Photo: Doug Gray
The Cincinnati Reds are activating right-handed starting pitcher Rhett Lowder from the 15-day injured list today so he can start later this afternoon against the St. Louis Cardinals. To make room for him on the 26-man roster the club is optioning right-handed reliever Luis Mey to Triple-A Louisville where he will rejoin the Bats bullpen.
Mey was called up this past week, joining the Reds on June 2nd from Louisville to help provide some innings and depth to the bullpen. He only pitched in one game this time during his stay and things didn’t go well. On Friday he entered the game in the 6th inning with two runners on base and he allowed both of them to score. He would give up one hit, walk three batters, hit another batter, record just one out, and also be charged with two earned runs of his own. That’s 0.1 innings pitched and four runs scoring for St. Louis while he was on the mound. Cincinnati would wind up losing that game 10-3 after the Cardinals scored six runs in that 6th inning to put the game away.
Rhett Lowder is returning to the rotation after missing the last month with a shoulder issue. On May 7th he had to exit his start against the Chicago Cubs in the 4th inning. While he continued throwing after being placed on the 15-day injured list he didn’t go out on a rehab start until June 2nd when he joined Triple-A Louisville in Memphis to make a start against the Cardinals affiliate. In that start he threw 70 pitches with 50 strikes in his 5.0 innings. The Redbirds had six hits and scored three runs that day, but Lowder didn’t walk a batter and he had eight strikeouts. Lars Nootbaar, who is starting for St. Louis today, was also rehabbing that day and went 0-3 with a strikeout against Lowder.