Hunter Greene Ready For Cincinnati. Alexis Diaz Needs To Lock In

 

 

Dateline: 318 Kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico

March 15

The Reds hooked up with the Kansas City Royals. It was a split squad for the Royals. Old friend Jonathan India was in Surprise to play the Cleveland Guardians but Joey Weimer, who was included in the trade, was in the lineup. The UC grad was joined by old pal, Michael Lorenzen, the starting pitcher.

Hunter Greene started for the Reds. He pitched four innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts.

“I felt good, two runs, but a couple, not hard hit balls,” Greene said. “Even (Jac) Castiglione, who is a great hitter, was 74 off the bat. In my book, I beat him there. He just got it down the line and placed it well. Other than that the pitches were great. I had a good amount of strikeouts. I have one more start and we’ll be off to Cincy.”

Greene left with a 2-2 score. Alexis Diaz couldn’t find home plate with a GPS. The Royals pranced away to a 13-7 win on the strength of the five-run inning, Diaz started.

“They got to 74 (pitches) with Greene,” Francona said. “They made him work a little bit but that’s a number for him. He’s starting to get stretched out.”

Diaz was making his third appearance after an early spring slip in fielding practice. 

Francona and the trainers went out to check on him twice during the inning.

“It was his thumb. I think his nail was hitting it after and he kept wiping the blood on his pants,” Francona explained. “During the regular season the umpires might get him out of the game but I told them he has one more hitter. They were actually really good about it.”

“I don’t think the thumb had anything to do with his pitches,” Francona said. “It’s his third outing and certainly we’ve got to lock it down here because we’ve got another week so we’ve got to get it locked in.”

Hitting:

Stuart Fairchild hit an RBI double. Christian Encarnacion-Strand had a single to increase his average to .313. Elly De La Cruz, who has been on base in every game he’s played to this point, singled and walked and is hitting .452. He was caught stealing on a delayed steal. Santiago Espinal is hitting .303 with a single in two trips in the game. Jake Fraley singled and stole second. Blake Dunn singled. 

Austin Wynns, who will have to fill in until Tyler Stephenson returns, drove in two runs with a single. He is hitting .214 so far this spring.

Jose Trevino's CT scan showed no fracture.