Category: Cincinnati Reds

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — A dozen or so people stood outside the Great American Ball Park main gate Thursday protesting ‘Chief Wahoo,’ the logo the Cleveland Indians wear on their caps.

The Cincinnati Reds, particularly the pitchers, should have joined to protest the evil treatment the Wahoos administered to them over the past four days.

The Tribe completed a four-game sweep Thursday night, 7-2, taking the last two in Great American Ball Park after taking the first two in their own Progressive Field.

15-6, 13-1, 8-7, 7-2. Three punches to the mouth and one glancing blow.

AND THE INDIANS found oh-so-many ways to flush the Reds’ cheeks during those four games. On Thursday it was Cleveland pitcher Josh Tomlin — and it wasn’t necessarily his arm.

Oh, he was masterful with his arm, as he usually is. His record is now 6-and-0 in seven starts after he held the Reds to two runs and five hits over 7 2/3 innings, striking out seven and walking one. That gives him five total walks for the entire season.

And because of the designated hitter in the American League Tomlin hadn’t batted all season. But he had to bat against the Reds and bat he did. He had the Tribe’s first hit with one out in the third and he led a four-run fifth inning with a double.

THE HEAVIEST DAMAGE, though, was done by Cleveland first baseman Carlos Santana, a pair of two-runs homers that gave the Indians seven during the four-game sweep.

“We only have so many resources until you start getting to the second tier of pitchers in Triple-A,” manager Bryan Price said of his pitching staff. “What we need is for the group we have here to perform better, give us some more depth with our starts.”

Price paused quickly from his little dissertation and said, “We’re talking about the same story every day here. We have to pitch better if we are going to stay away from losing streaks and be able to keep our heads above water. If we can’t pitch we aren’t going to compete very well.”

TIM ADDLEMAN STARTED for the Reds and gave up Santana’s first blast, a two-run shot in the fourth. Three batters later he left the game with a strained left oblique, the same injury that has kept Anthony DeSclafani immobile so far for the entire season.

“That’s a horrible word to hear, the word oblique,” said Price. “Oblique, if it’s significant, can be a long-term, multiple-week injury that would be a big setback for Tim and the club as well because he has been throwing the ball well. DeSclafani has been on the shelf with an oblique since March 24.”

The Reds tied the game, 2-2, in the fourth when Billy Hamilton led the inning with a double. Joey Votto, who took extra batting practice before the game as special advisor Lou Piniella watched, unloaded his sixth home run.

Caleb Cotham replaced Adleman and The Nightly Assault on the Bullpen began. Tomlin doubled and scored on a Rajai Davis double. Francisco Lindor singled to make it 4-2 and Santana connected on a home run he knocked into next year for a 6-2 lead.

THE INDIANS MADE it 7-2 in the sixth on Jose Uribe’s single, Tomlin’s sacrifice bunt and a run-scoring double by Rajai Davis. He came into the series on a 1 for 30 skid, but during the four games he had nine hits that included three doubles and two home runs, scored nine and drove in nine, a performance that won him the Outstanding Player Award for the annual Ohio Cup Series.

The Ohio Cup? Yes, it goes to the winner each year of The Battle of Ohio and, course, the Indians retained it four games to nothing.

The Ohio Cup, though, isn’t something everybody knows about or cares about. And it goes way back to win Tim ‘Big Bird’ Birtsas pitched for the Reds in the late 1980s. He was scheduled to pitch one of the games against Cleveland and was asked if he was excited about the Ohio Cup. “What’s that, a boat race?” he asked seriously.

If it is a boat race the Reds were on a doomed schooner. In the four games they gave up 43 runs and 54 hits. They’ve lost 10 of their last 12 and are solidifying their grip on last place in the National League Central. They are 14 games behind the first-place and Chicago Cubs and three behind the next-to-last-place Milwaukee Brewers.

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — Is it considered a moral victory when the Cincinnati Reds hold the Cleveland Indians to under 13 runs and under 16 hits in a baseball game?

The Reds are looking for any positives they can find, under any bed sheet or under any carpet, after losing two games in Cleveland by 15-6 and 13-1.

So when they held the Tribe to eight runs and ten hits Wednesday night in Great American Ball Park there was cause for a mini-celebration.

UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE Reds, Cleveland’s 10th hit was a home run banged by Francisco Lindor leading off the 12th inning, a blow struck against just recalled relief pitcher Keyvius Sampson, facing his first hitter.

That was enough to stun the Reds, 8-7, their ninth loss in 11 games and third straight to Cleveland.

So after 40 games, the Reds are 15-25 and dragging bottom in the National League Centeral.

A REAL CHANCE FOR a positive slipped away into the chill night because of another Bullpen Blunder.

Tony Cingrani was just two outs away from nailing down a Reds victory in the ninth inning. The Reds led, 7-5, and the Tribe had a runner on base, a left hander (Lonnie Chisenhall) that Cingrani walked. He didn’t stay on base long because Cingrani gave up a two-run homer run to Rajai Davis to tie the game, 7-7, and send it rumbling into overtime, just a delay tactics until they could lose. It was the second homer of the night by Davis.

REDS MANAGER BRYAN Price was noticably down mentally over recent events.

“It has been a rough first 40 and it won’t be like this all season,” he said “We have some components not working well (bullpen), but it will get better. It is miserable and we all feel it. Our guys are out there grinding it out but it hasn’t been a lot of fun.

“It is where we are right now,” he added. “We’re having a tough time rolling out consistent innings, both with our starters an from the relievers.”

PRICE TALKED ABOUT a good start Wednesday by Brandon Finnegan and some offensiver firepower by Jay Bruce and Zack Cozart’s three hits, but it just added up to another frustrating turn of events.

“We’re chasing wins right now,” he said. “We talk about rebuilding and wanting to do X, Y and Z, but we want to win games we should win. Period. And if we did we’re capable of being right up there with Pittsburgh and St. Louis if we could put some games away. It is maddening because everybody went into the season thinking we stink and I don’t think we stink. We’re a lot better than what we’re seeing and it is hard to watch when games get away.”

THE REDS FACED a pitcher making his major league debut, long and stringy-haired Mike Clevinger, and they scored only one run and collected only two hits over five innings.

Reds starter Brandon Finnegan gave up four runs (three earned) and eight hits in 5 1/2 innings. But he didn’t walk anybody — another moral victory because in the first two games against the Tribe the Reds issued 15 walks. Hey, teams take their positives where they can find them.

“Finnegan threw the ball as well as he has all year from a stuff component and he didn’t walk anybody,” said Price. “He was in the zone with good stuff and his velocity played up and he got his breaking ball over and his change-up.”
Another possible positive surfaced in the sixth inning when the Reds were down, 4-1. A comeback?A comeback victory? Thanks to a two-run double by slump shrouded Joey Votto (.214) and a three-run home run by Eugenio Suarez the Reds took a 6-4 lead.

Cleveland scored a run off just recalled Jumbo Diaz in the seventh to move to within 6-5. But Jay Bruce provided something positive in the eighth, it looked like at the time. He hit his second home run of the night to push Cincinnati’s lead to 7-5.

Those were his 128th career home runs in Great American Ball Park, most by anyone, surpassing Adam Dunn, who played less time in GABP than Bruce has.

The Reds threatened another positive in the bottom of the 12th when Billy Hamilton poked a two-out single to left. The Tribe’s eighth pitcher of the night, Dan Otero, went to 3-and-0 on Votto, caught up at 3-and-2, and walked him.

The positive vibes were swirling around Great American when Brandon Phillips dug into the batter’s box, then flied to right to end it.

And once again, the negatives abounded.

By HAL McCOY

If you’ve ever seen a sea gull try to fly with a broken wing then you’ll know how Cincinnati Reds pitchers Alfredo Simon and Steve Delabar felt Tuesday night.

In a nutshell, has there ever been two worse days in a row for a Reds team? Ever? The Reds lost, 13-1, Tuesday after losing 15-6 Monday. In two games against the Tribe they gave up 28 runs and 36 hits and 15 walks.

This certainly isn’t what owner Bob Castellini meant on the day he took over the team when he said, “We plan to bring championship baseball back to Cincinnati.”

THE BIGGEST INSULT by the Tribe was applied by No. 9 hitter Rajai Davis. Coming into the series he was 1 for 30 with no walks. During the two games he had five hits, four RBI, scored five runs and walked four times.

