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REDS BLOG

Price didn't get ejected to motivate club

John Fay
jfay@enquirer.com
Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price, right, argues with umpires Manny Gonzalez (79) and Jim Reynolds (77) before playing the Cleveland Indians in a baseball game, Saturday, May 23, 2015, in Cleveland. Price was ejected from the game.

CLEVELAND — Reds manager Bryan Price said he knew he was risking ejection when he argued balls and strikes before Saturday's game.

But his ejection wasn't calculated to fire his team up.

"I may be an inexperienced manager," Price said. "But I'm not an inexperienced coach. This is my 16th year at this level. I would not use an ejection to motivate a club. That's just something I would not do. To think a manager is going inspire a club through an ejection is ludicrous.

"There was no preconceived – I knew I was going to discuss the topic from the previous night. I did not anticipate that it would go the direction that it would go in."

The Reds' losing streak reached seven games Saturday. Price is at a loss to explain why things have gone bad.

"We always want to have a feeling like we know why a team is struggling, that they're not doing a certain thing right, that they're not motivated or driven," Price said. "Winning creates optimism. Losing can create pessimism, and you can lose the expectation of winning.

"You look around the league, and there's teams on both ends. You look at the Phillies. They were off to bad start, and then they started to play really good baseball for a team with lower expectations. But they started to feel it.

"Look at Cleveland now. They were nine or 10 games under .500. Now, they're on a beautiful roll, expecting to win every day. It's incredible what a couple of wins will do for club and their temperament."

HAMILTON OK: Billy Hamilton was available to play Sunday after he jammed his left hand on a slide in Saturday's game.

But he was not in the lineup. Brennan Boesch started in center field. He was one of three bench players in the lineup. Skip Schumaker started in left, and Kristopher Negron started at shortstop.

"I think (Hamilton's) fine," Price said. "I planned on getting Negron in there before the series started. I ended up where I figured I'd give him that spot at short and give Boesch and Schumaker a chance to play a couple days in a row and see if they can provide us a little spark. They're two guys who haven't gotten a lot starts."

MARQUIS MONDAY: Price was noncommittal Friday on whether Jason Marquis would start Monday against the Colorado Rockies.

But Price confirmed Sunday that Marquis, who is 3-4 with a 6.91 ERA, will start. Marquis has allowed 15 runs in 12 1/3 innings over his last three starts.

CUETO UPDATE: Johnny Cueto, who missed Sunday's start with a sore elbow, is not on the schedule to start a game. The Reds list TBA for all three games of the Washington series, which follows Thursday's day off.

"He's just day-to-day," Price said. "We like to be cautious with these arm issues with pitchers. We have the ability to give him the necessary time off. I just want to make sure he feels good."