By Hal McCoy
Tito Francona’s penchant for tinkering with his new toys blew up in his face Friday night in Great American Ball Park, an 8-3 loss to the awesome Atlanta Braves.
But what’s a manager to do when his Cincinnati Reds bullpen is an emergency ward?
With the Reds trailing by 4-3, Francona summoned Yunior Marte out of the bullpen.
Graham Ashcraft was the latest Reds pitching casualty, placed on the 60-day injured list early Friday with an ulnar nerve problem in his elbow.
His replacement was Marte, called up from Triple-A Louisville.
It was an unmitigated disaster.
Single, hit by pitch, double by Mike Yastzremski, single by Jorge Mateo, intentional walk. Two runs.
Francona then went to Caleb Ferguson for his second appearance of the season and Michael Harris II lobbed a broken-bat two-run single to left.
Four runs in the inning, an 8-3 Atlanta lead. Ball game.
Chris Paddack started for the Reds and quickly gave up a first-batter 423-foot home run to Ronald Acuna Jr.
He walked three Braves in the second that led to three runs and a 4-0 deficit for the Reds.
Then he settled in. He pitched three scoreless innings and the Reds crept back to 4-3 on a pair of home runs by JJ Bleday and Nathaniel Lowe.
And where would the Reds be without Bleday and Lowe?
Paddack had thrown 86 pitches after the three scoreless innings.
Couldn’t Francona send him back out for the sixth instead of going to his battered and beleagured bullpen?
“D.J. (pitching coach Derek Johnson) thought Paddack had about had it,” he said. “He was at 86 (pitches) and D.J. thought was starting to elevate.”
Paddack (0-7, 6.90 earned run average) hinted that he thought differently.
“I was definitely ready to go back out there, but Tito made his mind up, but I think I’ve definitely turned in the right direction.”
And Francona piled praise on Marte, despite the awful appearance.
“Talking to D.J. during his outing, there is so much to like there,” he said. “We’ll give D.J. and the guys some time with him, because there is a lot to like there.”
After Acuna opened the game with a home run, Harris drove one above the wall in right field. Blake Dunn went above the wall and snagged it, pilfering a home run.
The next hitter, Matt Olson, drove one into the right field corner. Dunn chased it down and unleashed a perfect peg to erase Olson at second.
“I defnitely owe Dunn a steak dinner,” said Paddack. “You neveer want to see those plays because it means I’m not pitching well.
“Robbing the home run and the throw-out at second, that was impressive so I gave him a hug after the fifth inning and told him, ‘Hey, man, I owe you a streak dinner.’”
Losing to Atlanta is something most teams are doing this season. The Braves own baseball’s best record (39-19) and baseball’s best road record (22-9).
And giving up three hits and three RBI to Michael Harris II is no surprise. He is hitting .308 overall and .365 on the road.
After Ferguson gave up the two-run single to Harris in the sixth, he retired the next five Braves, three on strikeouts.
Then another recent call-up, Zach Maxwell, pitched two scoreless two-hit innings.
“This was as good as we’ve seen Zach Maxwell,” said Francona. “On a difficult night, if you’re looking for good reasons, those guys (Ferguson, Maxwell) gave us two good reasons.”
The Reds did produce 10 hits. Bleday was on base three times with a walk, homer and single.
Sal Stewart had three hits but did a no-no in the fourth inning.
Bleday led the inning with a home run. Stewart then doubled. But then he strangely tried to steal third and was thrown out.
Then Lowe hit his home run, so Stewart’s faux pas cost the Reds a run that would have eventually made it 4-4 instead of trailing, 4-3.
There were other problems. Dunn did save perhaps two runs with his defensive prowess, but he went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts as the leadoff hitter.
And No. 2 hitter Elly De La Cruz was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, an 0-9 with five strikeouts from the top two in the batting order.
Eugenio Suarez was 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts, even though he faced Atlanta starter Grant Holmes twice,
Last season, Suarez hit three home runs in one game against Holmes when Suarez played for Arizona.
Through it all, the cold, hard fact is that the Reds toppled back into last place in the National League Central, with two games dead ahead against MLB’s best team.