If there is any team Simon dominates, it is the Cleveland Indians. He was 4-and-0 last year in five starts against the Tribe while pitching for the Detroit Tigers.

In a mere 4 1/3 innings Simon gave up 10 runs and 14 hits as the guy who pounds the drum in the left field bleachers beat it so often he put a hole in the skin.

To be somewhat fair to Simon, the last two runs charged to him came when Steve Delabar came into the game in the fifth and walked home two runners that Simon put on base. And then to add hot sauce to the wound Delabar walked in two more runs — five walks to the six batters he faced.

That isn’t the first time Reds pitchers walked home four runs in one inning against the Indians, but it is the first time one pitcher did it. Just last July 15 Johnny Cueto (two), Ryan Mattheus (one) and Pedro Villarreal (one) did it.

AND WHAT YOU never want to do is to spot Cleveland pitcher Danny Salazar to a four-run lead in the second and a 7-0 lead in the third. He entered the game with a 1.90 earned run average.

Jay Bruce singled behind a no-out walk to Brandon Phillips in the second, then Salazar retired 16 straight, somehow keeping loose in the dugout while his teammates sprinted (or walked) around the bases.

Phillips broke the spell with a dubious single under shortstop Francisco Lindor’s glove with one out in the seventh inning, then Bruce and Suarez singled to fill the bases. And the Reds scored on Adam Duvall’s sacrifice fly.

The Reds have lost 15 of their last 16 games in Cleveland, but now the series switches to Great American Ball Park for the next two nights, where the Reds have dominated the Tribe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By HAL McCOY

They scheduled a baseball game in Cleveland’s Progressive Field Monday night and batting practice broke out. Or was it Home Run Derby.

By the end of the fifth inning between the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds there were 13 runs and 22 hits on the scoreboard.

And the Reds trailed by a run. Then they quit hitting, but the Tribe didn’t and posted a 15-6 victory.

CLEVELAND STARTER right hander Cody Anderson who took the mound with a 0-3 record and a 7.31 earned run average. The Reds couldn’t wait to get into the batter’s box.

And sure enough, Reds starter John Lamb was given a 4-0 lead by the third inning on home runs by Adam Duvall and Eugenio Suarez.

Lamb, though, was roughed up for four runs in the third and three in the fourth and the Tribe took a 7-6 lead.

THEN IT WAS Reds bullpen time and bye-bye ballgame.

Layne Somsen replaced Lamb in the fifth and the Tribesmen did some hefty batwork. Somsen escaped a bases loaded problem in the fifth but he gave up five in the sixth that included a three-run home run by Yan Gomes and a two-run rip by former Reds outfielder Marlon Byrd to push it to 12-6.

In his four innings Lamb gave up seven runs and 10 hits and saw his earned run average soar from 1.80 to 5.79.

Sonsen pitched 1 1/3 innings and gave up five runs and give hits and saw his earned run average zoom from 0.00 to 19.29.

The Assault on the Bullpen Precinct continued in the seventh against Caleb Cotham when the Indians filled to the bases with no outs and plated two runs on a pair of deep sacrifice flies. And Cotham’s earned run average crept up to 6.52.

SO LET’S CHECK the bullpen ledger and it almost takes higher math. In only 28 games the Reds bullpen has pitched 117 innings and given up 98 earned runs, an excruciating 7.53 earned run average.

The Indians entered the game with th 23^rd worst team batting average in major league baseball, but crushed 19 hits Monday night.

Unfortunately for the Reds they have another game Tuesday night in Progressive Field, where they have lost 14 of their last 15 games.

By HAL McCOY

It isn’t often that the Cincinnati Reds score nine runs and amass 14 hits when Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips combine to go 1 for 10 (an infield single by Phillips in the ninth).

That, though, is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon when the rest of the Reds scored a 9-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

After more than a week of offensive struggles by the Reds, Eugenio Suarez, Adam Duvall and Jay Bruce went on a hit splurge to help their team record only their third road win of the season against 12 defeats.

SUAREZ ENTERED THE game on a 3 for 23 slide for life, but had three hits, including a three-run home run.

Duvall reached base four straight times with three hits and a catcher’s interference.

