MILWAUKEE –– With two runners on base in a tie game in the third inning, Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Tyler Mahle faced Milwaukee Brewers star shortstop Willy Adames.
Even though his fastball is his best pitch and even though his fastball velocity was better on Tuesday than it had been all season, Mahle didn’t throw a single fastball to Adames. Mahle’s splitter has been a consistent weapon to strikeouts throughout his career, but after falling behind 1-0 in the count, Mahle didn’t throw that pitch again.
Mahle threw two straight sliders – his third best pitch – and Adames crushed a three-run homer.
“It was just dumb, sloppy pitching,” Mahle said. “Just a bad pitch. It could have been avoided by going to my strengths, which I didn’t.”
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On Tuesday at American Family Field, the Brewers beat the Reds, 6-3, and Mahle allowed five runs in 3 ⅓ innings.
Through the first month of the season, Mahle has four losses, which is tied for the most in MLB, and he has the highest ERA among qualified pitchers at 7.01. Mahle entered the season as the Reds No. 1 starter with Luis Castillo on the injured list, but Mahle hasn’t pitched at the same level that he did in 2021.
Mahle threw 92 pitches and only 50 strikes on Tuesday. He said it always feels like he’s at 40-or-50 pitches by the second inning, and that was the case again against the Brewers.
“I’ve been throwing a lot of pitches early in the first two innings, it’s 40 or 50 pitches every time,” Mahle said. “I need to get ahead. That’s the first step.”
Mahle said his command has been the most consistent issue. He hasn’t pitched more than 5 ⅓ innings in a game this season, and he’s averaging just four innings per start this season.
Mahle said he needs to do a better job getting ahead in the count with his best pitches, his fastball and his splitter. But while that’s his goal, he has gotten into trouble in his starts this season in the moments like the at-bat versus Adames in the third inning.
“Just too many pitches early on,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Going deep into the count. Not able to get deep in the game. We want to see him pitch deep into the game. I know he wants to do that. Finding a way to get some easier outs is going to be the key.”
All season, including Tuesday’s loss versus the Brewers, Mahle has been a few pitches away from turning in a solid start. But in the most important moments of the game, Mahle hasn’t pitched at the level he expects.
The Cleveland Guardians had a three-run third inning in the April 12 game by getting an infield single, a walk and a triple. On April 17, Mahle started the fourth inning by allowing a single that only landed a few feet in front of the Reds’ center fielder. Following a walk, the Dodgers pounced and scored seven runs.
In Mahle’s most recent start, a loss to the Padres, he was throwing one of his best games of the season before a pivotal sixth inning.
The result has been a forgettable month and a step back from where Mahle was in 2021.
“It’s a bunch of bad starts put together,” Mahle said. “I’m not doing well right now, and it shows.”
Just like Mahle, the Reds have kept losing games due to single innings that slip away from them. In six of the Reds’ last seven games, they’ve allowed at least four runs in a single inning.
Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff, a Cy Young contender last season, matched his career high with 12 strikeouts. Left fielder Tommy Pham hit a double and a homer and third baseman Mike Moustakas hit his first homer of the year and an RBI double as the Reds got one of their best games of the season from the middle of their order.
Pham and Moustakas accounted for five of the Reds six total hits against the Brewers. After Woodruff left the game, in the sixth inning, the Reds only picked up one more hit as they fell to 3-20 on the season.
“There's 162 games,” Moustakas said. “We're going to be playing in all of them and just got to keep working. Keep playing hard and like I said earlier, we're gonna see we're at at the end of this thing."
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