Today’s game
Today: Rockies (Jimenez 7-9) at Reds (Bailey 2-2)
When: 7:10 p.m.
Radio: WONE-AM (980); WLW-AM (700)
TV: FS Ohio
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»Hal McCoy answers questions on the Reds that you won't see in the newspaper or on our Web site. It's only available in our free weekly Reds Connection e-mail. DaytonDailyNews.com/newsletters
CINCINNATI — Was an ironic message being delivered from the baseball gods to Cincinnati Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty after he traded two of the team’s top pitching prospects earlier in the day?
Jocketty traded third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and tossed in young pitchers Josh Roenicke, a future closer, and Zach Stewart, a future starter, to pry 34-year-old third baseman Scott Rolen away from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Fast forward a few hours, and the Reds and Colorado Rockies are tied in the eighth inning when 39-year-old David Weathers arrives from the bullpen. All week prior to the nonwaiver trade deadline, Weathers believed he would be traded.
Instead, there he was in the eighth inning, giving up home runs on back-to-back pitches to Chris Iannetta and Carlos Gonzalez, the runs needed to hang a 5-3 defeat on the Reds.
“It’s not the first time I’ve done that, and I’m sure it won’t be the last,” said Weathers. “But when your team is scuffling, like we are, that’s the last thing you need.
“We’ve found every way you can to lose a ballgame,” he added. “That’s the one thing about this team. Nobody is pointing fingers, because really nobody can. It has been a collective unit.”
Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips went back-to-back in the sixth inning against Hamilton’s Aaron Cook to tie it 3-3, only the second time this year the Reds have hit consecutive home runs.
Justin Lehr, making his major-league starting debut, gave up three runs, four hits and six walks in five innings, but was not the pitcher of record as the Reds lost for the 10th time in 11 games and fell a dozen games under .500.
The Rockies are managed by Hamilton native Jim Tracy, who took over on an interim basis when Clint Hurdle was fired and the Rockies were 18-28. Under Tracy, Colorado is 38-19.
Yet the Rockies remain eight games out of first place in the National League West. They should be in the NL Central. Why? They’ve won 12 straight over the Reds and the rest of that division.
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