Bruce reached base five straight times with three hits and two walks.

MIX IN THE ESCAPE wizardry of Reds starting pitcher Dan Straily and the Reds rescued the third game of the series after losing the first two.

Straily survived an eventful 109-pitch five innings, shutting out the Phillies despite giving up six hits and three walks. The Phillies had runners on base all five innings but went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position while Straily was on the mound.

The Reds built a 7-0 lead by the fourth inning against Philadelphia starter Adam Morgan, including a five-run fourth that featured the three-run homer by Suarez.

IT BEGAN THE top of the second when the first four Reds hit safely and the Reds scored two on Duvall’s double and a single by Tucker Barnhart.

The deluge occurred in the five-run fifth when Straily drew a bases loaded walk, a run scored by a Tyler Holt ground ball and Suarez unleashed a mammoth home run over the center field wall and into the Citizens Bank Park shrubbery.

It was a rough afternoon for Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. With a runner on base in the first inning he hit one into the right field upper deck, but a stern wind blew it foul. In the fifth he hit one headed over the center field wall but Holt went above the fence to snag it.

Holt, though, gave two runs back in the sixth with Reds relief pitcher Steve Delabar on the mound. With two men on base, Freddy Galvin drove one deep to center, near the wall. Holt had it covered, but the ball glanced off his glove. Galvis was credited with a two-run double.

THE PHILLIES ADDED a third run in the eighth against Ross Ohlendorf on a Mikael Franco single, but Ohlendorf pitched his way out of a minor mess.

Zack Cozart, another of the recently struggling Reds along with Votto, Suarez, Bruce and Phillips, wasn’t in the starting lineup, but he pinch-hit in the ninth and lobbed a two-run bases loaded single to center.

Amazingly, those two runs in the ninth were important because the Reds bullpen was up to its daily tricks.

Fortunately for the Reds, though, they built that seven-run early lead because Delabar gave up two runs, Ohlendorf gave up one and Drew Hayes furnished some ninth-inning heart palpations.

He loaded the bases and David Lough hit a ball off the upper deck façade, just a few feet foul from being a grand slam home run. Then Hayes walked Lough to force in a run, signaling Tony Cingrani time with the bases still loaded and one out.

Cingrani retired the final two without damage, but the bullpen gave up four runs, six hits and four walks.

The Reds headed for Cleveland after the game and play two against the Indians, then return home Wednesday to play two more against the Indians.

 

By HAL McCOY

The Philadelphia Phillies continued displaying their methods Friday night on how to win baseball games and the Cincinnati Reds continued their methods of how to lose them.

The Phillies execute with fundamentally sound baseball and the Reds execute themselves.

The game ended on a perfectly executed play by the Phillies to preserve a 4-3 victory and they are now 14-and-3 in one-run games.

THE REDS HAD the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second with one out in the ninth inning.

Reds pinch-hitter Jordan Pacheco lofted a medium-depth fly bsll to left field and Eugenio Suarez tagged up and fled for home.

Left fielder Tyler Goeddel unleashed a perfect peg on the fly to catcher Cameron Rupp. Rupp dove in front of the plate and Suarez tried to run him over and dislodge the ball, but Rupp held on, a game-ending double play.

The umpires checked New York for a video replay to see if Rupp illegally blocked home plate but it was quickly ruled he didn’t.

To his credit, Reds manager Bryan Price said the umpires and the reviewers called the play correctly.

THE END WAS TYPICAL for the Reds. They trailed by two runs entering the ninth against David Hernandez, against whom they had scored three runs to win a game in Cincinnati during the first week of the season.

Hernandez, though, had made seven straight scoreless appearances over 10 innings entering the game.

But he walked Jay Bruce to open the ninth and Eugenio Suarez singled to right. Adam Duvall doubled to left to score Bruce and make it 4-3.

So the Reds had runners on second and third with no outs. But Tucker Barnhart grounded to first and then came the game-ending play.

It was that way all night.

THE REDS FILLED the bases with no outs in the first inning against Phillies starter Aaron Nola, a curveball artist.

The Reds scored one run and that was when Zack Cozart alertly tagged up at third and scored on a 100-foot pop foul to first baseman Ryan Howard. Then Bruce struck out and Joey Votto was caught trying to steal second base.

