Over the last month, the top pitchers in the Cincinnati Reds bullpen have taken on more consistent roles.
Amir Garrett has faced the opposing team’s best left-handed hitters during the middle innings, and Brad Brach has had the same role against the opposing team’s best right-handed hitters.
Heath Hembree has pitched the ninth inning in each of his last eight appearances, and Josh Osich and Ryan Hendrix have pitched in the next most high-leverage situations.
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“I do think guys are getting more and more comfortable when they're going to pitch and we talk before every game to make sure that they have the best idea they possibly can going into a game,” Reds manager David Bell said. “When to expect to get up and when to expect to pitch and what part of the order, even the hitters that they're likely to face.”
Reliever Michael Lorenzen, who left Saturday’s game with a right hamstring injury, was expected to provide another right-handed pitcher at the top of the pecking order in high-leverage situations.
Bell said he wanted Lorenzen to have a “clean inning” in his season debut, so Bell gave Lorenzen the eighth instead of putting him in the middle of the top of the seventh inning like he did with Brach.
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“Things are going to keep changing, we're going to add more guys back,” Bell said. “a lot of it has to do with not so much the inning, but different parts of the lineup of the opposing team, situations guys are comfortable pitching in. There's a lot that goes into it.”
ROSTER MOVE: Before the Reds game on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati activated starting pitcher Sonny Gray (rib cage strain). In a corresponding roster move, the Reds optioned infielder Alejo Lopez to Triple-A.
Lopez had been in a pinch-hitter role with the Reds, and the rookie had a .294 batting average in 17 at-bats.
CASTELLANOS UPDATE: With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning of Saturday night’s 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Wade Miley pinch-hit for the pitcher.
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Castellanos was technically available off the bench, but Bell said on Sunday that Castellanos wasn’t an option. Castellanos was hit by a pitch in the wrist on Friday night, and he’s still going through treatment to get the swelling down.
“We’ll see how he is. I know he was feeling better (Saturday), and I still think it can happen really quick,” Bell said. “We’ll see what his availability is.”
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HOFFMAN TO THE ROTATION: For at least one week, the Reds will have a six-man rotation.
Starter Jeff Hoffman (right shoulder impingement) completed his rehab assignment, and he’s scheduled to make his first start since May on Wednesday against the New York Mets.
“It's exciting just to be healthy again,” Hoffman said. “That's kind of what (was) so frustrating about the whole situation. I want to be out there helping in any way I can and, especially a team like this that has so much potential, playing so well.”
With Hoffman starting on Wednesday, every other starting pitcher’s next scheduled appearance has been pushed back a day.
“There was only so many guys we could do that with, where we could give them a larger break (over the All-Star break),” Bell said. “It would probably be temporarily go to a six-man rotation for this homestand and create a couple of starts where guys are getting an extra day or two.”
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