Cincinnati Reds Lose 9th Straight Despite 13 Strikeouts by Raisel Iglesias

W: Chase Anderson (6-5)

L: Raisel Iglesias (3-5)

The last five starts for Raisel Iglesias have been something to behold. Sunday, the rookie turned in his most dominant outing of his young career, but his offense gave him no run support as the Cincinnati Reds lost their ninth straight game in shutout fashion to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Iglesias fooled D-Backs hitters all day long, racking up 13 strikeouts, the most by a Reds rookie since Gary Nolan in 1967. He allowed only allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks. Of the outs that weren’t strikeouts, Iglesias had five ground outs against no fly outs.

Over his last five starts, Iglesias now has a 1.93 ERA and 0.73 WHIP with 35 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.

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His only big mistakes came in the fourth and sixth innings. In the fourth, he was taken deep by Welington Castillo to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead. Arizona was able to tack on another run two innings later thanks to some sloppy defense by the Reds. With one out and Ender Inciarte on second base, Joey Votto fielded a ball between first and second base and made a poor throw to Iglesias, who was covering the first base bag. Inciarte broke for the plate and Iglesias’ throw to catcher Brayan Pena sailed high, allowing a run to score. That’s right, two errors on one play.

Jumbo Diaz was brought in out of the bullpen in the eighth inning and didn’t do much to provide relief. Diaz retired the first two hitters of the inning, but then allowed four hits in a row, including a two-run home run to David Peralta, which doubled the Diamondbacks’ lead to 4-0.

Though he probably deserved a win, Iglesias wound up with the loss as his offense couldn’t get a single run across the plate. For the second time this season, they were held in check by Chase Anderson, who was recently sent down to the minor leagues and brought back up due to an injury to Jeremy Hellickson. Anderson allowed five hits and three walks in 6.2 innings and the Diamondbacks bullpen followed with 2.1 perfect innings.

The loss drops the Reds to 20 games under .500 at 51-71. The No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft is in full view, as the team sits only two games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies for the worst record in baseball.

Other Notes

• Some of the Reds’ offensive struggles can be attributed to their underwhelming lineup on Sunday, which had a starting outfield of Jason Bourgeois, Ryan LaMarre, and Skip Schumaker, while Ivan De Jesus Jr. spelled Eugenio Suarez at shortstop.
• Brennan Boesch was in the original lineup, but was scratched with a sore ankle.
• LaMarre, who replaced Boesch, picked up his first major league hit in the fifth inning, a line drive single to left field.
• Collin Balester, who was called up before the game, made his debut with the Reds in the ninth. He allowed a walk, but was otherwise perfect.

Up Next: The Reds will host the Detroit Tigers on Monday in a makeup game for a June 18 rain-out. Keyvius Sampson will look to rebound from his first bad start with the Reds and will face off against Buck Farmer.

Next: Reds promote Collin Balester, place Manny Parra on DL