Reds lose 7th in a row; stumble into last place

Published 12:14 am Monday, August 24, 2015

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Reds seventh straight loss dropped them to the bottom of the NL Central.

Rubby De La Rosa allowed two runs in seven innings and A.J. Pollock homered while enjoying his second consecutive four-hit game to help the Arizona Diamondbacks send the Cincinnati Reds to their seventh straight loss with a 6-3 win over a former teammate Friday night.

Reds’ rookie left-hander David Holmberg, who made his major league debut with the Diamondbacks in 2013, set a single-game career high by allowing 11 hits. Holmberg (1-3) gave up five runs with one walk and two strikeouts and hit a batter in five innings.

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“It was another night when the command I’m looking for wasn’t there,” said Holmberg, who counted half of the current Diamondbacks as former teammates in the minor leagues. “I need to go deeper in the game.”

The Reds bullpen is hurting. Aroldis Chapman has been unavailable as he rests a tired shoulder.

“It’s hard now. We have a couple guys that are day-to-day,” Reds’ manager Bryan Price said. “It makes it challenging. Every team goes through it. We’re trying to catch up.”

Pollock scored three runs and Yasmany Tomas added his own solo shot for the Diamondbacks.

Joey Votto hit his 23rd homer in the eighth inning off of Keith Hessler for the Reds, who fell into last place in the NL Central with the loss coupled by Milwaukee’s win over Washington.

De La Rosa (11-5) improved to 5-0 with a 2.54 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break. He allowed seven hits with one walk, six strikeouts and a wild pitch. He also had two hits.

“He did a good job,” manager Chip Hale said. “If there’s a guy on our staff who can go deep into a game, it’s him. He’s a horse. He’s got the ability to throw a hundred pitches. He gave us seven good innings.”

De La Rosa (11-5) improved to 5-0 with a 2.54 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break. He allowed seven hits with one walk, six strikeouts and a wild pitch.

“I’m just trying to get ahead of the hitters and attack the zone,” De La Rosa said of his hot streak

Addison Reed finished the eighth and Brad Ziegler pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.

Pollock, who drove in the last two runs of Arizona’s 5-4 win over Cincinnati on Thursday, produced the first run Friday with his 13th homer of the season with one out in the first inning.

“I think he’ll probably be in the lineup tomorrow,” Hale deadpanned.

Tomas led off Arizona’s four-run fourth with his eighth homer, a 403-foot drive to center field. Ender Inciarte added a sacrifice fly before Welington Castillo capped the inning with a bases-loaded, two-run single.

The Reds broke up De La Rosa’s bid for a shutout in the sixth on Votto’s one-out walk, Todd Frazier’s line drive to left that just Ender Inciarte almost caught with a diving stab and Jay Bruce’s RBI groundout.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: RHP Archie Bradley is scheduled to make a rehab start on Sunday with Single-A Visalia. Bradley, on the disabled list since June 2 with right shoulder tendinitis, threw four scoreless innings with three hits, three walks and six strikeouts for Arizona’s rookie-level team on Tuesday.

Reds: INF Brandon Phillips remains day-to-day with inflammation in his right biceps tendon. Phillips pinch-hit and grounded out in the seventh.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: RHP Randall Delgado (4-3, 2.70) makes his first start of the season after 43 relief appearances in the third game of the four-game series on Saturday. He is 0-3 with a 4.32 ERA in five games, including four starts, against Cincinnati and 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA in three starts at Great American Ball Park.

Reds: RHP Anthony DeSclafani (7-8, 3.72) makes his 29th career start, 24th for Cincinnati, on Saturday. The rest of the all-rookie Reds starting rotation has made 27 career starts.

SEEING ROJO

The Reds wore “Los Rojos” on their jerseys to honor people of Spanish heritage. The team will unveil a statue of Hall of Fame player Tony Perez on Satuday. Perez took out the lineup card along with David Concepcion, Cesar Geronimo and Reds’ coach Freddie Benevides.

SEEING RED

A.J. Pollock has eight hits in 11 at bats in the first two games of the series. He has hit safely in 10 straight games against Cincinnati and is 20-for-43 (.465) against them in his career.

 

FRIDAY’S GAME

Diamondbacks 6, Reds 3

Arizona AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Inciarte lf 4 0 0 1 0 1 .292

Pollock cf 5 3 4 1 0 0 .321

Goldschmidt 1b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .326

W.Castillo c 4 0 2 2 1 0 .245

A.Hill 3b 3 0 1 1 1 0 .233

Tomas rf 5 1 1 1 0 2 .297

Ziegler p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Owings 2b 4 1 2 0 0 0 .237

Ahmed ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .219

R.De La Rosa p 2 1 2 0 0 0 .113

c-Saltalamacchia ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .202

Hessler p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000

A.Reed p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

D.Peralta rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .299

Totals 36 6 13 6 2 6

 

Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Bourgeois cf 5 0 1 1 0 1 .232

Suarez ss 4 0 0 0 0 3 .300

Votto 1b 3 2 2 1 1 1 .309

Frazier 3b 4 0 2 0 0 0 .259

Bruce rf 4 0 0 1 0 0 .236

De Jesus Jr. 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .248

B.Pena c 4 1 3 0 0 0 .281

Boesch lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .127

Holmberg p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .143

a-Schumaker ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .209

LeCure p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

b-Phillips ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .286

Ju.Diaz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

d-Barnhart ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .256

Totals 36 3 9 3 1 7

 

Arizona 100 400 001 — 6 13 0

Cincinnati 000 001 110 — 3 9 0

 

a-singled for Holmberg in the 5th. b-grounded out for LeCure in the 7th. c-flied out for R.De La Rosa in the 8th. d-lined out for Ju.Diaz in the 9th.

LOB—Arizona 9, Cincinnati 7. 2B—Pollock (30), Votto (28), Frazier (34), B.Pena 2 (13). HR—Pollock (13), off Holmberg; Tomas (8), off Holmberg; Votto (23), off Hessler. RBIs—Inciarte (31), Pollock (54), W.Castillo 2 (39), A.Hill (30), Tomas (43), Bourgeois (8), Votto (60), Bruce (66). SB—Pollock 2 (32), A.Hill (7), Owings (14). CS—A.Hill (2). S—R.De La Rosa. SF—Inciarte, A.Hill.

Runners left in scoring position—Arizona 5 (Tomas, Inciarte 2, A.Hill 2); Cincinnati 5 (Bourgeois 2, Bruce, De Jesus Jr., Suarez). RISP—Arizona 3 for 13; Cincinnati 2 for 12.

Runners moved up—Bruce, Boesch, Phillips.

 

Arizona IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

R.De La Rosa W, 11-5 7 7 2 2 1 6 93 4.32

Hessler 0 1 1 1 0 0 6 12.60

A.Reed H, 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 11 4.03

Ziegler S, 23-25 1 0 0 0 0 1 14 1.52

 

Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Holmberg L, 1-3 5 11 5 5 1 2 96 6.57

LeCure 2 0 0 0 1 2 28 0.00

Ju.Diaz 2 2 1 1 0 2 26 4.14

Hessler pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

HBP—by Holmberg (Goldschmidt). WP—R.De La Rosa.

Umpires—Home, Mike Winters; First, Mike Muchlinski; Second, Mark Wegner; Third, Marty Foster.

T—3:02. A—26,757 (42,319).