The first two Reds reached base in the seventh and Adam Duvall plate one with a double. Then with runners on second and third with one out Tucker Barnhart struck out and pinch-hitter Ramon Cabrera struck out.

REDS STARTER TIM Adleman was in trouble most of the way but held the Phillies to three runs and eight hits over five innings, aided by double plays the first two innings.

With a 1-0 lead he gave up the tying run in the fourth when he walked the first batter and gave up back-to-back doubles to Maikel Franco and Ryan Howard.

The Phillies took a 3-1 lead in the fifth when Adleman gave up aa single to Goeddel, walked pitcher Nola after he had him 0-and-2 and gave up back-to-back run-scoring singles to Odubel Herrera and Cesar Fernandez.

Reds relief pitcher J.C. Ramirez gave up a disputed home run to Herrera in the seventh. It appeared a fan leaned over the railing and touched the ball. The Reds challenged it. And lost. Home run.

THE REDS HAD only five hits entering the ninth against Hernandez and it is not surprising because several players who were hot early in the season have cooled off.

Eugenio Suarez is 3 for 23 with eight strikeouts. Jay Bruce is 8 for 39 with 15 strikeouts in May. Zack Cozart is 8 for 36 in May. And Joey Votto, who hasn’t been hot at any point this season, is 7 for 39 with 13 strikeouts in May.

The Reds continued to be The Big Pothole Machine, where they are 2-and-12 on the road.

TWO REDS MADE their debuts Saturday. Jose Peraza played center field and singled during his first at-bat in the first inning. Pitcher Layne Somsen made his debut in the eighth and retired the first two Phillies on one pitch each, gave up a single, then retired the final batter the Phillies would send to the plate.

 

 

By HAL McCOY

The Cincinnati Reds need to check Amazon.com and order those set of mirrors the Philadelphia Phillies are using to win baseball games.

The Phillies are in the same rebuilding mode as the Reds but one would never know it by checking their record and their position in the National League East standings.

They beat the Reds Friday night, 3-2, behind the pitching of Jeremy Hellickson, Hector Neris and closer Jeanmar Gomez.

The Reds lost because they couldn’t hit and their starter, Brandon Finnegan, couldn’t find home plate.

THE PHILLIES LOST their first four games of the season, the first three to the Reds, but since have gone 21-11 and are only 1 ½ games out of first place in the National League East.

How do they do it? The Phillies are last in the National League in hitting with a .226 team average.

The answer? Pitching, pitching, pitching. They are sixth in the league in pitching with a 3.70 earned run average.

IF YOU GET INVOLVED in a close game with the Phillies right now, expect to lose. They are 13-3 in one-run games. Despite being six games over .500 the Phillies have been outscored by 26 runs.

The Reds saw first-hand Friday how the Phillies do it. They didn’t score an earned run off Hellickson on Opening Day in Cincinnati and they didn’t score an earned run off him Friday, either.

In seven innings he gave up two unearned runs, four hits, walked one and struck out nine, all swinging.

Neris pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with a strikeout and closer Gomez hit Joey Votto with a one-out pitch but Brandon Phillips hit into a game-ending double play. That gave Gomez another save, his league-leading 14^th in 15 opportunities.

THE REDS SCORED two runs in the second inning with two outs and nobody on. Adam Duvall, who had two of the Reds four hits, doubled and Tyler Holt beat an infield single.

Tucker Barnhart hit a fly ball to left field that bounced off Tyler Goeddel’s glove for an error and two runs scored.

Goeddel, though, made amends.

Reds starter Finnegan was in a walking mood, five for the night in only four innings and two walks in the fourth cost him deeply and dearly.

He walked Carlos Ruiz and Tommy Joseph. Goeddel made up for his two-run error by drilling a two-run triple to right to tie it, 2-2.

Hellickson then won the game for himself by dropping a suicide squeeze to score Goeddel.

“They didn’t beat me, I beat myself,” Finnegan said in his post-game interview to writers and FoxOhio TV.

The Reds didn’t have a hit after Duvall’s single in the fourth. And 12 in a row made outs until Votto was hit by a pitch with one out in the ninth.

