Reds pitcher has been on a heater after shaking off tough loss to Giants

The life of a reliever is a difficult one. More times than not, relief pitchers are thrown into impossible situations and asked to pull off a miracle. Lately, however, Lucas Sims has been on quite the hot streak and it culminated with the right-hander's first save of the season on Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

With Alexis Díaz presumably unavailable after pitching in back-to-games and appearing three times over four days, Reds manager David Bell turned to a familiar face to put another tally in the win column for Cincinnati on Monday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.

Sims, who was one of Bell's most reliable relievers in 2023, took care of business on just 14 pitches in the top of the ninth inning. Sims struck out Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and did the same to Iván Herrera. Nolan Arenado popped out to Jeimer Candelario for the final out of the game and Redlegs have now won four straight. Sims has been one of the key members of the Reds' relief corps during Cincinnati's most recent surge.

Reds RHP Lucas Sims has been on a heater after shaking off tough loss to SF Giants

Sims got off to rough start at the outset of the 2024 season. The right-hander has always been a high-volume strikeout pitcher, but the walks were haunting Sims earlier this season. From Opening Day through that walk-off loss to the Giants, Sims owned a 26.5% strikeout rate, but was also walking over 18% of the batters he faced. Those numbers were unsustainable.

But since the Reds' loss to the Giants, Sims has made several appearances. While the strikeouts have stayed the same (26.3% K-rate), the walks have come down dramatically. Sims is only walking 5.3% of the opposition, and he owns a 2.38 FIP during that six-game span.

That's the version of Sims that Reds fans are used to seeing. While Díaz has been Bell's go-to closer — despite the miscues earlier this season — Sims is still an incredibly valuable member of Cincinnatis relief corps as well. When Díaz, Sims, and Fernando Cruz are on their game, it's difficult to score runs off this year's Reds bullpen.

More Cincinnati Reds News from Blog Red Machine