Babe Lorenzen And Thames River

Jim Rigglemna has been a baseball man all of his adult life, 44 years, yet he has never seen the converging phenomenons currently playing out at Great American Ball Park.

On the plus side, Michael "Babe" Lorenzen is on a streak as a pitcher that would be the envy of Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Pete Rose.  In his last five plate appearances, the 26-year old relief pitcher, who was a two-way play at Cal-State Fullerton, hit three home runs, a single and walked.  Four of those at bats as a pinch hitter.

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While acknowledging the obvious positives of the unbelievable streak, Riggleman is not ready to believe in it in total.  He has seen way to many amazing streaks that were short lived within such statistical anomalies.  After all the reason these feats are so amazing is that they are so rare.

One for instance, is Lorenzen's grand slam was the second by a Reds' pitcher in a week.  Prior to Anthony DeSclafani's grand slam last Saturday against the Chicago Cubs was the first by a Reds' pitcher in 59 years.  Bob Purkey hit his in 1959.  That was 23 years after Al Hollingsworth hit a grand slam while pitching at Wrigley Field on May 28, 1936.  That was 44 years after Ice Box Chamberlain hit an inside-the-park grand slam on April 30, 1892 as a pitcher against Washington.

There has been talk about moving him to the outfield when he's not pitching.

"We want him to pitch more than one inning to take the work load off Hughes and Hernandez," Riggleman said.  "If he pitches three innings his turn to hit will come up.  It may come up twice but that's not to say we won't hit for him."

Lorenzen's ability to hit gives the Reds' more flexibility on a short four-man bench but as much success as he's had recently, Riggleman has other options that are better.

The inning that Lorenzen came up as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, the Reds already had four runs in and the bases loaded with no outs.  Brandon Dixon would have hit, had the game been closer.

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"Dixon was my only player left on the bench," Riggleman said.  "It was still early enough in the game that I didn't want to use the last player on the bench, (Billy Hamilton, Tucker Barnhart and Alex Blandino had already been used.)  I wanted to save him.   Even if Lorenzen struck out, Schebler was on deck.  The probability of scoring more was still high."

The Reds have a rotating outfield with one of four outfielders with offensive skills are on the bench every day.

"I think it's a little disrespectful to say he is my best pinch hitter," Riggleman said.  "I would not look for Mike instead of say Winker on the bench today.  He would be the guy, I would send up to get a hit.  I would use Mike as a pinch hitter.  He's a usable guy, a great athlete.  I would be open to using him in the field if a situation presented it.  It helps a lot knowing on days he's not going to pitch that I have an extra hitter on the bench.  The thing we have to stay away from is that Mike has power.  Like with anyone who has power we have to remind him to use the middle of the field.  We want him to have a good at bat.  We're not looking for a home run."

The other statistical rarity is the mastery, especially home run mastery that Eric Thames has over Reds' pitching.  Thames has four home runs off the Reds this season.  He hit 10 against them last season  He has hit so many home runs to the Ohio River side of the ballpark that the suggestion has been made to rename the Ohio, the Thames River.  The 14 home runs hit against the Reds have been in 22 games, seven in 12 games at GABP.

"What their guy (Thames) has done against the Reds, those two things to me Lorenzen and I hate to even say because I'll mis-pronounce it.  What he has done against the Reds is remarkable.  It's sad but it's remarkable.  The situation came up to walk him and we did that.  It isn't comfortable to walk him to get to the next guy but that's the way the middle of the lineup is supposed to be.  If you walk Joey (Votto) to face Scooter (Gennett), hopefully, Scooter will make you pay for it."

"With Thames, we feel like come on," Riggleman said.  "His numbers are human-like against the other clubs.  As much as we play them we have to find another way to get him out."