NEW YORK –– When the Cincinnati Reds beat the New York Mets on Friday night, the Reds had a well-rested bullpen, and they had options.
For the seventh inning in a close game, manager David Bell could have selected one of the three relievers the Reds traded for last week. He could have selected one of the three relievers who had pitched in high-leverage situations since June in Heath Hembree, Amir Garrett and Brad Brach.
Bell had another choice, arguably his best choice, and Michael Lorenzen pitched a scoreless inning in his first game off the 10-day injured list.
Over the last week, the Reds have completely remade the back of their bullpen.
“It’s always good when you can get some help,” Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson said. “It feels like we’re going to be able to rest some of our guys a little bit more, we’re going to have maybe some more options coming out of our bullpen that we didn’t always have.”
After the Reds traded for relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson from the New York Yankees, added reliever Mychal Givens from the Colorado Rockies and activated Lorenzen, Cincinnati no longer had to rely on relievers with much shorter track records or pitchers who had struggled in high-leverage situations this season.
Because the Reds were buyers at the trade deadline, the bullpen is in much better shape entering the last two months of the season.
Givens, a seven-year veteran with a 3.33 ERA, was the biggest trade acquisition.
“He has come in in relatively tough spots and done a nice job,” Johnson said. “That’s exactly what we thought we’dget from him.”
Givens has mixed his fastball, changeup and slider throughout his entire career. He was immediately used in high-leverage situations after the trade, and he immediately showed that he can get swings and misses with his fastball.
So far with the Reds, Givens has pitched three scoreless innings.
“He has always been a guy who fills up the strike zone,” Johnson said. “He’s really athletic and he’s a guy who has got a couple of really quality pitches.”
Cessa allowed the game-winning run in Saturday’s loss to the Mets after inheriting a runner on second base. Aside from allowing that game-winning single, Cessa has showcased one of the more impressive sliders in the Reds bullpen.
Cessa throws his slider, which has a unique vertical drop, over 60% of the time. He used that pitch 11 times in a scoreless inning on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs.
“He has three pitches, he’ll mix in a two-seam some with right-handed hitters,” Johnson said. “He’s able to elevate the fastball, which is always a good thing. And it seems like he always has the feel to pitch. He knows what he’s doing in those spots. And the slider is pretty good.”
Wilson joined the Reds with a 7.50 ERA and has pitched in lower-leverage situations than Cessa and Givens. But so far, Wilson has pitched two scoreless innings.
Wilson was one of the tougher left-handed relievers in 2013 and 2014, and his fastball and cutter are effective.
“He has got the cutter, he has got the fastball that glides off the zone and is still pretty hard,” Johnson said. “He’s a guy coming out of the bullpen left-handed that gives us a shot against lefties and righties. His splits are pretty good both ways, and he’s a guy we feel we can put up against a right-handed lineup and still be alright with it.”
Even though the Reds played three games in New York that were close for most of the way, Lorenzen was the only Reds pitcher who came out of the bullpen on back-to-back days. When Lucas Sims, Tejay Antone and Art Warren come off the injured list, the Reds bullpen will have even more depth.
“Going toward the stretch run in this thing, it’s what you need,” Johnson said. “You need options, and you need time to be able to rest your guys. If we can do that and we’re efficient with it, that will give us a good chance.”
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