They weren’t.
The 22-year-old rookie, a stand-in starter for injured Hunter Greene, promised to do better with two strikes on hitters.
He didn’t.
Petty pitches with the rapidity of a guy chasing the last bus of the night.
His hurry-up approach didn’t help as he went to 3-and-2 counts seven times and six reached base. This time he survived only three-plus innings and gave up four runs, six hits, six walks and a three-run home run to Yainer Diaz. He faced 19 batters and threw 90 pitches, only half for strikes.
After his St. Louis disaster, he was dispatched back to class AAA Louisville and gave up two runs in 21⅔ innings. And he pitched 6⅔ no-hit innings against Omaha in his last start before the Reds recalled him.
There was none of that Sunday.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
That meant manager Tito Francona once again dipped deeply into his well-used bullpen, forcing Brent Suter, Scott Barlow, Taylor Rogers and Lyon Richardson to cover five innings.
That led to Francona giving a standing apology to his bullpen immediately after the game.
“I apologized,” he said. “We didn’t want to send anybody down (for relief help) because we’re trying to build something here and loyalty falls into play.
“Saying that, we got caught short and I had to ask some guys to pitch too much and that bothered me,” he added. “So I apologized to them. I told them to flush it.”
As for Petty, Francona said, “He’s trying to soften things up to start hitters, because everything (he throws) is pretty hard. He wasn’t really commanding anything.
“The line was six hits and six walks and it is probably fortunate that he competes so well or it might have been worse than that,” he added. “That’s a ton of traffic with a lot of deep counts. When you’re at 90 pitches in the fourth inning, that’s a pretty good indicator.”
Petty knows his problems and they aren’t petty.
“Too many walks, too many free bags, that’s all it is,” he said. “You can’t walk six guys. I’ll work it out in the bullpen and go from there.
“It’s a long season and it’s going to be a long career,” he added. “I’m 22 years old, I know I’m young and I have a lot of learning to do and a lot of growing to do.”
And on the flip side, the Reds’ offense is like a piano scale, sometimes reaching the high C8 notes and sometimes reaching the A0 low notes.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
After playing the C8 notes Saturday night with a 10-run first and a 13-9 win, the Reds were playing the A0 notes Sunday against Houston right-hander Ronel Blanco.
Blanco pitched eight shutout innings and gave up two hits and a walk while striking out a career-best 11.
Every Reds batter but Will Benson used pink bats and he wore pink shoes, in honor of Mother’s Day. But the Reds barely put smudges on those bats against Blanco.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
There was no 10-run first. Blanco struck out the side. He was perfect through three — nine up, nine down with six strikeouts.
TJ Friedl ended the perfection with a four-pitch walk leading off the fourth. The first hit didn’t come until Spencer Steer doubled with one out in the fifth.
Jose Trevino doubled with one out in the eighth, the only other Reds’ hit. He moved to third on Benson’s ground ball, but Santiago Espinal struck out.
Blanco threw a no-hitter last season on April Fool’s Day against Toronto in his eighth major league start.
But he had struggled this season — 2-3 with a 4.98 earned run average. And he had given up at least one home run in each of his last five starts.
There was none of that Sunday as he had the Reds mumbling expletives under their breaths.
For the Reds, it was their seventh loss in nine games and the seventh time they have been shut out. The Reds have scored three or fewer runs 20 times and they are 2-18 in those games. In addition, they have scored two or fewer runs in 14 of their 42 games.
Over their last eight games, they’ve scored 0, 13, 0, 4, 4, 1, 0 and 1. And during those eight games, they are 13 for 82 (.159) with runners in scoring position.
They get a day off Monday, then open a three-game series Tuesday in Great American Ball Park against the 12-and-29 Chicago White Sox.
NEXT GAME
Who: Chicago White Sox at Cincinnati
When: 6:40 p.m.
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM
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