Cincinnati @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 18, 2010 ) Cincinnati 0, Seattle 1
Let’s just say Sam LeCure probably won’t be trying his luck in Las Vegas.
The Cincinnati rookie right-hander hasn’t had the best of fortune in his four starts.
LeCure has faced St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, San Francisco Giants hurler Matt Cain and 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals. LeCure lost all three of those games, but certainly not for lack of trying.
He allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings against Carpenter. Against the Giants, he gave up one run on five hits in six innings.
LeCure permitted four runs in 6 2/3 innings against Kansas City only to see Greinke pitch a complete game in a 7-3 victory.
On Saturday at Safeco Field, LeCure gets another potential mismatch when he opposes Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez, last year’s AL Cy Young Award runner-up.
Hernandez has never faced the Reds, but he is coming off his best performance of the season. He was one out shy of a complete game and allowed four hits with nine strikeouts against the San Diego Padres.
Hernandez sports a 9-4 record with 3.03 ERA in 17 career starts against the National League.
Seattle won the opener of this three-game series, 1-0, behind Cliff Lee’s fifth career shutout. Lee allowed six hits, struck out seven and walked none in this one.
This season, Lee has 67 strikeouts and just four walks. That ratio of almost 17-to-1 would be the best by far in major-league baseball history. Bret Saberhagen owns the record at 11-to-1 in 1994 and only two pitchers have had a strikeouts-to-walks ratio of 10-to-1 or better.
It was the kind of performance that will only enhance Lee’s trade prospects. With Seattle far out of the AL West race, speculation is that Lee, who is eligible for free agency after this season, will be dealt for prospects.
Friday was his third consecutive game without a walk and the victory made the Mariners 6-1 all-time against the Reds, who fell a half-game behind St. Louis for the NL Central lead. Cincinnati has been shut out in two of its past four games.
Reds left-hander Arthur Rhodes extended his career-high scoreless innings streak to 28, the longest by a reliever in the majors this season. The streak is also the longest by a Reds reliever since Ted Abernathy went 30 scoreless innings in 1967.
The Reds also could see Edison Volquez return before the All-Star break. Volquez had Tommy John surgery last August but is ahead of schedule and manager Dusty Baker is targeting July 7 at the New York Mets for Volquez’s return to the starting rotation.
The Mariners signed their top draft choice, high-school right-hander Taijuan Walker. The 17-year-old Walker got an $800,000 bonus. He was the 43rd overall pick.