Necessity is the mother of invention.
There have been blowout games in which Reds' managers have called on position player to pitch. Last night they used a pitcher to play right field.
It was all about living to fight another day.
The Cleveland Indians scored seven runs in the sixth inning last night to turn a close game into a rout.
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Brandon Dixon, the jack of all trades bench player, went to the mound to face some tough customers in the ninth inning. Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley and Jose Ramirez were licking their chops to pad their stats and above all costs avoid the embarrassment of striking out against an "amateur".
Lindor is hitting .294 with 29 home runs. Brantley is a .300 hitter with 13 home runs. Ramirez stepped in at .301 with 35 home runs. Dixon's climb was uphill.
Riggleman did not want to use his best three bullpen pieces, Jared Hughes, David Hernandez and Raisel Iglesias, in a blow out. Better to save them for a more competitive game. Michael Lorenzen could have pitched but would have been questionable for Tuesday.
"If the score would have gotten to 10-5, I was going to use Mike," Jim Riggleman said.
Lorenzen, who has been used to pinch hit this season, played in right field. It was a position he played in college. The Reds had Billy Hamilton on the bench getting a day off.
""Really, Mike in right field last night was trying to get Billy a day off. Going through the process of getting Billy loose and doing all that in a seven-run game," Riggleman said. "Instead of doing all that, I'd rather just give him the day off. Mike was the logical guy to go out there. We're not looking to do that but the situation just came up."
Dixon just trying to put the ball over the plate pitched a perfect inning, striking out a frustrated Ramirez for the last out.
"It was fun," Dixon said, who hadn't pitched since he was a freshman in high school. "You don't want to be in that circumstance but it was fun to do. I was just trying to throw the ball over the plate."
That was his instruction from the manager, who has had to do it four times this season with Cliff Pennington, Alex Blandino and Phillip Ervin.
"Alex did it. Phil has done it and Dixon," Riggleman said. "There are times when Ervin or Dixon sometimes in the game, sometimes on the bench. Some guys want to do it. They want to try it. There are some risks. We told them to just lay it up there nice and easy and see what happens. Don't go firing it in there and hurt yourself. I've had some guys in the minor leagues go out there and the next thing you know they're arguing with the umpires about the calls and I have to go out there to keep them in the game. They're firing and the pitch counts up. These guys have been real mature about the way they've done it."
Pennington pitched an inning on April 12 against St. Louis. He allowed one run on one hit and two walks he struck out one. Blandino pitched an inning against Cleveland on July 11. He gave up a hit and struck out two. Ervin got a ground out in 1/3 an inning on August 8 against the Mets.
Combined they have pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks but struck out four.
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For Lorenzen it was like old time. He played the outfield on a regular basis at Cal State Fullerton and came in to pitch in save situations.
"It felt good to play outfield. It was fun," Lorenzen said. "It was a good time. The circumstances weren't good but my family had a blast watching that. The season is extremely long and you're going to have games like that."
The old baseball saying goes, "the ball will find you," Lorenzen was wishing it would.
"Absolutely, I wanted them to hit the ball to me," said Lorenzen, who singled in the ninth inning when his turn to bat came up. "With the three guys they had coming up, I thought I'd have to climb a wall or something. Dixon's 60 mile an hour cutters were fantastic."
"I grew up that way, playing a position," Lorenzen said. "It was almost more comfortable. It had been awhile. Well we lost that wasn't much fun but still it was fun getting to see Dixon do the thing. We were able to show up today with a little more energy."
Hitting more this season has allowed Lorenzen to simplify things.
"When I was a hitter in college, I used to complicate things. Here I don't have time to complicate things so I keep it simple," Lorenzen said. "It has helped me to relax and play just like it was a summer league, have fun and play baseball."
Lorenzen, has contemplated playing the field at some point. On Monday he found out it was about to happen in the eighth inning.
"I was going to pitch the ninth but Teddy (Power) said that I'm going into right field. He told me to go in and get my glove," Lorenzen said. "He said it was as good as telling someone they were going to the big leagues by my reaction."
When told the numbers of the four position players Lorenzen reacted.
"Wow, that's solid. I will have to ask them for advice."
It wasn't fun for every one. Tucker Barnhart did not like catching the position player.
"To be honest with you it stinks," Barnhart said. "You never have a guy come out and pitch when you're winning. I tell them to throw strikes because we've already been out there for quite some time playing defense so the last thing we want to do is the game to be longer. Throw strikes and if you're going to give up hits, give them up quick. Dixon did great. He threw strikes. It was perfect. When you're a hitter you're trying to get the bat over with too."
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