Major League Baseball

The reason Reds' Cody Reed expects to be more relaxed in home debut

Published Jun. 24, 2016 1:17 a.m. ET

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CINCINNATI -- Cody Reed made his major league debut Saturday in Houston. On Friday night, the heralded left-handed pitching prospect makes his first start at Great American Ball Park with family in attendance and before what is anticipated to be a near-sellout crowd to witness Pete Rose being enshrined into the franchise's hall of fame.

Coverage begins at 6 p.m. on FOX Sports Ohio with a special one-hour pregame

"It will be a different atmosphere," Reed said. "Hopefully, there will be a nice crowd. It will be awesome. I'm glad I'm finally getting it out of the way. I'll just try to go out there and throw strikes."

Throw strikes is what the 23-year old has done for most of his fledgling career, and what prompted the Reds to insist the Kansas City Royals include him in the package for Johnny Cueto last July.

Reed will be opposed riday by San Diego Padres right-hander Colin Rea, who makes his 14th start of the season and fifth on the road.

Manager Bryan Price said Reed has a knack for staying in the moment and remaining focused on the mound. It's a quality that might come in handy Friday night when Reds fans get to see first-hand one of the integral parts of their team's rebuilding effort.

"I think pitching in front of the home crowd will be another hurdle to jump over," Price said. "He's certainly a well-known prospect in our system. He compartmentalizes pretty well."

On Saturday against the Astros, Reed allowed four earned runs and two homers, but pitched seven innings and struck out nine.

Cincinnati has stacked three straight left-handers against San Diego which has been without center fielder Jon Jay, who's been out since being hit by a pitch on Sunday. Jay historically has been tough on lefties.

"You'd like him in there being the catalyst for the offense," Padres manager Andy Green said. "The Reds have some really good young arms that the organization should be excited about."

The Reds were batting .258 in June and averaging 5.15 runs per game before they went 7-for-34 in Thursday night's 7-4 loss to the Padres.

San Diego, meanwhile, has scored 116 runs in June -- most in the National League and fourth-most in the majors.

"We've been swinging it well all through June," Green said.

Despite being without Jay, the Padres have gotten power production from catcher Derek Norris, who hit a three-run homer in Thursday's victory -- his third in five games.

Norris was batting .167 on May 10 but has hit better than .300 in June.

Unlike the Reds' bullpen which has allowed 54 homers this season, Padres' relievers have been pitching well, especially closer Fernando Rodney. He has 16 saves with one earned run allowed this season.

Cincinnati hasn't won a season series against the Padres since 2012, going 6-13 aqainst them since.

The Reds hope having friends and family in the stands Friday night might actually help calm some initial jitters for Reed who needs a solid outing to provide a respite for the relief corps.

"I think it will be more relaxing," Reed said. "They've been watching me since I was seven. I'm 23 now, but I think it will be just as awesome."

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