Wobbly start for Mahle, Reds lose, 7-2
By HAL McCOY Joe Garagiola’s book, ‘Baseball is a Funny Game,’ was a text full of humorous stories surrounding his playing and broadcasting career. And it was hilarious. But baseball is a funny game in another contest, too. Isn’t it funny that the Cincinnati Reds can sweep three games from the contending Milwaukee Brewers, including […]
Castillo’s season finale one to remember
By HAL McCoy With last place a virtual lock for the Cincinnati Reds, the team is playing September with two objectives: spoil the season for contender and finding out which rookies can pitch in the major and which can’t. Both missions are on the fast track the first week of the month and the Milwaukee […]
Stephenson cranks up another gem
By HAL McCOY The maturation process for the young Cincinnati Reds pitching staff continues to progress at a rapid rate. This time it was 24-year-old Robert Stephenson. Again. For the fourth straight start Stephenson showed why the Reds made him a No. 1 draft pick in 2011 and patiently waited six years for the tall, […]
Hamilton, Bailey heroics lift Reds to walk-off win
By HAL McCOY Make a list of the most likely guys on the Cincinnati Reds to hit a two-out, two-strike bottom of the ninth-inning walk-off game-winning home run. Joey Votto? Not this day. Adam Duvall? No. Scott Schebler? No. Eugenio Suarez? No. Scooter Gennett? No. Zack Cozart? No. How about Billy Hamilton? The man of […]
Reds waste another solid pitching performance
By HAL McCOY Just when the young pitchers on the Cincinnati Reds pitching staff have found their groove, the offense has fallen out of the groove. After beating two of baseball’s best pitchers — New York’s Jacob deGrom on Thursday and Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole on Friday, the Reds put their bats into hibernation. They went […]
Bailey pitches gem, but Mets rookie pitches a Hope Diamond
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Just 24 hours after scoring 14 runs against the New York Mets on Tuesday night, the enigmatic Cincinnati Reds scored 14 fewer runs on Wednesday. That’s zero, zip, zilch. No runs. And they lost, 2-0. Not only that, after getting 15 hits Tuesday, they had one lonely hit through eight […]
Romano, Schebler help end Mets’ domination over Reds
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — What happens when two bad baseball teams show up together on a Tuesday night, when school is back in session, when the weather is sketchy, when they aren’t giving away a bobblehead and football season is about to begin? Mostly it means more empty than occupied seats. It was Bark […]
Mahle solid in debut, but offense lets him down
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Tyler Mahle’s major league debut Sunday afternoon was a mixed bag and was proof once again that it is not how one starts but how one finishes. Mahle held the Pittsburgh Pirates to no runs, one hit and a couple of walks over his first three innings, living up to […]
Luis ‘Pedro Martinez’ Castillo brilliant in 1-0 loss
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Luis Castillo knows baseball history and that’s why a 2-and-7 start to his major league career doesn’t leave him sobbing in a corner. “That’s exactly the way Pedro Martinez started his major-league career, 2-and-7,” Castillo said with a broad grin, referring to the fellow Dominican and Hall of Fame pitcher. […]