Hernandez, Suarez prop up another fine outing by Castillo
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — There were times early in his career, when Luis Castillo was scheduled to pitch, opponents would rub their palms together and say, “Oh, yeah.” That has dramatically changed this season and when Castillo is scheduled to start for the Cincinnati Reds the opposition wrings its hands and says, “Oh, no.” […]
When will Nick Senzel make his appearance with the Reds?
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — With tremendous national pomp and circumstance, with bell clanging and cymbals clashing, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. makes his major league debut Friday night in Toronto. He is baseball’s No. 1 prospect and is considered the best thing since pine tar on a bat. His debut was delayed because of an oblique […]
Tanner Roark: ‘The Perfect Teammate’ even in defeat
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — There were two telling incidents during the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 loss Wednesday night to the Atlanta Braves that reveals just who Tanner Roark is and what for which he stands. And both are positive. In the fifth inning, with the score tied, 1-1, the Braves had a runner on first […]
This Stephenson is poetry in motion for the Reds
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Robert Stephenson hears it a lot, people walking up to him and saying, “Recite me one of your poems.” It is part of life when you have the same name as a famous poet/novelist. Stephenson, though, could easily point out that their last name is spelled differently, his with a […]
Dietrich’s bunt the biggest little blow of a 7-6 win over Atlanta
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Yasiel Puig crushed a two-run home run and drove in three runs. Nice work. Jose Peraza drilled a two-run go-ahead double, his first RBI since Opening Day. Nice work. Sonny Gray gave up three earned runs and struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings. Nice work. Those are the events […]
Kemp fractures a rib, Ervin replaces him on 25-man roster
By HAL McCOY It was a group called The Crickets that sang a song with the lyrics, ‘I fought the law and the law won.’ Cincinnati Reds outfielder Matt Kemp has a slightly different version: ‘I fought the wall and the wall won.’ Kemp’s argument with the left field wall Sunday in San Diego’s Petco […]
Castillo lives up to his nickname — La Piedra (The Rock) as Reds win third straight
By HAL McCOY What chance would one give for a team to win a baseball game when the eight position players go into the game with these batting averages: .153, .234, .175, .190, .229, .170, .136 and .262. Those are the batting averages of the eight position players Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell sent out […]
Dietrich to the rescue again, homer in 11th provides 3-2 win
By HAL McCOY For the Cincinnati Reds, scoring runs — and even getting hits — is like pulling teeth. But on Friday night, they proved to be good dentists and extracted a 3-2 victory in 11 innings over the San Diego Padres. It took a two-run home run off the bat of Derek Dietrich, who […]
Reds’ losing streak ends with three-homer night in San Diego, 4-1
By HAL McCOY For once Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell’s batting order du jour worked, a batting order that helped the Reds shed a four-game losing streak Thursday night in San Diego. Joey Votto batted leadoff again and Bell batted pitcher Tanner Roark eighth and catcher Tucker Barnhart ninth. Votto hit the third pitch of […]