Phillies rough up bullpen Tuesday at GABP

With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Cincinnati Reds infielder Mike Freeman traded places with infielder Alex Blandino.

Blandino moved from pitcher to shortstop, and Freeman moved from shortstop to the mound.

In a game where the Reds bullpen allowed 13 runs, Cincinnati needed two position players to pitch the last 1 ⅓ innings. The Reds lost 17-3 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park in front of 10,788 fans, and Philadelphia scored the final 13 runs.

“It’s never fun,” starting pitcher Sonny Gray said. “I don’t envision myself starting games where position players pitch on our end.”

At the start of the sixth inning, the Reds trailed the Phillies, 4-3. Heath Hembree opened the inning on the mound, and he allowed a home run and a single. After starting the season with 9 ⅔ scoreless innings, Hembree has a 4.91 ERA.

“He has done a really good job, really helped our bullpen,” manager David Bell said. “We pitched him in all different sorts of situations. A different game tonight, maybe he ends up pitching the ninth. So we trust him.”

Amir Garrett came out of the bullpen after Hembree. He allowed a double, a sacrifice bunt, a home run, a single and another homer.

At the point the Phillies took a 10-3 lead, the sacrifice bunt was their only out of the inning. During the sixth, Philadelphia had five hits harder than 100 mph off the bat and another at 98.9 mph.

Garrett was responsible for four earned runs, and his ERA is now 9.56.

“He struggled early, and then he got going really well, had several good outings in a row,” Bell said. “He’s just gotten off track a little bit the last two or three outings, so he just has to keep working at it. And we know he will.”

Reliever Cionel Pérez, who was called up from Triple-A before the game, followed Garrett out of the bullpen. Pérez allowed three earned runs in 1 ⅔ innings, and Bell pulled Pérez for Blandino in the eighth inning.

Blandino ran onto the field from the bench, not the bullpen, and got the last out of the inning on one pitch. Blandino allowed a grand slam on his 29th pitch, and Freeman got the last out of the game.