Cincinnati Reds call up Cody Reed, option Keury Mella to AAA Louisville

The Cincinnati Reds opted to shuffle up their pitching staff on Monday, and did so just one day removed from watching Keury Mella serve up a trio of dingers in his relief outing for the club against the Arizona Diamondbacks. After that barrage of socked dingers allowed, Mella has been optioned to AAA Louisville, and taking his place on the active roster will be lefty Cody Reed, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed.

Reed, like Mella, has been a starter in the minors primarily this season, and has actually pitched fairly well in that role - specifically of late. Over his last four outings, Reed had allowed just 4 ER in 26.0 IP, with an impressive as all heck 33/3 K/BB in that span; however, it’s likely that the presence of six other starting pitchers in the Cincinnati rotation will mean that Reed is back to a relief role, which is pretty much the only way he’s been used while with the Reds in his brief stints since being a starter in his first round of action with the club.

Of course, he was slated to be Louisville’s starter today, so he’s plenty ready and stretched out should the Reds need to turn to him, something that would certainly be nice insurance to have given that Homer Bailey is starting for them tonight against Cleveland - and Homer’s last outing was an abbreviated one, at best.

Mella, to his credit, looked decent enough in his first few innings with the Reds before yesterday’s debacle. It’s highly likely we’ll see him back with the club when rosters expand in September, if not before.