CINCINNATI -- Saturday's rainout against the Cubs could end being a good thing for Johnny Cueto.
Reds manager Bryan Price decided to change little with the starting rotation after a four-hour, 13-minute rain delay on Saturday turned into a postponement. Anthony DeSclafani, Saturday's scheduled starter, will start Sunday's 1:10 p.m. game against the Cubs, while Jason Marquis will pitch Monday night's series opener against Milwaukee. Cueto was originally slated to start Monday against the Brewers but he'll now start on Tuesday night.
Cueto is coming off an eight-inning performance last Wednesday at Milwaukee in which he threw a career-high 125 pitches in a 2-1 win. It was his first winning decision of the season. He's tossed 29 innings in four starts this season, going at least seven innings each time out, after leading the National League with 243 2/3 innings pitched last season.
It's not like Cueto wouldn't be able to take the ball on Monday if Price had decided to skip Marquis and keep the Reds' ace on a normal five-day schedule but Price is going to take advantage of the situation.
"It doesn't make any sense to try to keep him on pace when he could probably use the extra day," said Price Sunday morning. "We ask a lot of Johnny. We certainly asked a lot of him last year and he answered the bell. He did more than his job in Milwaukee in his last start throwing 125 pitches in eight innings. I think this is a great opportunity to give him an extra day."
Cueto's previous high for pitches thrown in a game was 124 against Pittsburgh on Sept. 12, 2010. He received a no-decision in a 3-1 loss after shutting out the Pirates on three hits for seven innings. He twice threw 122 pitches in a game, the last time coming on June 12, 2012, in a complete game, 7-1, win against Cleveland. His high last season was 120 pitches in eight innings against Toronto on June 22 in a 4-3 win. Cueto topped 100 pitches in 27 of his 33 starts and never threw fewer than 92 pitches in a game.
Price also said he's planning on moving Mike Leake ahead of Homer Bailey in the rotation order this week. Leake is now scheduled to start Wednesday afternoon's series finale against the Brewers, while Bailey will pitch Thursday in Atlanta. Bailey is coming off of surgery in his right arm last September to fix a torn flexor mass. He's made two starts with the Reds, going 5 2/3 innings each time against St. Louis and Milwaukee, giving up seven earned runs on 16 hits.
"We'll push Homer back, move Leake in front of Homer so he has a couple of extra days just because he's still in that rehab process of building his endurance and bouncing back coming off that surgery," said Price. "It'll be a lot easier as we get to closer to the late spring, early summer than it is right now. That just makes sense."
