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After getting shellacked the past two nights against San Francisco, the Reds will try to save face and split their lone home series with the Giants in 2015. If the Reds are going to give fans something positive before the series finale of Mad Men, they'll have to rely on Anthony DeSclafani. Opposing him today will be Chris Heston whose namesake in Greece may aptly describe what the Reds have been doing the past two games.
2015 can thus far be described as Heston's breakout year. The twenty-seven year old right-hander has had success this year after joining the Giants rotation. While only sporting a 3-3 record, Heston has garnered a 2.91 ERA in 7 starts. While his K/9 ratio sits at a somewhat pedestrian 7.6, his low walk rate of 1.9 per 9 innings has helped him settle into the starting role in the major leagues. Sunday will mark the first time he has ever faced the Cincinnati Reds.
Anthony DeSclafani will hopefully continue impressing Cincinnati fans on Sunday when he makes his eighth start this year. DeSclafani will bring his 2.79 ERA to the mound with hopes on improving it as well as sometimes frustrating strikeout/walk ratio of 1.79. Like Heston, he will face a team whose twenty-five man roster consists of players he's never faced before in his professional career.
The ghost of Badroyo tormented Cincinnati on Saturday while the Reds were completely upstaged by the Cincinnati Fire Department on Friday. The Reds will need their bats to wake up after scoring only 4 runs in 18 innings. Of course, during that time frame, their pitchers allowed twenty-one runs, so that's going to need improvement as well. Thankfully, Anthony DeSclafani is not Jason Marquis nor is he due for a bad start like Mike Leake was on Saturday.
Go Reds! Stop being awful!
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