Cincinnati @ Oakland preview
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Last Meeting ( Jun 21, 2010 ) Cincinnati 6, Oakland 4
When you reach the top of the mountain, there’s nowhere to go but down. Dallas Braden knows how that feels.
Braden will take his eighth shot at winning since tossing a perfect game on May 9 when the Oakland Athletics face the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.
The owner of just 17 career wins prior to dominating what - at the time - was the team with the best record in baseball, Braden has not been able to reclaim the magic of that Mother’s Day afternoon. Even if he did, it’s no guarantee that the A’s offense would come through.
While Braden has gone 0-4 with a 4.29 ERA in seven starts since making history that day, the Oakland offense has virtually taken those seven days off - scoring a total of 11 runs. Three times during that stretch, Braden has allowed two earned runs or fewer only to walk away with a loss or a no decision.
The right-hander, who was certainly not a big part of the A’s organizational plans at the start of the season, is no longer under pressure to prove that he deserves a seat at the table. Originally, he had to vie for a spot in the rotation with hot prospects like Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Vin Mazzaro, Brett Anderson and Tyson Ross fighting for time with veterans Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer.
Overall this season, Braden leads the rotation with a 3.78 ERA and has succeeded with less-than-premium stuff by being able to place each pitch exactly where he wants it. The 26-year-old Stockton, Calif. native has walked just 15 batters this season and ranks fourth in the American League with 1.534 walks allowed per nine innings. His strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.60 ranks eighth.
He has made one interleague start this season, limiting the Chicago Cubs to one run and five hits in six innings while walking one and striking out four last Thursday. He did not factor in the decision.
Braden will have to deal with a Cincinnati offense that appeared to wake up in the 10th inning of Monday’s series opener. The Reds entered the series having dropped five of six without managing to score more than two runs.
They had just one run until the ninth inning on Monday when both teams pushed one across to send it to the 10th. Cincinnati busted out at that point, getting home runs from Ramon Hernandez, Joey Votto and Scott Rolen in the frame en route to a 6-4 victory.
The Reds will send veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo to the mound on Tuesday. The 33-year-old has had no problems with run support this season, as Cincinnati is averaging just under five runs per game when Arroyo takes the hill.
He is coming off a strong performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Thursday in which he allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings while walking six and striking out one.
Arroyo did not fare as well in his lone interleague performance, allowing five runs in seven innings to the Kansas City Royals on June 11.