Louisville is in Rochester for a four game series starting tonight (June 14).  When we heard that Daryl Thompson was pitching we decided to make the 90 mile trip from Syracuse.  He did not disappoint. 

His fastball was consistently in the 91-94 mph range.  The gun showed 95 a couple of times and 97 once.  Command of his fastball was good, not great.  But when he missed, he usually missed low.  This is a good thing if he is to be successful at GABP. 

I was surprised at how often he went with his off-speed assortment.  I’d guess that of the 110 pitches he threw, well under half were fastballs.   He had excellent command of his off-speed pitches, which added to the effectiveness of his fastball.  Rochester batters were off balance most of the night.  When they weren’t missing, they were grounding out. 

He gave up 5 hits, 1 run, no home runs and struck out 6 in 8 2/3 innings while walking only 2.  The run and one of the hits resulted from a misplayed fly ball that Norris Hopper should have caught.  In the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th  innings, Rochester batters did not hit any balls out of the infield. 

I was surprised to see him back out in the 9th since he already had thrown about 100 pitches through 8 innings.  Perhaps Dusty’s strategy of abusing young pitchers has filtered down through the organization and has become official Reds policy.  He was still strong but relied more on his fastball.  It was still in the 93-94 mph range but he got away with missing high a couple of times. It appeared that he was over throwing, something he did not do in the earlier innings.   After he walked a batter on a 3-2 count, he was taken out in favor of Josh Roenicke and his 95-96 mph heater. 

Louisville won 4-1.  A couple of other observations:  Jeff Keppinger started at 3rd base.  He singled in the 1st and laid down a very nice sacrifice bunt in the 5th.  He made the routine plays at 3rd and appeared to be running OK.  He was pulled for a pinch hitter in the 9th.  No indication of an injury.  I’m not sure why he was taken out.  Ryan Hanigan homered.  He seems more comfortable at the plate.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Thompson at GABP this year.