Cincinnati Reds: September has not been kind to Anthony DeSclafani

Anthony DeSclafani’s season has been filled with ups and downs. Yesterday the Cincinnati Reds saw DeScalfani continue to struggle in the month of Septemeber.

Anthony DeSclafani didn’t even make it through 5 innings in yesterday’s series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yes, the Cincinnati Reds only scooted across one run in the loss, but DeSclafani had yet another bad outing in the month of September.

The Cincinnati Reds are desperately searching for starting pitchers that can help them next season. Luis Castillo has all but solidified his spot in next year’s rotation, but the other four spots appear up for grabs. DeSclafani appeared primed to take the second spot in the rotation, but a shaky September has to have the Cincinnati Reds brass second-guessing themselves.

Anthony DeSclafani went only 4 2/3 innings on Wednesday afternoon at Great American Ball Park. The right-hander surrendered six runs (five of them earned) on five hits and three walks.

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Disco got off to a brilliant start. He mowed down the Dodgers order the first time through, striking out four of the first nine batters he faced. Then came LA’s second time through the batting order, and they teed off on DeSclafani.

Joc Pederson led off the fourth inning with a home run, his 21st of the year and 2nd of the 3-game series. Two outs later, Max Muncy singled on a line drive to right field, and on a questionable call, to say the least, scored on a ground-rule double due to fan interference.

At that point, however, the Dodgers only maintained a slim one-run lead. But that’s when things got rough for Disco. A walk put Yasiel Puig on the basepaths, and following a strikeout of Andrew Toles, Disco surrendered a double and then a single that plated two more runs to make the score 4-1 in favor of Los Angeles. DeSclafani’s day was done after he walked Max Muncy with two outs in the inning.

This was the third straight game in which DeSclafani was pulled before throwing 5 innings. After a dominant month of August, September has not been kind to Disco.

During his 5 starts in August, DeSclafani maintained a 2.62 ERA, struck out 27 batters and walked only 4. Teams were hitting only .236 off him and the Cincinnati Reds won 4 of his 5 starts. Over the last 3 starts, Disco’s ERA is 8.18, he’s struck out 12 and walked 5.

DeSclafani will get a chance to redeem himself on Monday against the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers. It would be a great relief to many Cincinnati Reds if they saw the same Disco who was dominating the opposition during the month of August.