Cardinals Rough Up Reds' Rookie Davis

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Rookie Davis made his sixth big league start against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

This one was short and not so sweet in the 9-2 Cardinals win.  Determined not to walk anybody, Davis gave up two doubles and three home runs, including back-to-back long balls to Dexter Fowler (18) and Paul DeJong (24).

“Rookie got into deep counts," Bryan Price said. "They saw too many pitches and put the barrel of the bat on the ball.  This is a whole different environment up here.  The games count.  The stats count.  I watched Rookie’s last bullpen.  He couldn’t have thrown the ball any better.”

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Matt Carpenter wasted very little time by hitting his 21st home run leading off the game.  It was the fourth time a Reds’ pitcher allowed a home run to start a game.

 “Bottom line, I didn’t pitch good enough ballgame for us to win," Davis said. "It’s tough you want to go out there and throw a good game.  I didn’t do that.  Fastball command for the most part was there. Against a lineup like that when you can’t throw your secondary pitches across for strikes, and then when I would try to get a chase with two strikes it was nowhere near the zone.”

Scott Feldman gave up a home run to Philadelphia Phillie’s Cesar Hernandez to start the season.

Keury Mella, relieved Davis after the third inning, becoming the 17th Reds’ player to make his Major League debut; 12 were pitchers.

Mella’s first inning was flawless.  Flaws showed up in the Cardinals fifth, two doubles and two walks allowed St. Louis to take a 7-0 lead. 

Cardinals’ starter Luke Weaver allowed two harmless, first inning singles until the Reds fought back in the fifth.  Jose Peraza starting in centerfield, singled, Peraza was taking the place of Billy Hamilton, who was reinstated from the 10-day disabled list before the game, tests his injured left thumb.  Patrick Kivlehan, starting for new father Eugenio Suarez, doubled Peraza home.   Jesse Winker’s two out single made it a 7-2 game.

The Cardinals added a run in the sixth off Luke Farrel aided by a reversed call that would have been a double play off Weaver’s sacrifice attempt.  Alejandro Chacin was touched for one in the ninth.

The Cardinals evened the season series at 9-9 with the win and stayed in the playoff race.  They are 2.1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the Central Division race and 2 1/2 games behind Colorado for the final wild card spot. Davis would have liked to spoil the party.

 “These guys (Cardinals) are in the thick of things so you want to throw a quality start.  You want to beat them.  I didn’t force early contact when I needed to,” Davis said.

The game looked like a spring game in Goodyear. Both managers used benches and bullpens liberally.

Joey Votto singled in the first inning to reach base for the 300th time.

Chad Wallach got his first Major League hit, a single with two outs in the ninth.