Heath Hembree, the Cincinnati Reds’ leader in saves, was designated for assignment Tuesday and Tony Santillan was called up to replace him in the bullpen.
It was a quick fall for Hembree, who served as the club’s closer as recently as Aug. 3. He allowed an earned run in six of his last eight appearances, yielding 13 runs on 10 hits and seven walks in his last seven innings.
Hembree surrendered five runs in two-thirds of an inning during the Reds’ 14-5 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday. He owns a 2-7 record and a 6.38 ERA in 45 relief appearances despite posting one of the best strikeout rates in the Majors.
“We put a lot on him,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He stepped up in a time of need for us in the bullpen, took on basically any role that I threw at him. He did a nice job for us. He gave absolutely everything – everything – he had. Great character. Incredible teammate. He’s going to be really missed on this team.”
The Reds have a week to place Hembree on waivers or trade him to another team. Bell said he was hopeful Hembree would remain with the organization if he cleared waivers, though Hembree could elect free agency.
Santillan has pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings since he was optioned to Triple-A Louisville on July 30. He’s permitted one hit and three walks while striking out three.
“He got a lot more experience over the last couple of weeks when he was there coming in the middle of innings,” Bell said. “He continued that transition and he’s been throwing the ball really well. I am excited to get Tony back. He’s going to get an opportunity to pitch. The big thing with Tony is he’s not afraid of anything. He’ll be ready for anything.”
Santillan moved to the bullpen in July after making four starts at the big-league level.
ANTONE UPDATE: Tejay Antone could return to the Reds’ bullpen as early as next Tuesday. He’s scheduled to pitch in back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday on his rehab assignment at Louisville.
“If everything goes well there, he’ll probably need two days off after that, make one more appearance in Triple-A and then – getting way ahead of ourselves – if all that goes well, he could join us Tuesday.”
ROSTER MOVES: Infielder Mike Freeman, who was designated for assignment Sunday, cleared waivers and was outrighted off the 40-man roster to Louisville.
Reliever R.J. Alaniz was activated from the 10-day injured list and optioned to Louisville.
LINEUP FLIP: Joey Votto was batting second in the Reds’ lineup Tuesday and Nick Castellanos was batting third, flipping spots in the order from where they’ve hit throughout the past few months.
“When (Jesse Winker) comes back, I’d like to get it back to where we were,” Bell said, “but without Wink there, they may alternate back and forth depending on if it’s a left-hander or right-hander. It’s an important spot in the lineup. I spoke with both of them before, they were on board and had complete buy in with it however I wanted to do it, which made it easier.
“That ability to get on base at the top of the order, something that Wink has done for us, and just trying to do everything we can to make up for the lack of his presence in the order without shaking it up too much.”
WADE’S WORLD: When the Reds scored 14 runs during Wade Miley’s first start of the season, he joked he’d never lost when the team scores 10.
Maybe it was less of a joke and more of prescient insight. The Reds have scored 10-plus runs in seven of his starts and they are undefeated in those games.
“Fun team to be a part of right now,” Miley said.
Miley probably didn’t need all those runs with the way he pitched Monday in the Reds’ 14-5 win over the Chicago Cubs. Miley pitched seven scoreless innings, permitting four hits and one walk. He struck out seven.
“I felt great,” said Miley, who lowered his ERA to 2.84. “Really had a good changeup for the first time in a while and we used it a lot. Cutter wasn’t all that good early, but then we got it going later in the game, so then I had two pitches going both sides.”
Miley has the 10th-lowest ERA in the Majors.
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