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SPORTS

Windup change proves good for Reds' Homer Bailey

C. Trent Rosecrans
crosecrans@enquirer.com
Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey works the mound during the first inning Sunday at GABP.

Homer Bailey looked a little different on Sunday -- it wasn't just the wry smile after shutting down the game's best offense, but it was also how he did it. On Sunday, Bailey implemented a new windup that he tested out on Saturday.

The result was just four hits and one run in 7 1/3 innings against the Colorado Rockies. He struck out six and walked two after changing his windup. Instead of bringing his hands up to just about his chest, as he has done for the last several years, Bailey brought his hands up over his head during his windup -- something he'd done for all his life until sometime after he made the big leagues.

"We knew I had some mechanical faults and I had made so many bad pitches over the course of the season, and bad habits are hard to break sometimes," Bailey said. "So I just needed something to get my timing back. That was one of the things, I thought this would help me stay back over the rubber a little more and drive the ball down."

Bailey entered Sunday's game 2-2 with a 5.36 ERA. Since giving up 13 runs over just 14 1/3 innings in his first three starts, he'd allowed eight runs in his next four (in a total over 26 innings), but the results still weren't where he wanted to be, so Bailey, pitching coach Jeff Pico and assistant pitching coach Mack Jenkins got together to figure out something else they could do to get Bailey back on track.

"We have really good pitching minds," Bailey said. "It was something we collaborated on together, I guess you could say. That's what's so cool about this team, everyone's on the same page."

Pico said those minds thought Bailey may have been tipping his pitches, so the change in delivery could change what hitters saw from Bailey.

"We were looking at stuff earlier, we thought he might be tipping pitching the way he was throwing and coming set in a couple of different spots, so kind of going over his head, we were trying to find the best way to eliminate that and giving the hitters a better chance," Pico said. "He decided to take it right into the game, it was great. I loved it. I think it gave him momentum, it was smooth, it created leverage. He looked so comfortable, too. It made him look really effortless."

Bailey said he'd pitched with a similar motion for most of his career, but took it out sometime early during his time in the big leagues to help simplify his mechanics.

That's something many pitchers have done, Pico said, but he still likes the more old-school windup.

"They stopped doing that and it was short and compacted everything up to really eliminate body parts flying everywhere and getting out of whack," Pico said. "I still like it, I think it can create movement and momentum. As long as you're being consistent, consistently getting to your points, it's like getting a walking lead as opposed to coming from a standstill. It just looked so comfortable for him."

It didn't look comfortable for the Rockies. Bailey went through the order in order in the first three innings, only to give up a solo homer to Charlie Blackmon to lead off the fourth. He'd give up just three more hits during the game.

"Today Bailey wasn't missing, he was throwing everything he wanted to," said Rockies center fielder Corey Dickerson, who followed Blackmon's homer with a single. "He threw a lot of elevated fastballs that looked good -- and then he'd paint the corners."

That's exactly what Bailey did to get out of his biggest jam -- when he walked Justin Morneau to start the fifth and then gave up a ground-rule double to Micahel McKenry, to put the tying run in scoring position.

But he then got LeMahieu and Nicasio to strike out before bringing up the red-hot Blackmon. Bailey got him to pop up weakly to Todd Frazier in foul territory, erasing the threat.

After that, he retired Dickerson, Tulowitzki and Gonzalez on nine pitches in the sixth, and Arenado, Morneau and McKenry on 10 pitches in the seventh.

Bailey gave up a leadoff single to LeMahieu in the eighth and nearly got a double play when he caught pinch-hitter Brandon Barnes' comeback liner and nearly doubled up the runner at first, but he dropped the ball on the transfer and didn't get the throw to first in time. Reds manager Bryan Price first came out to question the call, but then went over to the mound to take Bailey out of the game after 112 pitches.

Left-hander Manny Parra came in to face Blackmon and Dickerson, getting the former to pop up in foul territory to catcher Tucker Barnhart, and the latter to look at a called third strike, ending the inning and setting up Chapman to pick up his first save of the season.

It was Bailey's third win of the season, and he plans to stick with the new old motion -- at least for now.

"It's weird, I did it all my life until then," Bailey said. "It didn't really feel that unnatural. Maybe it'll work today and not work tomorrow. Who knows?"

It worked Sunday.

"That's all that matters now," Bailey said.

And if it doesn't work next time -- "all that's left is throwing left-handed," Bailey joked.