Brandon Finnegan and Amir Garrett Last Pitching Effort Before The Season

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Brandon Finnegan slipped and fell trying to make a pickoff throw to second bast in the Reds' 6-2 loss to San Diego Padres.

Nothing was hurt but the pitcher's ample pride.

"At least I got the ball to second base and it wasn't on TV," Finnegan said.  "Other than that I felt good.  I missed my spots a few times. The home run I gave up to Myers was supposed to be outside, I left it out over the plate.  Other than that, they didn't hit the ball hard off me.  I got a lot of ground balls. I had trouble getting on top of it until the second inning."

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He finished his three innings with dirt on his knees after pitching three innings. He allowed two runs, a home run to Wil Myers.  Manuel Margot and Myers doubled back-to-back in the third for a run.  Finnegan allowed six hits but no walks.

"Finney was pretty good," Bryan Price said. "I felt like he threw the ball pretty well, three pitches for strikes. We talked to him about reducing empty pitches.  Pitches so far out of the strike zone, they don't have a purpose. He's been much better with that. If anything he got too much of the plate. That will get better the more he's out there."

The Reds plan to leave Finnegan in Goodyear for a week.  He will join them in Pittsburgh around April 5.  The Reds don't need a fifth starter until April 9.

"I need to get my pitch count up," Finnegan said.  "My arm feels good. I'm doing a good job with my tempo, not letting my body get in the way of my arm.  I will work on my slider a little bit."

The Reds got two runs off Kazuhisa Makita.  Joey Votto walked and Scooter Gennett hit a home run high off the Pavillion in right field.

Jared Hughes struck out the side in his inning.

Amir Garrett followed Hughes.

Garrett gave up four runs in four innings on five hits, including home runs by Eric Hosmer and Matt Szczur.

"Amir wasn't as sharp, however the last two innings he got a lot better<"Price said.  "That tells you some good things about the ability to recover and make adjustments."