Reds lose 69th game of season to Pirates in boring, not-nice fashion

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Michael Lorenzen began the year on the DL once again, and in his time on the sidelines the likes of Jared Hughes, Amir Garrett, and David Hernandez jumped into late-inning roles and have largely thrived. When healthy, though, Lorenzen still profiles as an elite arm in this Cincinnati Reds bullpen both now and going forward, and on Friday he showed that in full force.

Lorenzen fired 3 innings of scoreless ball, scattering 2 hits and a walk against his 2 Ks, in the process lowering his season ERA down to 1.59. The Reds have put together quite the impressive collection of bullpen options, and having Lorenzen back healthy and firing 98 mph fastballs sure looks to be a big, big, multi-inning part of that going forward. So, have a trophy, Mike.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Jose Peraza, who singled twice, got the classic ‘intentional walk because you’re hitting in front of the pitcher,’ and shrugged off what initially looked like a hand injury on a defensive play at SS; Joey Votto, who doubled and walked; and Eugenio Suarez, who singled and walked.

Key Plays

• Walks, as they often gain fame for doing, haunt. That was the case for Harvey in the Bottom of the 2nd against Pittsburgh, as he walked the first pair of batters that inning before Josh Bell singled to load the bases with nobody else. That precarious situation was largely mitigated, though, on a 6-4-3 double play hit into by Gregory Polanco, and though that scored a lone run, that was all the damage done. Reds trailed, 1-0.
• Cincinnati quickly got that run back in the next half-inning, however. Scott Schebler led off with a single, and he later moved to 3B on Votto’s double to CF. Schebby then scored on Scooter Gennett’s sac fly, and the game was knotted 1-1.
• The Reds took a 2-1 lead thanks to Chad Kuhl losing his cool in the...wait, wait, wait. I apologize. That’s awful, even for a Friday night recap nobody will read. Kuhl’s throwing error after Adam Duvall and Jose Peraza had led off the inning with singles allowed Duvy to score in the Top of the 4th, giving the Reds a 2-1 lead.
• Matt Harvey was sent out for the Bottom of the 6th, was greeted with a pair of singles, and was immediately removed in favor of Wandy Peralta. That move lasted all of two pitches, as Peralta plunked Corey Dickerson to load the bases and was immediately removed in favor of Michael Lorenzen. The Pirates then bonked a pair of sac-flies, and the inning ended with them leading the Reds, 3-2.
• Unfortunately, that was the end of the scoring, and the Reds dropped a game that looked totally kinda-sorta potentially winnable - even for them.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Matt Harvey was somewhat decent in this one for awhile, despite his final line being somewhat meh. He allowed just a lone earned run through 5 IP, but was sent out for the 6th only to allow a pair of singles before being pulled. Both runs eventually scored, of course, which left his final line thusly: 5+ IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K on an even 100 pitches.
• Luis Castillo will start for the Reds on Saturday opposite Ivan Nova, with first pitch set for 4:05 PM ET.
• Tunes.