CINCINNATI -- Raisel Iglesias doesn't know what's next for him. He knows he was called up from Triple-A Louisville to make his second start of the season for the Reds Wednesday night. He knows that start couldn't have gone much better than it did.
The Reds know it, too. Now they find themselves trying to figure out what to do next not just with Iglesias but with Michael Lorenzen and Anthony DeSclafani, their other talented young starting pitchers.
It's a good discussion for them to be having, one they knew they were going to have to have at some point this season.
Iglesias no-hit the Atlanta Braves for five innings Wednesday and shut them out for seven frames before finishing up with a one-run, two-hit performance over eight innings that earned him his first major-league win, 5-1, at Great American Ball Park. Iglesias made his Major League Baseball debut on April 12, going five innings against St. Louis in a game the Reds eventually lost 7-5 in extra innings.
This time around he confounded the Braves throughout the game, delivering pitches from a variety of arm angles but always hitting the spots catcher Brayan Pena asked him to hit. A reliever by trade in his native Cuba, Iglesias is making the transition to starter. That's why he was sent to Louisville after the one start against St. Louis, to work on building his stamina.
That was the biggest difference between April 12 and one month, one day later.
"My emotions and confidence were there. We were the same. The key of what happened is what I did in Triple-A," said Iglesias via translator Tomas Vera. "When I went back down, I worked to stay deep in the game and using and having confidence in my pitches. That's what happened tonight. Giving me that confidence was going down and what I did in Triple-A. That what changed today. The emotions were the same."
Iglesias walked lead-off batter Nick Markakis in the first inning then proceeded to retire 12 in row before Alberto Callaspo leading off the fifth inning. That's as far as Callaspo got, however, as the next three batters went down in order, starting with shortstop Zack Cozart robbing Jace Peterson of a hit when Cozart dove to catch a soft liner in short left field.
Young Jr., pinch-hitting for Atlanta starter Eric Stults, broke up the no-hitter leading off the sixth inning. He hit the first pitch Iglesias threw, a sinker, softly into no man's land between center fielder Billy Hamilton and right fielder Jay Bruce. Hamilton made a diving effort for the ball but even baseball's Mercury didn't have a realistic chance.
The only other hit Iglesias allowed was to pinch-hitter Pedro Ciriaco, a triple in the eighth inning that led to Atlanta's only run.
Iglesias sprinted out of the dugout to the mound in both the seventh and eighth innings. When he strode towards to the dugout for a final time after 103 pitches, 74 of them strikes, he gave a tip of the cap to the fans who were giving him a standing ovation.
"You see the type of stuff that he had from center field, you could see everything he was throwing and how everything was going," said Hamilton, who made five putouts. "It was amazing to watch that, to witness all of the pitches he was throwing and the locations he was throwing. You could really tell from being behind him and how his stuff was, he was just lights out. It was amazing to be behind that."
What's next for Iglesias remains to be determined. The Reds needed a starting pitcher for Wednesday because of last Friday's rainout in Chicago that forced them to play a doubleheader on Saturday against the White Sox. Manager Bryan Price didn't want to have anyone pitching on short rest this early in the season, so they called up Iglesias.
The Reds couldn't have asked for anything better from him.
"I think he has a better understanding of what makes him successful as a pitcher than a lot of young guys coming up here," said Price. "You see Lorenzen and DeSclafani finding their way at this level. This kid has pitched a lot, he's pitched in a lot of great competition and I think he's certainly mentally and emotionally ready for this challenge."
It will be hard to send Iglesias back down to the minors after a performance like Wednesday. The fact that Reds have to keep an eye on the total innings their young starters -- Iglesias, Lorenzen and DeSclafani -- are projected to throw and will end up throwing this season could call for them to juggle the three of them in some way or fashion the rest of the season.
Price said Lorenzen will work out of the bullpen beginning on Thursday because of that factor, plus the upcoming schedule. The Reds will have four off days in a span of 15 days after they conclude a four-game series with San Francisco on Sunday. They are scheduled to play 20 days in a row starting June 2 in Philadelphia.
DeSclafani has never thrown more than 135 1/3 innings in a professional season. Lorenzen threw 120 2/3 innings last year in his second professional season. Iglesias is new to starting all together.
No one knows exactly what will happen next. They all know what happened Wednesday was special.
"I haven't had a meeting with anybody from the team yet but I guarantee you that any decision that they make it will be a great decision and I will feel good about," said Iglesias through Vera. "I feel happy tonight that I came over and I helped the team to win and get this important victory for us tonight."
