Coming out of the All-Star break, the Cincinnati Reds were six games over .500 and four games back of first place in the NL Central. Over the first two weeks of July, the Reds were winning at one of the highest clips in MLB.
But the saying goes that momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. In four of the Reds six games since the All-Star break, the Reds starting pitcher has allowed at least five earned runs.
The latest Reds starting pitcher to struggle was Jeff Hoffman. On Wednesday against the New York Mets, Hoffman allowed five earned runs in four innings as the Reds lost 7-0 in front of a crowd of 19,896.
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"It was just getting behind in the count a little bit, made it tougher on (Hoffman)," Reds manager David Bell said. "Seemed to be a lot of 2-0 counts. That’s really what was really the difference. That’s what created the opportunities for the Mets to get off good swings and get base runners."
With Hoffman’s start, the Reds made a full turn through their temporary six-man rotation after the All-Star break. In those six starts, Reds starters had a 6.53 ERA.
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Over the last week, Reds starters Luis Castillo and Wade Miley allowed just one combined earned run over 12 ⅓ innings. The other four starters allowed 21 runs over their four appearances.
"Each one of our guys are different from the next," Bell said. "Different teams and different situations."
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Hoffman returned off the injured list (right shoulder soreness) for Wednesday’s game. Hoffman was injured in May, and he made five rehab starts over June and July before the Reds plugged him back into the rotation.
Hoffman threw 82 pitches against the Mets, and only 44 of them were strikes. In the third inning, he allowed a grand slam to Mets left fielder Dominic Smith that gave New York a 5-0 lead.
"It’s when you fall behind in counts and are forced to pitch in hitters' counts," Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson said. "Usually, it doesn’t end well. We just struggled today getting behind. Made a quality pitch, actually, on the grand slam. Honestly, off the bat, I thought it was a (sacrifice) fly. I didn’t think he hit it that well. Obviously, it is what it is."
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He finished the game with three walks and no strikeouts, and Bell pulled Hoffman from the game after the fourth inning.
Hoffman started on Wednesday to give starting pitchers Tyler Mahle and Castillo an extra day between starts, but Hoffman still took his fifth loss over his 11 starts this season.
Going forward, Bell didn't commit to keeping Hoffman in the rotation.
"We got to figure out, do we stay with the six-man, what do we do with that part of the back end of the rotation?" Bell said.
Facing Mets starter Marcus Stroman, the Reds only had one hit over eight innings. The Reds didn’t face New York’s best two starting pitchers in the three-game series at Great American Ball Park, but Cincinnati still won only once.
"We had a lot of momentum coming into the break and obviously we’ve kind of lost a few games as of late," Stephenson said. "We just have to keep our heads up. It’s a long season."
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