CINCINNATI – Shaking things up isn’t something that comes easily to Dusty Baker. The Reds manager will stick to his guns and his guys. It’s a trust thing, a belief that they’ll work out any issues they’ve got while playing through them.
Even Baker has his limits, though.
Following a pair of lopsided losses, one against Colorado and one against St. Louis on Friday night, and the team’s first three-game home losing streak of the season, Baker has moved Derrick Robinson into the No. 2-hole in the batting lineup for tonight’s game against the Cardinals. The Reds also optioned right-handed reliever Logan Ondrusek to Class AAA Louisville Saturday and recalled reliever Curtis Partch to take his roster spot.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Baker after Friday’s 9-2 loss that dropped them four game behind St. Louis in the NL Central. “It’s very discouraging to get your butt kicked a couple of days in a row. That’s enough.”
The Reds dropped the final two games of their series against Colorado, 5-4 on Tuesday and 12-4 on Wednesday. This is the first time they’ve lost three in a row since April 25-27 when they dropped the first three games of a four-game series at Washington.
They are still 11 games over .500 (36-25) going into tonight’s game, tied with Pittsburgh for second place in the division and the third-best record in the NL, but Baker has obviously been troubled by his club’s recent lapses. They’ve dropped four of their last five games and have scored more than four runs in just two of their last 12 games, including five games when they’ve scored three or fewer runs.
Robinson will bat behind Shin-Soo Choo in the lineup against St. Louis rookie left-hander Tyler Lyons. Zack Cozart will drop the eighth spot in the order.
“Mr. Choo is having trouble getting on right now, and Cozart is having trouble getting on,” said Baker. “I hope that Derrick can get on. He’s been hot and we can get somebody on in front of Joey (Votto) so he doesn’t have to lead off or hit with nobody on base.”
Cozart has raised his average from .206 to .243 by hitting .358 over his last 14 games but Baker had to find someone to move around. Robinson has six hits in his last 15 at-bats over his last seven games.
“I’m just trying to do something to get us going,” said Baker. “You can talk about our pitching or lack of relief pitching, well we’re not exactly scoring a bunch of runs either.
“I’m just doing what I can do.”
The pitching has had a rough week. The staff has a 1-3 record and 6.50 ERA this homestand after going 14-6 with a 2.40 ERA the previous 20 games. It has allowed 21 runs and 36 hits in the last two games; it is the first time since August 2010 in San Francisco the Reds have given up at least 16 hits in consecutive games.
Ondrusek gave up four runs on four hits when he entered in the sixth inning Friday to take over for starter Mike Leake. That pushed St. Louis’ lead from 3-0 to 7-0 and took away any real shot the Reds had at fighting back against Cardinals’ starter Adam Wainwright.
Baker said he hopes Ondrusek can work on troubles at Louisville, as he did at Class AA Pensacola earlier this season, and then return later this season.
Partch (6-6, 238) was a starter until the Reds converted him to reliever last season. He was taken in the 27th round of the 2007 draft. The only time he was at Great American Ball Park before Saturday was a few years ago when a team bus dropped players off at GABP for the Reds’ Futures Game. Partch got as far as the garage but never got off the bus. He was headed to Dayton.
“I’m just going to try to stay up here as long as I can,” said Partch. “I like (relieving), just knowing you could be in there every day, it definitely gets the adrenaline going more. Starting you have to throttle back because you want to save it. Relieving you just go out and get the job done.”
