Cincinnati Reds Lose Sixth Straight as Mike Leake Struggles Again vs. Indians

. 3. 61. 7. 5

W: Carrasco (5-4)

L: Leake (2-3)

It has not been a good week for the Cincinnati Reds’ starting pitchers. Following the worst start of his career on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants, Mike Leake wasn’t much better in Friday’s 7-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Leake was only able to make it through four innings tonight following an outing in which he gave up nine runs. It marked the third time in the Reds’ last five games that their starter was unable to make it past the fourth inning. The right-hander gave up five runs on seven hits and five walks with no strikeouts, raising his season ERA to 4.14.

The Reds jumped on the board first as Billy Hamilton‘s RBI groundout made it a 1-0 game in the top of the second inning. Leake quickly gave up the lead, however, as he coughed up two hits and three walks in the bottom of the inning to put the Indians ahead, 2-1.

Todd Frazier tied the game up the next inning with an RBI double, but the game was all Indians from there, as starter Carlos Carrasco shut the Reds’ offense down and Leake continued to struggle.

Brandon Moss hit a solo home run to break the tie in the third and hit a two-run double the next inning to make it a 5-2 game.

Burke Badenhop relieved Leake, pitching two scoreless innings (though he did walk three batters to give the Indians eight walks on the night) before Jumbo Diaz came in and gave up two more runs in the seventh.

Jay Bruce—who seems to be turning it around at the plate as he went 2-for-2 with two walks tonight—scored on a wild pitch in the ninth, but the game was already well out of hand by that point.

Other Notes

J.J. Hoover continued his excellent season by tossing a perfect inning in the eight—the Reds’ only 1-2-3 inning of the night—with two strikeouts—the Reds’ only two punchouts of the night. He has now gone 13 consecutive appearances without giving up a run, a streak that has stretched over 12.1 innings.
Brandon Phillips batted leadoff for the Reds, but it didn’t make much of an impact as the Reds’ offense still couldn’t get much of anything going. Phillips went 1-for-4 with a run scored on the night.
The Reds were caught stealing twice tonight, as Bruce was caught stealing in the fourth and Zack Cozart was caught in the fifth.

Up Next: The Reds and Indians meet for game two at Progressive Field on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET. Anthony DeSclafani (2-4, 3.80 ERA) will look to rebound from a rough start, but will have his work cut out for him as he faces reigning American League Cy Young winner Corey Kluber (1-5, 3.79 ERA), who has struck out a combined 30 hitters in his last two starts.

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