The Milwaukee Brewers beat San Diego, 1-0, dropping the Reds back into personal possession of last place in the National League Central, 12 ½ games behind the Chicago Cubs.

THE GAME WAS managed by bench coach Jim Riggleman because manager Bryan Price was perched in a press box seat serving his one-game suspension.

The suspension came because it was determined by MLB that Ross Ohlendorf hit Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison on purpose Wednesday night. Ohlendorf was suspended three games but is appealing so he remains eligible until his hearing.

Billy Hamilton was missing and won’t play in the Philadelphia series because he is on bereavement leave after a death in the family.

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — For two years the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates have used each other as carnival midway kewpie dolls.

And both teams score frequent and direct hits. There were six batsman hit with pitches Wednesday night in Great American Ball Park during a 5-4 Pirates win, another bullpen production-giveaway by the Reds.

Four Pirates were hit and two Reds were hit and when Reds relief pitcher Ross Ohlendorf hit David Freese in the ninth inning umpire Jeff Kellogg had seen enough and ejected Ohlendorf and Reds manager Bryan Price.

That brings the total over the last two seasons to 29 batsman plunked by pitches and the tally is 15 Pirates hit, 14 Reds hit.

THE AMAZING THING about the entire situation is that the two teams have not come to blows and hardly ever scream or raise their voices about it. There are some stares and glares and some slow walks to first base, but that’s about it.

Either both teams are too nice or both teams are cowards of the county. A lot of the HBP’s are off-speed pitches and when a pitcher wants to drill a hitter he uses a fastball.

Hit batsmen and home runs were what it was all about as the Reds finished a nine-game homestead with a 4-5 record.

“I noticed the balls were slick tonight, probably from the hot, humid air,” said Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart. “There was no intention to hit anybody. We hit them with breaking pitches. One was a slider and a couple were split-fingers. We weren’t trying to hit anybody.”

THE PIRATES COLLECTED only three hits off Reds starter Alfredo Simon, all three solo home runs by Andrew McCutchen, David Freese and Jung Ho Kang.

At the end of eight they had only four hits, all four home runs, as Cincinnati-native Josh Harrison homered in the eighth off Tony Cingrani to tie the game, 4-4, and slap another blown save onto the Reds bullpen.

Ohlendorf arrived in the ninth and became the loser when he gave up a run that didn’t score on a home run. Kang reached second on an infield hit and shortstop Zack Cozart’s throwing error. Kang was bunted to second and scored on Jordy Mercer’s bloop hit to short right field, his first RBI since April 27.

Asked about the slick baseballs, Ohlendorf said, “This was the first game my slider has not been very good. I think it felt different coming out and the slick balls could explain. I did notice there was something on my slider that made it slip. I didn’t notice anything on my fastballs.”

PRICE WAS MORE dumbfounded than mystified by the strange occurrences on this night.

“It was weird tonight,” said Price. “I make marks (on his scorecard) on hard-hit balls. We only had a small handful, as did they. But theirs went out of the ballpark. Sometimes that’s what happens in this ballpark, but it certainly wasn’t the ballpark. We’re a better pitching staff than this.”

One hit batsman helped the Reds score two runs in the fourth inning when Pittsburgh starter Juan Nicosia plunked Brandon Phillips in apparent retaliation for Simon low-bridging Francisco Cervelli and then hitting Starling Marte, both unintentional and both with errant breaking pitches.

After Nicosia hit Phillips, Jay Bruce drove a two-run home run the opposite way into the left field corner that gave the Reds a 3-1 lead at the time.

ON THE NOW-COMPLETED nine-game homestead 36 baseballs were dispatched over the walls of Great American Smallpark, 18 by the Reds and 18 by the enemy, the most ever in GABP for a nine-game series.

After the Pirates took a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth, Bruce led the bottom of the ninth with a single off Pittsburgh closer Mark Melancon. Eugenio Suarez and Adam Duvall both flied to right and that brought up pinch-hitter Joey Votto, who took his first day off of the year — until the ninth.

Votto swung at a 3-and-0 pitch and missed. He swung at a 3-and-1 pitch and missed. He fouled off a 3-and-2 pitch then walked, putting the tying run on second and he was the winning run.

Tucker Barnhart struck out on four pithes. Game over.

