Reed can't close out Nationals, D-backs lose on 9th-inning slam
PHOENIX -- Manager Chip Hale was noncommittal, even a little feisty, when the subject of his closer came up Wednesday afternoon.
Hale did not give right-hander Addison Reed a ringing endorsement 30 minutes after Reed gave up a grand slam home run to rookie Michael Taylor in the ninth inning in a 9-6 loss to Washington on Wednesday, a game the Diamondbacks led three times, the last on Yasmany Tomas' pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth.
Hale suggest a change is not forthcoming. His message, in so many words: things happen.
"Let's give it a day or so," Hale said when asked if there is consideration for taking Reed out of the ninth inning. "Every time somebody doesn't perform, they are either going to be taken out of the rotation or they are going to get sent down? You know what I mean? Come on, man. It's a 162-game season. Guys struggle, man. Let's give that team credit. They battled. A guy off the bench comes up with a big home run. That's pretty impressive.
"We are always trying to get better. We haven't had a whole lot of those opportunities for him. It's hard. We just have to get better."
Reed, indeed, has made only 11 appearances this season, and only four in save situations. He has saved two, including a 1-2-3 ninth in a 2-1 victory over San Diego on May 10. Maybe the slight workload affected him lately -- he has been scored on in four of his last six outings, giving up eight runs in seven innings. His ERA jumped to 7.20 with the four runs allowed Wednesday, and his WHIP is 1.90.
The game brought up memories of 2014, when Reed gave up 11 homers and struggled early in the year before righting himself later in the season, converting 12 of his final 13 chances.
The question the D-backs must ask themselves is, with that history, is it better to keep the status quo or try another option. Veteran Brad Ziegler has 33 career saves and he was 13-for-15 when pressed into service at the 2013 All-Star break. Ziegler has a 1.26 ERA this season and he has been scored on once in 15 setup appearances. Rookie Enrique Burgos combines a high-90 mph fastball with a high-80s slider, and he appears to have the stuff for the role.
That Ziegler or Burgos could take over is not on Reed's radar, however. After seasons of 29 and 40 saves with the White Sox in 2012 and 2013, Reed said he gives no thought to job security.
"I'll never think of that," he said. "I've never thought of it and don't think I ever will."
Reed's teammates are in his corner.
"He's been through it. We've all been through it," Paul Goldschmidt said. "Nobody gets here with all successes. We have full confidence the next time he is out there he'll be ready to go, as will everybody else."
Reed did not sugarcoat his latest outing, in which Washington wired together singles by Denard Span and Yunel Escobar with a walk to Jayson Werth to load the bases for Taylor with one out in the ninth.
Taylor, who was in the lineup because Bryce Harper was ejected to arguing a strikeout in the seventh inning, did his best Harper impression, driving a 1-0 fastball 444 feet into the camera well cut into the batter's eye in center field.
"The ball was everywhere," Reed said. "The grand slam was belt high over the middle. I haven't gone back to look back at it, but I can almost guarantee it was belt-high. Right out of the hand, it felt like a terrible pitch. He did what he was supposed to do with it."
Reed could have made an issue about the 2-1 pitch in the Werth at-bat, a 93 mph fastball that on replay was almost in the middle of the plate. It was called a ball, and Werth walked on the next pitch.
"You want a strike to be called a strike, but it's hard for (the umpire) to call strikes when you are all over the place and wild like I was in the ninth inning," Reed said. "Nothing you can do about it. It is what it is."
Like a cornerback, a closer must have a short memory, and Reed said he would have no trouble looking past this game.
"I'll think about it for 5-10 minutes, then on a plane," he said. "Off day tomorrow. It's over with."
Jeremy Hellickson gave up a season-low four hits in 5 2/3 innings and showed a nice mix of off-speed pitchers, using his curve ball and changeup to set up his fastball. His only trouble came in the third inning, when Werth homered after a walk and a hit batter. "Fastball command is finally coming around," Hellickson said. "The off speed in the zone behind in the count was big today. Just want to have those two-out walks back. The start was progress, but still have to be better."
3 -- hits by Nick Ahmed in his last two games after an RBI single in the second inning.
* Tomas had 41 homers in 790 at-bats in his last three seasons for Industriales of the top Cuban league, but the closest he has come to a homer in 59 at-bats here is a line drive off the left field fence against the Dodgers on May 2. Hale said he is not concerned about it. "Watching in 'BP,' he hits the ball a long way, whether it is to right or to left," Hale said. "I believe that is usually the last thing that comes, the pull power. He's shown us some opposite field power. He'll eventually be able to pull the ball and hit it out of the ball park, but I don't worry about his power because I see it's there. It just hasn't translated as much into the game yet." Tomas did not start the last two games of the Washington series, but he had a tie-breaking pinch-single in the eighth inning. "That was beautiful," Hale said. "They threw him a lot of sliders, and he finally got one he could handle."
* Patrick Corbin tentatively is scheduled to join the D-backs on June 4, general manager Dave Stewart said in a TV interview. If the D-backs stay in turn, the weather cooperates and Corbin continues to progress in his rehab program, that would fall on Hellickson's day in the rotation. Corbin is expected to make two more starts in extended spring training games, the next one on Monday, after throwing 54 pitches in an extended game last Monday.
* Jake Lamb is expected to begin heavy baseball activity in about a week, Hale said. Lamb had the boot removed from his left foot a week ago Wednesday. His return appears to be at least two weeks away.
* Goldschmidt was a home run short of what is known as the "natural cycle," when the hits come in order of fewest bases to the most. It has been done 13 times in major league history. Goldschmidt had a single in the first inning, a double in the third and triple in the fifth. He was intentionally walked with runners on second and third and two outs in the seventh inning, and struck out on a nasty slider after three mid-90 mph fastballs by Aaron Barrett in the eighth.
The D-backs will not activate Saturday starter Archie Bradley until then, the better to keep their bullpen armed. They could return two pitchers to the minors that day if they choose to add a 13th position player, something they have gone without since Danny Dorn was sent down Sunday. Infielder Brandon Drury and outfielder Socrates Brito are the only 40-man roster candidates, since Dorn must stay in the minors for at least 10 days. Peter O'Brien is off to a great start in Reno, but they would have to create a spot for him on the 40-man roster.
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