Florida @ Cincinnati preview
Great American Ball Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 13, 2010 ) Florida 2, Cincinnati 7
The Cincinnati Reds showed they are a resilient bunch after bouncing back from a sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals by pounding one of the majors’ best pitchers on Friday.
They hope Mike Leake will show the same resiliency and return to his early season form.
Leake takes the hill Saturday looking to put a horrid stretch behind him as the Reds continue a three-game series with the Florida Marlins.
Cincinnati was outscored, 21-8, by St. Louis during a three-game sweep earlier this week in a series marred by a bench-clearing brawl. The Reds showed their mettle on Friday, however, as they turned the page and roughed up All-Star Josh Johnson in a 7-2 victory.
Johnson entered the contest with a major league-best 1.97 ERA, but Cincinnati rocked him for season highs of six runs and 10 hits in a season-low 3 2/3 innings.
Jay Bruce homered and drove in three runs and Scott Rolen snapped an 0-for-12 skid with three hits. The win helped the Reds keep pace with the Cardinals, who lead the NL Central by one game.
Now that Cincinnati has broken out of its malaise. the Reds are hoping Leake snaps out of his funk. The 22-year-old rookie is 0-3 with a 9.60 ERA since defeating the Washington Nationals on July 20. Prior to the rough patch, Leake had only lost once in 18 career starts.
He allowed a season-high tying seven runs – six earned - and nine hits in a season-low 3 2/3 innings of a 7-3 loss to St. Louis on Monday.
Leake (7-4, 3.75 ERA) will face fellow rookie Mike Stanton for the first time, and he may want to tread lightly. Stanton homered twice on Friday and has gone deep four times in his last three games. He is 11-for-16 with eight RBIs in that span.
Aside from Stanton, Leake needs to be wary of Dan Uggla. The two-time All-Star second baseman is second in the majors with 10 home runs since the All-Star break.
Florida, which had its season-high four-game winning streak snapped Friday, will try to rebound behind Sean West (0-1, 7.20 ERA).
The left-hander is making his second start in place of the ineffective Alex Sanabia. He didn’t get to pitch on regular rest because Sunday’s game against Washington was rained out.
In his first start of the year, West allowed five runs – four earned – and nine hits in five innings of a 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 3.
The Marlins hope his second career start against the Reds goes better than the first. West was reached for five runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-1 loss at Great American Ballpark on September 20 of last season.
West isn’t the only Marlins pitcher to struggle in Cincinnati, though. Florida has lost 15 of its last 18 games in the Queen City.