Reds' Cueto returns, Byrd breaks wrist in loss to Phillies
PHILADELPHIA — The Reds got Johnny Cueto back on Tuesday but may have lost Marlon Byrd for longer.
Cueto pitched six strong innings in his first start in two weeks, while Byrd suffered a fracture in his wrist when he was hit by a pitch from Phillies starter Sean O'Sullivan in the sixth inning of the Reds' 5-4 loss to the Phillies on Tuesday.
"It hit him in the wrist, he has a wrist fracture, to what degree the injury is yet to be known, I don't know if it's a (disabled-list situation)," Reds manager Bryan Price said after the game. "I'd guess it is, but I don't know that for sure. We're going to wait until we hear from the doctors and they read the X-rays and they make that decision."
It wasn't a vintage Cueto-type outing on Tuesday, but he pitched well enough to win – even if his team didn't back him.
Cueto didn't figure in the decision, despite leaving the Reds' bullpen a 4-2 lead after six innings. Jumbo Diaz gave up a two-run homer to Maikel Franco in the eighth after Jay Bruce misplayed what would have been the third out in the inning. Pinch-hitter Darin Ruf then hit a walk-off single in the ninth to snap a three-game Reds winning streak and seven-game losing streak for the Phillies.
Odubel Herrera led off the ninth inning with a double off of Tony Cingrani, and then was sacrificed to third by Carlos Ruiz. That's when Ruf fisted a ball to right to give the Phillies the win.
After Ryan Mattheus pitched a perfect seventh for the Reds, Diaz seemed to be on his way to doing the same in the eighth when Ryan Howard hit a line drive to right. Bruce, who lost a ball in the lights of Citizens Bank Park in the 2010 playoffs, looked like he was going to make the catch, but the ball went just over his glove and to the wall for a double.
"Damn lights, man. It's unbelievable to have to say again," Bruce said. "It felt like déjà vu. I hung in there as long as I could. It was a line drive in the lights."
Franco, the next batter, pulled a home run to right to tie the game and deny Cueto a chance at his fourth win of the season.
Cueto, who was scratched from his May 24 start with tenderness in his right elbow, threw 93 pitches over six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits.
Box score:Phillies 5, Reds 4
"I feel pretty good," Cueto said in English after the game, before conducting the rest of his interview in Spanish with assistant athletic trainer Tomas Vera serving as interpreter.
"Thank God, I feel great," Cueto said, according to Vera. "I felt kind of nervous in the beginning, because coming from an injury, you don't know what to expect. Overall, I felt really good. It's just about being ready and being back in shape."
Despite the loss, it was important to see Cueto on the mound. An MRI done in Cincinnati last week and clean bills of health from doctors is one thing. Actually getting back and getting through a start was certainly another.
"I thought he felt really good, he maintained his velocity. I thought he was sharp," Price said. "You know, I just felt like it seemed to make sense to let him pitch six innings, somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 pitches and see how he rebounds from it. He doesn't need to be built back up, it's not like he can't go out there and throw a complete game next time out or throw 115, 120 pitches. It'll be nice to see how he rebounds, and we're also on the front end of 20-straight. So, I think he's going to be fine. He looked really good to me."
Cueto needed 20 pitches to get through four batters in the first and 22 to get through five in the second.
Despite not having pitched since May 19 in Kansas City, Cueto's velocity appeared to be close to his normal, hitting 94 mph several times, even in his final inning of work.
"It doesn't feel 100 percent yet, but it's progressing," Cueto said, according to Vera. "I'm getting better."
Two of the Phillies' five hits against Cueto were the result of Chase Utley beating the shift – with a bunt single in the first and an opposite-field single in the fourth. Utley's third hit off of Cueto, however, went a little farther, landing in the seats for his fourth home run of the season.
"Every single pitch I threw today was where I wanted it," Cueto said. "My command was really good. Only one change-up that I threw to Utley, it stayed there and hanged in there, and you know what happened."
Catcher Brayan Pena said he liked what he saw out of Cueto as well.
"I was looking like my son when he got a new toy to see what he got and to see what he was bringing," Pena said. "But I was super happy with what I saw from him. He threw the ball very well. He really did. It looked like he didn't miss anything. The way he was throwing, his velocity and his off-speed, you guys saw it. He was mixing it up pretty good, and it was a tough one today for us, a very tough one."
The Reds got on the board early, with Brandon Phillips starting the game off with a single to left and then Joey Votto quickly doubling to score him, making it 1-0.
The Phillies tied it in the second when Franco led off the inning with a grounder that Todd Frazier couldn't come up with, and Cody Asche doubled to put runners at second and third with no outs. Herrera grounded to first, scoring Franco. Cueto then struck out Ruiz and got O'Sullivan to ground out to end the inning.
The Reds took the lead back in the top of the third when Phillips led off with a double to right and Votto singled to left.
Byrd, the former Phillie, doubled to right to lead off the fourth, just missing a home run as his ball hit the railing in front of the right-field stands and bounced back into play. But he scored easily when Zack Cozart followed with a double. After a sacrifice bunt by Cueto to move Cozart to third, he scored on a squeeze bunt by Billy Hamilton, giving the Reds a 4-1 lead.
Byrd left the game in the seventh after being hit on the right wrist on a pitch by O'Sullivan in the sixth inning. He was taken for X-rays during the game and replaced by Brennan Boesch.