Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings April 9, 2017
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Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings April 9, 2017 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1962 - The Reds play the first game of a 162-game schedule, brought about by the expansion to 10 teams, with the addition of New York and Houston MLB.Com Walks an issue in Reds' loss to Cards By Mark Sheldon and Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com | 6:27 PM ET ST. LOUIS -- Boosted by Aledmys Diaz's first career multi-homer game, the Cardinals' offense awoke Saturday to spoil Bronson Arroyo's return to the Majors. With a 10-4 rout of the Reds at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals surpassed their season run total in one afternoon and gave Michael Wacha more than sufficient support in his season debut. Diaz deposited Arroyo's fourth pitch of the game into the left-field seats to give the Cardinals an early lead, and, three innings later, put the Cardinals ahead by five with a three-run drive to nearly the same spot. "Somebody had to get it going, and he just decided to do it twice," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, whose club had been shut out on two hits a night earlier. "And then you saw it continue." Arroyo, who became the first Reds pitcher to start a game at age 40 since 1945, allowed six runs on six hits over four innings. However, just getting back on the mound was an achievement. Saturday's start marked Arroyo's first Major League appearance since June 2014. "It was a battle. It was a grind, man," Arroyo said. "I didn't get deep enough in the ballgame to really make a difference. But I felt OK." After cementing himself as the team's fifth starter with a standout spring, Wacha continued a string of strong starting pitching performances with his six-inning outing. Wacha scattered three hits -- all extra-base knocks -- while striking out six. He limited Cincinnati to one run. The Cardinals chose to be conservative with Wacha's workload after padding their lead with a three-run sixth off reliever Robert Stephenson. Wacha exited with a pitch count of 83. With Wacha's start complete, Cardinals starters posted a 1.71 ERA the first time through their rotation. "Our expectations in this clubhouse are high," Wacha said. "We want to go out there and give our team the best chance to win, and go out there and set the tone for the game. So far, we've been doing that. And hopefully we can keep on attacking them the way we have been." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Encore performance: After taking Arroyo deep in the first inning, Diaz put the Cardinals comfortably ahead, 6-1, with his three-run shot in the fourth. Both homers came on offspeed pitches on the inside part of the plate, and both traveled 381 feet, per Statcast™. The multi-homer game was the 14th all-time by a Cardinals shortstop. It was set up by Wacha's two-out RBI single and a Dexter Fowler walk. "I got fooled two times with breaking balls, so I was just trying to put the ball in play," Diaz said. "He threw me a slider in, and I was able to get the ball fair." Perfect placement: With an exit velocity of 88.5 mph and a launch angle of 53 degrees, the ball that came off Yadier Molina's bat in the first inning had a hit probability of 1 percent. But Molina enjoyed being the exception. The ball dropped just inside the right- field foul line, in between first baseman Joey Votto and right fielder Patrick Kivlehan, who made a sliding attempt to catch it. Matt Adams, who had reached ahead of Molina on a two-out walk, hustled all the way home to put the Cardinals ahead, 2-0. "That was just effort. He feels really good about how he's moving right now," Matheny said. "To score on that particular hit shows that, one, he's being really intentional about what he's doing on the bases, and two, he's moving better." QUOTABLE "Significant lobbying from Waino. He started early, too, by the way. He just kind of hangs out by me and just waits for me to acknowledge that he's there." -- Matheny, on how he came to the decision to send Adam Wainwright up as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Reds pitchers combined to allow 12 walks in the game. It was the first time they've walked that many since issuing 12 free passes to the Padres in a 16-inning game on May 16, 2009. The last time Cincinnati pitchers achieved the dubious feat in a nine-inning game was vs. the Brewers on May 10, 2003, when they walked 13. The Cardinals hadn't drawn 12 walks in a game against the Reds since April 21, 1948, in a win at Sportsman's Park. "That was just not good," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "You look at the box score at the end of the day and you gave up 10 runs, but you look at 12 walks and a couple of homers. You've got to make them swing the bat at this ballpark. You really do. It wasn't our best game as far as balls and strikes and command goes. So we've got to step up." STEPHENSON'S COMMAND TAKES LEAVE In his 2017 debut, Stephenson replaced Arroyo in the fifth inning and produced rough and wild results with six walks (one intentional) and three earned runs over 1 2/3 innings. The right-hander, who threw 33 balls and 26 strikes, went to three-ball counts on nine of 12 hitters -- excluding the intentional walk -- and walked Matt Carpenter and Adams with eight consecutive balls. "Emotional leads to mechanical," Price said. "We've spent a lot of time working to get him in a position to drive the ball down the slope of the mound. And he kind of got back into some old habits, collapsing his back leg. He kind of has a little teeter-totter at the top where that front shoulder hikes, and it's hard for him to get over the ball and get down to create the plane." WHAT'S NEXT Reds: The three-game series concludes at 2:15 p.m. ET Sunday with Scott Feldman making his second start of the season. Cincinnati will be looking for just its fourth series win out of the last 29 at Busch Stadium since 2006. Cardinals: The Cardinals will close out their opening homestand with a 1:15 p.m. CT game on Sunday. Carlos Martinez, who threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings in his Opening Night appearance, will make the start. Reds option Astin; Reed to remain in bullpen Transaction clears Arroyo for Saturday start By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | @m_sheldon | 2:36 PM ET ST. LOUIS -- To make room for the selection of starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo's contract to pitch vs. the Cardinals on Saturday, the Reds optioned reliever Barrett Astin to Triple-A Louisville. Astin pitched a scoreless third of an inning on Opening Day, Monday vs. the Phillies, and left the bases loaded in the fifth inning in relief of Scott Feldman. "That was a tough one," Reds manager Bryan Price said of the decision. The Reds needed to go from a nine-man bullpen back to eight to get Arroyo into the five-man rotation. It was also determined that Cody Reed will stay in the bullpen and not get a start next week. Price had contemplated using Reed for one start vs. the Pirates to get some starters an extra day of rest. "That will be on hold here for a little bit," Price said. "More important than anything, it's just making sure he's locked in when he gets his opportunity to take the ball as a starter. There's zero lost optimism in Cody Reed as a starting pitcher. Right now, our best team is with this current five-man rotation and the bullpen set up the way it is." The rotation now sets up to have Feldman pitch Sunday and be followed by Brandon Finnegan, Rookie Davis, Amir Garrett and Arroyo. Strong outings by Finnegan and Garrett and good work from the bullpen in the season's first week made it less necessary for Reed or Robert Stephenson to get work. Reed pitched two scoreless innings Thursday vs. the Phillies but walked the first two batters in each inning before escaping the jams. "We wanted to have everybody on the roster because our concern was if we needed a pitcher, we couldn't access a pitcher the first 10 days unless there was an injury," Price said. "We knew we were going to add Bronson. It put the ball in the court of how did Amir do? How did Rookie do? How does the bullpen look? After Amir made his start, it certainly was impressive. "The other part is with Cody. His last couple of outings, he hasn't been sharp with his command. It just didn't seem like it was reasonable to, in turn, take a spot from somebody in the rotation, and insert him until he was really feeling like he was throwing the ball well and I feel like he's throwing the ball well." Feldman hoping to get his first Reds win By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | @m_sheldon | April 8th, 2017 Carlos Martinez was throwing gas on Opening Day and was very effective vs.