Bauer's Reds debut yields mixed results

ATLANTA -- Saturday night at SunTrust Park was an opportunity for Trevor Bauer to show his stuff to his new team, the Cincinnati Reds, and confirm that they made a smart move by going for broke in their quest for the playoffs and trading one of their highest-rated prospects, outfielder Taylor Trammell, for him.

Bauer did that, even though he wasn’t at his strongest -- he left trailing, 3-0, in a game the Reds would twice tie, before ultimately falling, 5-4, in 10.

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What the hard-throwing right-hander did show was that he is as advertised -- a driven competitor, with fight and resolve to battle through when he doesn’t have his best stuff.

“His command was off, but he was battling out there,” said acting manager Freddie Benavides. “He’s a horse and you have to leave him out there. He’s a proven veteran and you have to ride with him, hope he finds it. He’s earned that right to stay out there and try to get out of it. He just couldn’t.”

Bauer had mastered the Braves back on April 20 while with Cleveland, holding them to two runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings while racking up 10 strikeouts. On Saturday, he allowed two runs and four hits in the fifth inning alone, giving up three runs overall on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, with 107 pitches (63 strikes) and three walks versus four strikeouts. He hit a batter and uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch, though he later made a nice play at the plate to prevent another run from coming in on a ball that got away from him.

Bauer struggled from the get-go, throwing 27 pitches in the first inning, 18 in the second and 30 in the third. Braves hitters made him work, as third baseman Josh Donaldson saw nine offerings in the first, center fielder Ender Inciarte saw seven in the second, and three different Braves saw at least seven in the fourth, including starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel, who improved upon a .118 batting average with a second-inning single. Bauer had three-ball counts on eight different hitters.

Some of that was due to Atlanta hitters spoiling pitches. The Braves fouled off 26 of Bauer’s 107 offerings, nine of those coming with two strikes, prolonging at-bats.

“They put together some good at-bats,” Bauer said. “That doesn’t happen, though, if I’m ahead in the count more often. I thought my stuff was really good. I just never could quite find the groove where I could locate it where I needed to or even throw it for a strike. I was just behind. When I have good stuff it’s tough, but it’s a lot easier when it’s 2-0, 3-1, all the time.

“I couldn’t find anything I could consistently throw for strikes. So it kind of put [catcher Tucker Barnhart] in a tough position, not knowing, ‘We can always go to this to get ahead.”

Bauer walked a tightrope all night as the Braves put runners in scoring position in every inning. His control issues mirrored those of the Reds’ staff, who allowed eight, one more than hits allowed. But he limited the damage -- with help from former Braves pitcher Lucas Sims, who got the final out of the fifth -- and gave the Reds a chance.

Rookie outfielder Aristides Aquino’s first career home run, a three-run, game-tying blast in the seventh, bailed Bauer out from absorbing the loss on Saturday night. They’ll be counting on Bauer to return the favor the final two months as they make their playoff push.

That starts with going back to the drawing board for Bauer, who did not reach the fifth inning for the second straight start and third time in 2019.

But there’s no panic. He’s looking forward to having some time to get better acquainted and in sync with Barnhart and the other Reds catchers.

“I haven’t had a whole lot of time to talk about it and go over it with how much of a whirlwind it’s been the past couple of days,” said Bauer. “I anticipate that will be much better next time out now that we have a game under our belts and have a bit more time to talk and the flow of a normal baseball routine.

“I’m not an easy person to catch. I appreciate the work those guys do back there. It takes a while to build that relationship, but it goes a lot easier when you have something that you can throw for a strike consistently. I’ve got to clean that up for the next start and I will.”