Rough outing for Reds rookie was not as awful as the stat line would indicate

It's certainly not how you want to make your major league debut, that's for sure. Levi Stoudt made it through just four innings and was hung with seven runs on nine hits. Stoudt gave up a leadoff home run, and things just started to snowball from there.

After Hunter Greene was struck in the lower leg with a comebacker on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Cincinnati Reds adjusted their rotation in order to give their ace an extra day of rest.

This necessitated a spot start from a 25-year-old rookie. While the results were less than stellar, after the first-inning jitters were out of the way, Stoudt settled in and pitched much better.

Reds RHP Levi Stoudt was not as bad as you might think.

The first inning was rough; there's no denying that. The Tampa Bay Rays batted around and six of their seven hits had an exit velocity of over 100 mph according to Baseball Savant. Levi Stoudt was getting hit and hit hard. The rookie hurler gave up six runs before his teammates even stepped into the batters' box.

But over the next three innings, Stoudt allowed just one run on two hits while walking only one batter and striking out three. While Stoudt's ERA is sitting at an atrocious 15.75, if you take out that forgettable first inning, Stoudt's ERA would be only 3.00.

The two hits that Stoudt allowed after the first inning were not hit near as hard either. Randy Arozarena reached on a single that left the bat at 92.1 mph and Taylor Walls snuck a ground ball through the right side of the infield.

It certainly was not the debut that Levi Stoudt or the Cincinnati Reds had hoped for, but don't forget that his outing came against the best team in baseball. The Rays lead all of Major League Baseball in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, and runs scored.

The Reds are likely to return Stoudt to Triple-A Louisville on Thursday in order to activate Luke Weaver from the 15-day IL. Weaver is slated to take the ball for Cincinnati against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.