If Nick Masset is doing nothing else, he is keeping writers and fans off the back of Coco Cordero.
Last season, I usually became sick in the ninth inning when I saw the wild bull come in from the bullpen. It seemed (although it really wasn’t) as though every time he entered the game he either blew a save or came so close I put a curse on him.
That is gone now, my friends. Masset is now the reliever most likely to implode. The Reds have lost three games and two of them go right into the line of Masset’s statistics.
He has made three appearances during this young season, the first being during the second game with the Milwaukee Brewers. He came into the game in the eighth inning with the Reds on top 4-1. He actually received a “hold” for that game. He gave up a single and recorded two strikeouts.
We didn’t see him again until game six against Houston. Sam LeCure had started and pitched satisfactorily, leaving after five innings in a 2-2 game. Jordan Smith pitched two innings and allowed only one hit.
In the eighth inning Masset struck out his first two batters before surrendering a single and a walk. A weak groundout saved him for another inning.
In the ninth inning and the game still knotted at 2-2, he gave up a single before recording to flyouts. He then allowed a single and a run-scoring double before the Astros ended the inning with a groundout.
That was the Reds first taste of defeat this season, and it certainly tasted most foul.
After splitting the first two games with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Reds had relinquished a five-run lead. After Jonny Gomes hit a two-run jack in the seventh inning, Cincinnati was back on top 7-6.
The score stayed the same until Masset relieved Aroldis Chapman to begin the eighth inning. Masset was all over the place, throwing 27 pitches and giving up a three-run bomb to Chris Young to end the scoring.
The Reds had chances in the ninth with the bases loaded and one out, only to have Juan (Willy Mo) Francisco and Jay Bruce go down swinging to lose the first series of the young year.
With a loss in each of his last two outings, it will be interesting to see in what circumstances Dusty Baker uses him in next.
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