Cody Reed fantastic, bullpen and defense doom Reds in loss to Angels

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Hey! That's the Cody Reed that rocketed up prospect lists last year!

Don't let the final score fool you, since the Cincinnati Reds lefty had a marvelous afternoon on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels, allowing just a lone hit in 5.2 shutout innings on the bump. Reed struck out 5, walked just 2 (though one of which was a forgivable pass to Mike Trout), and needed just 83 pitches to get to that point. In the process, he displayed the kind of command of the zone and pitch efficiency that the Reds have been hoping for, and he did so against an Angels lineup that featured many of their regulars.

Heck, to top things off, he got 8 groundouts against a lone flyout, which is as juicy as his final line when you factor in 15-16 potential starts a year in Great American Ball Park.

Obviously, there are as many as three openings in the Cincinnati rotation at the moment, and with Reed being one of the few contenders with actual big league experience of any kind, they'd love to see him not just get a spot, but grab it by the calligraphy pen and run with it. Today's outing is the exact kind of step in that direction, and here's to it being a corner-turn of sorts for the young lefty.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Ryan Raburn, who bonked a dinger; and Tucker Barnhart, who went 2 for 3 with a double.

Key Plays

• It took until the Bottom of the 4th for either team to scratch the scoreboard, but it was the Reds who did so when Raburn blasted his solo homer. Reds led, 1-0.
• Tony Renda has been playing all over the place this spring as opposed to just at his customary spot at 2B, and perhaps that led to his throwing gaffe with 2-out in the Top of the 7th. Evan Mitchell induced a weak grounder at Renda with runners on 1B and 2B, but Renda's quite wide throw allowed a run to score and extend the inning. A later brainfart on a rundown allowed another run to score, and with Mitchell looking a bit rattled after yet another throwing error, another walk and a Nolan Fontana double left the Reds behind 4-1. Fontana then scored when Kole Calhoun smoked a double into RF to chase Mitchell, and the Reds trailed, 5-1.
• After that, the bullpen continued a full-on meltdown, as Tony Cingrani was touched up for 3 ER in his lone inning of work, and Louis Coleman allowed a run in his inning, too. That left the final score at 9-1, which still doesn't matter a lick. Cody Reed!

Other Notes

• I can’t find it in print at the moment, but during the broadcast of today’s game, Jim Day revealed that Raisel Iglesias has "inflammation" in his elbow, but hopefully nothing worse. He’ll apparently be shut down for four days, at which point in time we’ll find out if his case of ‘it’s only inflammation’ is actually less severe than the other cases we’ve seen a spate of in the Cincinnati organization over the last year.
• Day also mentioned that the reason that Billy Hamilton has been out of the lineup for three consecutive days stems from a sore achilles, which sucks fonky apples.
• The Reds will buck their ‘middle of the afternoon’ trend of games for a fancy evening game on Wednesday, of course because the tony new megateam in the MLB - the Chicago Cubs - will be coming to town. Opening Day Starter (tm) Scott Feldman will toe the rubber for the Reds, with Chicago’s starter stil listed as TBD at MLB.com. First pitch is set for 9:05 PM ET, in case you’re interested in watching fake baseball at midnight.
• Tunes.