid if inefficient four innings. He’d given up two runs, neither of them in the same inning, and rebounded from a 27-pitch first for two perfect innings. But in the fifth, he walked two and gave up two hits and two runs, getting a lift only when a replay review handed the Reds an out on a tag play at third. Two more of Adleman’s runs were allowed in by reliever Drew Storen.

In total, Adleman was charged with six runs in 4 innings. He walked four.

Drew Storen had a bad day. Less than 24 hours after Wandy Peralta had an relief outing explode in his face, Storen became the next Reds reliever to hit a wall. Entering the game with a 1.93 ERA and needing to record just one out to complete the fifth, Storen gave up three hits, a walk and hit a batter, allowing four total runs to score. Two of them were charged to his ledger.

When the top of the fifth was finally completed, the Reds had gone from up 3-2 to trailing 8-3.

Asher Wojciechowski debuted. The 28-year-old right-hander was added to the 40-man and 25-man rosters before the game as an emergency arm in the bullpen, and was called upon with the Reds trailing 8-4 entering the sixth. Thanks to the Reds’ offensive resurgence, he finished the game with his first major-league win.

He did plenty to deserve it, too. Wojciechowski retired the first 11 batters he faced, his streak broken only by a two-out single in the ninth that he fell to the ground to avoid. After that, manager Bryan Price removed him for closer Raisel Iglesias.

Wojciechowski finished with three , throwing 29 of his 42 pitches for strikes.

Cincinnati Reds honor cancer survivor Kat VanWinkle Claude Thompson , Cincinnati 6:51 p.m. ET May 20, 2017

As a part of Major League Baseball’s continuing commitment in the fight against breast cancer, they opened up a contest for each team to have an honorary bat girl for the 2017 season who would be honored at that team’s next home game around Mother’s Day weekend. The winner for the Cincinnati Reds, Kat VanWinkle, was honored on the field Friday prior to the team’s matchup against the Colorado Rockies.

“I was blown away and am so honored,” VanWinkle said. “I still have no idea how I won. I’m blown away by the amount of support that the school district has given. I want everyone to know that if I can get it, anyone can get it. I had no family history or anything.”

VanWinkle is from Heath, Ohio and works as a secretary at Heath Middle School and has been there for five years. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a 12-and-a-half hour double mastectomy operation in October of last year. She stands triumphant and has been back at work since January, but not without wanting to inspire people along the way.

“When I got that diagnosis, you could’ve just knocked me over,” VanWinkle said. “I just want to tell everyone to check and know your body and talk to your doctors. I guess I had it for two years and didn’t even know it.”

She remains cancer-free, but has to take hormone medication as a result of the surgery and its something she has to live with every day.

Not everyone who shares VanWinkle’s condition gets to share in her victory, which is why she was selected as the honorary bat girl for the Reds as she went out to present the official lineups with the umpires. VanWinkle wishes to stand as a symbol for hope for those struggling with breast cancer.

“(Coming back to work) has been everything,” VanWinkle said. “(The school) has been phenomenal. I want to show the kids that this isn’t a death sentence. Before this, I had kids coming up to me bawling their eyes out, because they just thought I was gone. I can show the kids that there is life after cancer.”

VanWinkle spreads awareness whenever she can by passing out flyers to all of her coworkers about the benefits of self-examination and has been asked to speak at a class at the Newark campus of the Ohio State University about her experience. She says that baseball helped her through the most difficult times of her post-surgery recovery.

MLB supports breast cancer awareness programs throughout the year in various ways and supports groups like Stand Up to Cancer and the Susan G. Komen organization.

Notes: Out of baseball in April, Wojciechowski back in bigs Zach Buchanan , [email protected] Published 4:37 p.m. ET May 20, 2017 | Updated 16 hours ago

When the released Asher Wojciechowski at the end of spring training, the 28-year-old former first-round pick went home. For three weeks, he pondered his baseball future. To keep his arm fresh, he worked out at his alma mater, the Citadel.

“I was home for three weeks and didn't have a job and just wondering what was gonna happen,” he said.

In the middle of April, the Cincinnati Reds came calling. Their Triple-A pitching staff was so depleted, they needed Wojciechowski to come start right away. He wound up being the ’ best starter, and now finds himself back in the majors for the first time since he