“Don’t we play the same game almost every night?” said Price. “We either win by a run or lose by a run. It is like we play the same game — two different versions but they’re all pretty close to one another. One we win, the next one we lose.”

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — Carlton Fisk, who could snarl with the best of them, always snarled when somebody referred to a catcher’s protective gear as, “The Tools of Ignorance.”

It is a reference that implies that a baseball player has to be stupid to strap on the chest protector, the shin guards, the hockey mask and the plastic protective cup to go behind home plate and take a physical beating much like going 10 rounds against Mike Tyson without protective covering over your ears.

It is true that catchers are mauled nightly by foul tips, balls that bounce in the dirt and base runners with mayhem in mind, Fisk is right.

THERE IS MORE to catching, much more, than being a human backstop. Actually, the equipment they wear should be called ‘Tools of Intelligence.’

Nobody on a baseball field has more responsibilities than a catcher. He has to call the pitches, he has to handle the pitchers, he has to know all there is to know about each and every hitter on every team, he has to control the base runners, he has to block balls in the dirt, he has to watch over his team’s defensive alignments and, oh yeah, he has to catch every pitch thrown.

AND ALL THAT is exactly why Cincinnati Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart loves the position, every facet about it, including the badges of honor that are welts, abrasion, bent fingers and baseballs to the groin.

Johnny Bench, like Fisk a Hall of Fame catcher, once said, “In my 17 years of catching, I might have played one game where I didn’t have pain somewhere in my body.”

Barnhart laughed when he head that and said, “That must have been before the first game of spring training.”

BARNHART WENT TO spring training with the Reds this year expecting to be the back-up catcher to Devin Mesoraco. But Mesoraco had shoulder issues and couldn’t play. On Tuesday he underwent season-ending labrum surgery and Barnhart was thrust into the starting role.

A team couldn’t be in better hands with a back-up catcher because the 25-year-old native of Brownsburg, Ind. is more than capable. After his 2011 season at Class A Dayton he was named the top defensive catcher in the entire minor leagues.

And he has done nothing but get better as the years flew by.

“For me, I love the position because I am involved in every play,” he said. “It sounds cliché, but you are part of everything.”

AND ABOUT THE ‘Tools of Ignorance,’ he says, “Well, catching involves a lot of thinking behind it and I find that fun. You have to do a lot of researching about the hitters and I find that interesting as well as fun.”

Barnhart caught Toronto relief pitcher Drew Storen at Brownsburg High School and the Reds found him while scouting Storen. They made Barnhart their No. 10 draft choice in 2011.

“I find the intellectual side of catching challenging, rewarding and a ton of fun,” he said. “I hope I don’t ever have to change, that’s for sure.”

AND ABOUT THE bumps and bruises, the aches and pain, he said, “I’m not really ever out there when something doesn’t hurt. If I go one game without getting hit with something, I’m still usually sore from the day before because of something that happened. I can’t say there has ever been a time when I’ve been out there pain-free, as far as bumps and bruises are concerned.”

MANAGER BRYAN PRICE certainly appreciates Barnhart’s part in the grand scheme, especially with Mesoraco gone.

“Love him hitting those home runs right handed,” he said with a laugh. Barnhart, a switch-hitter, had never hit a home run right handed — in the big leagues or in the minors. But on Monday night his home run from the right side, his first home run from either side in 270 at bats, was the winning run in a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I don’t mean to put him in a corner, but he is a defense first catcher,” Price said. “Usually your back-up catcher is an offense-first guy and when Tucker goes back there we don’t skip a beat.

“He picks up where Devin left off because they both are so good in their preparation,” Price added. “He is very invested in the defensive side of the game. He is as good at blocking pitches as anybody I’ve seen (hence the bumps and bruises). He throws well and his offense just ends up being the cherry on top of the dessert.”

And offensively?

“When he is at bat I always feel he is going to do something good for us,” said Price. “Usually a guy at the bottom of the order is a player the other team is trying to get to to get an out. But he gives you a good at-bat, he can hit velocity and right now he is hitting for us from both sides of the plate.”

Whether Barnhart is putting down fingers to call signals for his pitchers or he is using those fingers to move a computer mouse to make notes on opposing hitters, Price knows the catching position remains in good hands.