It was another rough performance for Brandon Williamson, which put the Reds in a hole very early on. The bullpen had to go six innings after Williamson’s early exit, and the Reds suffered their largest loss of the season.
The Rockies have been in the cellar of the NL West for what seems like forever, but tonight they looked as competent as they possibly could. They were able to get a hold of Williamson, with four hits, four walks, and four runs.
The Reds offense couldn’t figure out Tomoyuki Sugano, as he kept the Reds to four hits and no runs.
Will Benson did hit a big home run to cut the deficit to 11 in the ninth inning, after the Rockies stopped playing real baseball.
It was a forgettable game in an otherwise fun start to this season, but here are our takeaways from the Reds’ 13-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
Spencer Steer Stays Hot
Let’s start with the “good”. Steer has now hit safely in eight of his last ten games. He went 1-2 with a walk in tonight’s contest. One of the Reds who has struggled mightily at the plate to start this season has finally started to put together some really confident at-bats.
Steer is a guy who tends to be undervalued by this fanbase, but he shouldn’t be. He plays any position that is asked of him and is consistently on the field, no matter what ailment he is facing. Though it would be great for Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz to continue their historic seasons, eventually every player goes through rough patches. Prior to this run by Steer, there were serious doubts as to which Red was going to be able to fill in the gaps when Elly and Sal had one of their rare off-nights.
Spencer’s slash line still isn’t anything special, but it is trending in the right direction. Over his last 15 games, he is slashing .261/.370/.500. The Reds are a really fun team right now, and if guys like Steer can pick it up, it is going to be a special season.
Catchers Can’t Figure It Out
Now, we move to the “bad”. At some point, one of Tyler Stephenson or Jose Trevino has to take a step in the right direction. Tonight, it was Jose Trevino’s turn to get behind the plate. He is coming off the IL, but since July of last season, he has slashed .173/.201/.197. He did add a hit late in the game, but it didn’t matter much.
Normally, it wouldn’t be as worrisome, but Tyler Stephenson hasn’t been able to figure anything out offensively either. As harsh as it is to say, these catchers aren’t good enough defensively to be wielding a .067 (Trevino) and a .162 (Stephenson) batting average. Trevino has two hits this season, and Stephenson has 12. Stephenson was able to get a double in the ninth inning.
There needs to be more production from these two, or there could be some changes in the catcher room by the end of the season.
Finally, we reach the “ugly” portion of tonight’s game. Brandon Williamson has now given up 11 hits and 9 earned runs over his last two starts (7.1 innings). It hasn’t been pretty to start this season. He has yet to truly feel comfortable on the mound. There have been flashes of it, but he hasn’t been able to find any sort of groove.
It was noted on the broadcast that Williamson’s early departure was due to “left shoulder fatigue”. He made his way to the training room immediately following his exit after the third inning.
With Lodolo’s return imminent, it would be a shock for Williamson to remain in this rotation. 16 walks, 15 earned runs, and 22 hits in his 25 innings pitched this season just isn’t good enough. The lack of command over his pitches has been troublesome, and with how good the bullpen has been, it would be hard to imagine he would be a good fit there.
Tommy John surgery isn’t an easy operation to come back from, so it might just be some growing pains with the new arm. However, with how good this pitching staff is right now, there probably isn’t a spot for Williamson on the big league club right now.
It will be a “must win” game tomorrow for the Reds in the rubber match. A struggling Andrew Abbott takes on an old friend, Michael Lorenzen, at 12:40 pm to see if they can win their 5th straight series.
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