Photo: Doug Gray
Last night the Cincinnati Reds needed nearly four hours to pull off an 11-inning win over the San Diego Padres. While Sal Stewart’s home run proved to be the game winner it was multiple relievers stepping up in big ways throughout the night to get the game to a point where Stewart could put on his cape and be the hero.
With that, though, comes an exhausted bullpen. Chase Burns threw 5.1 innings of the game, but with extras that mean that six relievers covered the final 5.2 innings. Even with a day off on Thursday, Cincinnati needs an arm for the bullpen just in case Brady Singer has a shorter outing or the game winds up in extra innings once again. That extra arm is right-handed starter Chase Petty. He’s coming up from Triple-A Louisville and rookie reliever Zach McCambley is being optioned to the minor leagues.
Petty was the probable starter tonight for Louisville and is on full rest, so he should be able to give the Reds plenty of pitches today if he’s asked to. In his last start against Memphis he struck out seven batters and allowed two runs for the Bats in 6.0 innings. In May he made two spot starts with the Reds and threw 10.2 innings between the two games and allowed three runs in his first start and four in his second. Cincinnati lost the first game when the Cubs scored two runs in the bottom of the 9th to walk it off. They won the second game in 11 innings when they walked off the St. Louis Cardinals.
Zach McCambley joined the Reds organization in late May when he was acquired in the trade with the Miami Marlins that sent outfielder Rece Hinds to his home state of Florida in the deal. He pitched in two games for Louisville before being called up in early June to join Cincinnati. McCambley didn’t allow a run in either of his first two outings, throwing 0.2 and 2.1 innings in those two appearances. But in his last outing on Monday against the Padres he gave up three runs on four hits.