By HAL McCOY
The last time Homer Bailey pitched, it was in Pittsburgh and he was one step above awful and in the post-game interview he said, “The pitcher stunk.”
He didn’t have to say that Friday night in Milwaukee. He could have said, “The pitcher was great,” but he didn’t. That isn’t in his mostly self-deprecating nature.
But he could have said it, because the Cincinnati Reds recovering right hander, was one step above magnificent against the Milwaukee Brewers during a 7-4 victory.
IN HIS THIRD START OF the season after a long recuperation from Tommy John surgery, Bailey pitched six shutout innings, giving up three hits, one walk and striking out 11, one strikeout shy of his career best.
The Brewers haven’t been kind to Bailey over his career. He was 4-and-8 with a 4.86 earned run average in 21 previous starts. But on this night the Brewers were as helpless as bratwursts in boiling water against Bailey’s assortment of fastballs (96 miles an hour), split-fingers and sliders.
The top two hitters in the Brewers batting order, Jonathan Villar and Orlando Arcia, faed Bailey six times and struck out six times, three each.
BAILEY FINISHED HIS NIGHT with a flourish, striking out the side in the sixth as Villar, Arcia and Ryan Braun all went down swinging at gnats.
On the other side, the Reds were facing a pitcher in a massive negative skid. Jimmy Nelson is now 1-and-9 since the end of May and has lost his last five starts, mostly because he can’t find home plate with a sextant.
Nelson showed early that he hasn’t righted his sinking ship when he walked two and hit a batter and one of the walks was to Scott Schebler with the bases loaded to give the Reds a quick 1-0 lead.
ADAM DUVALL MADE IT 2-0 in the third with a one out home run and would finish the night by reaching base four times — hit by pitch, home run, two singles.
They added a second run in the third when Brandon Phillip singled, stole second and scored on a single by Eugenio Suarez.
The Reds blew it apart in the seventh with four runs in the seventh against relief pitcher Jhan Marinez.
With one out, Joey Votto singled, Duvall singled, Phillips doubled to right field for a run, a run scored on an error on a ball hit by Suarez and pinch-hitter Ivan DeJesus Jr. singled for two more and a 7-0 lead.
MICHAEL LORENZEN REPLACED Bailey for the seventh and pitched a scoreless one-hit before the shutout evaporate when Ross Ohlendorf pitched the eighth and gave up a one-out home run to pinch-hitter Ramon Flores.
Keyvius Sampson started the ninth and the bullpen blunders continue. He gave up a two-out three-run home run to pinch-hitter Manny Pina, slicing Cincinnati’s lead to three runs, forcing manager Bryan Price to bring in closer Raisel Iglesias to fetch the final out, a fly ball to left from Martin Maldonado — an easy save when no save situation ever should have materialized.
The Reds are 15-and-10 since the All-Star break and are only four games behind the next-to-last Brewers in the National League Central standings. Big deal? Well, abandoning last place is the only realistic goal left for the 47-and-67 Reds, 26 fathoms behind the first place Chicago Cubs.
Ohlendorf gave up a home run? Has he done that before. As Trump would say that is sarcasm
When are the Reds going to get a right fielder who can hit? Schebler hits a home run in the 1st game back and he is the starting right fielder. He is now batting a lot less than his weight. Are the Reds outfielders in the minors so bad the must use Schebler?