The dream is dead. The Reds ended their undefeated streak yesterday, falling to the Seattle Mariners 8-6. More importantly, though, Mat Latos made his first start of the spring, pitching two scoreless and injury-free innings. His line for the day was 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K, though he did have a couple long flies that were snagged at the warning track. If the Gameday velocity numbers are to be trusted, Latos' fastball was sitting at 92-93 and touched 95 on a few pitches, so at least we don't have a Michael Pineda-style radar gun freakout on our hands. Brett Tomko and Andrew Brackman did not fare so well, giving up a combined 5 ER over 3 IP. On the positive side, Donnie Joseph had a perfect 8th inning, fanning the first two batters he faced before inducing a ground out to short.
The Nasty Hook makes his first start of the spring today, with a lineup that features all regulars, save for Brian Esposito (?) in the DH spot. I guess we'll see today if Arroyo's new off-season training regimen has indeed helped him with his velocity, or if he's still just tossin' taters. I sincerely hope it's the former, because the Reds could really use 200+ innings of league average pitching to help stabilize this young staff. Following Bronson will be Arredondo, Masset, Smith, Mahay and Ondrusek.
For the wistful RR'ers among us, the Padres lineup today will feature three former Reds. Yonder Alonso will play 1B, Yasmani Grandal will DH, and Jeremy Hermida will be in RF. Full lineups after the jump.