Mike Leake Will Start For the Reds In Game 4

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Mike Leake will get the start for the Reds in Game 4 of the Division Series against the San Francisco Giants at 4:07 pm.

The injury to Johnny Cueto is such that he will be lost to the Reds for the rest of this series and the NLCS should the Reds clinch.

Leake was 8-9 in 30 starts this season for the Reds but was left off the playoff roster.  Cincinnati was 16-14 in games that he started in 2012.  He made one start against the Giants this season.  Leake pitched a complete game against San Francisco on June 29 in AT&T Park.  The Reds beat Matt Cain in that game by a 5-1 score.  He allowed a run on nine hits and a walk in the game.  Pablo Sandoval ruined the shutout with a ninth inning home run.

He is 3-0 lifetime against the Giants with a 4.55 ERA.

"It was a tough decision," Dusty Baker said.  "I got together with Bryan Price (pitching coach), with Walt (Jocketty GM) and our doctors.  It didn't appear that at best Johnny was going to be ready, maybe, at the end of the series, and maybe one game next series."

"You have to get to the next series first and like I said, it was a very tough decision.  We could have gone with (Mat) Latos today, but he was on four-days' rest; and could have gone with (Bronson) Arroyo.  He would have been on four-days' rest, so we went with a fresh body," Baker said.

The Reds told Leake he may be needed as soon as Cueto was hurt.

"Mike knew he might be pitching today," Baker said.  "He's known for possibly a couple days, not that he would be pitching but he was preparing to pitch.  He was studying the charts, he was looking at the game, he was in the video room.  That's Mike Leake."

The irony is that the Reds went the entire season without a starter missing a turn.  The team waited as long as they could to make the decision, hoping that Cueto would recover quickly.

"An oblique strain is a quandry," Price said. "A certainty on when he's going to be ready to go, we can't put a finger on it.  The obvious thing for me is we have to do what's best for the club.  It is what we've done all year.  We have always made decisions that are best for the entire group.  I think Johnny understands that."

The decsion to leave Leake off the postseason roster was equally tough to make but the Reds told the young righthander that he was to stay ready.

"We wanted to make sure he kept the mental mindset that anything could happen," Price said.  "He could find himself in any series, including the first one.  What happened to Johnny set the thing in motion.  Mike is just a competitive kid.  I don''t think he ever shut himself off to thinking tha was going to pitch at some point during the postseason"

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