Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

ARLINGTON, Texas — Can the Young Guns fire bull’s-eyes at opposing batters?

That’s what the Cincinnati Reds will be trying to find out as they continue their move forward with a young pitching staff that holds the key to their success.

The pitchers threw well in a weekend series at Houston but the Reds dropped two of the three games.

Now Cincinnati continues its stop in Texas with a two-game series against the Rangers who lead the American League Western Division.

The Reds (27-43) are throwing second-year pitcher Anthony DeSclafani in Tuesday’s game. The 26-year-old righthander was injured in spring training and is making only his third start of the season.

DeSclafani (0-0, 2.08 ERA) will face Colby Lewis (6-0, 2.81) in Tuesday’s 8 p.m. game.

DeSclafani is part of the Reds’ youth movement that has a starting rotation that includes rookie Cody Reed and Brandon Finnegan — both just 23 years old — and 26-year-old John Lamb.

Reds’ manager Bryan Price was looking forward to getting his young staff assembled on the major league roster.

“It’s exciting because this is what we’ve all talked about. We’ve anticipated it would happen a little bit sooner,” said Price.

“We didn’t anticipate the health issues and we didn’t think we’d come out of spring training with all the issues and injuries.”

The Reds are hoping the young pitchers will help fuel a strong second half. After starting 17-35, the Reds are 10-8 in June.

“I didn’t anticipate we’d get to the point where these young guys would impact our ball club and begin to learn how to play at this level and find their way to success,” said Price.

However, Texas (46-25) is one of the hottest teams in baseball having won its last nine series including a seven-game winning streak.

Five of the Rangers’ last nine series have been against teams with above .500 records. They lead the majors with 23 come-from-behind wins and are 17-4 in one-run games.

Texas is 5-1 against National League teams this season and 4-2 against the Reds in their two previous series — 2002, 2013 — at Globe Life Park.

Besides the promising pitching staff, the Reds have got a shot in the arm offensively from outfielders Adam Duvall and Jay Bruce along with shortstop Zack Cozart.

After being lost for most of last season with a knee injury, Cozart has return to play strong defense and leads the team with a .281 batting average. He also has 10 honme runs and 18 doubles.

Duvall was expected to platoon in leftfield coming out of spring training but he has hit .257 with 20 home runs — tied for the most in the NL — and 48 runs batted in.

Rumored in several offseason trades, Bruce has bounced back this season to hit .274 with 15 HRs and a team-high 51 RBIs. He also had a NL-leading six triples.