Pitcher Graham Ashcraft was back with the Reds Wednesday, after getting sent down to Triple-A Louisville for a couple games last week, and back in the majors against the Pirates, Graham struck out 3 batters his first few innings while allowing only 1 Pittsburgh run. Things went downhill after that, when the Pirates started putting homers out of the park, leading a 6-1 Cincinnati loss.
Despite it not going well for him, Ashcraft says he feels close to a breakthrough. The whole team could use that— The Reds have now gotten away to St. Louis, where they open a 3-game series against the Cardinals tonight, with Andrew Abbott starting on the mound against Mike Mikolas.
Be with us for all the action, as Abbott’s 3 & 1 in his 4 starts so far this month. The broadcast arrives on your radio tonight at 7:15, on the Sports Voice, 103.9 WRBI.
One bit of hope for Cincy may be the young guy, since Wednesday was the last day of 3rd-base prospect Noelvi Marte’s 80-game steroid suspension. Team officials seemed to be indicating he could suit up for the Reds as soon as tonight in St. Louis. We shall see…
There could be word soon as well, about Batesville’s Bryan Hoeing. He was expected to pitch a few innings for Triple-A Jacksonville, the Miami Marlins’ biggest farm club Wednesday, as he works to recover from a hamstring injury. Word this week has been that Hoeing should be back in the majors soon.
Although a lot of folks haven’t heard from him for a while, legendary major league pitcher Tommy John is still around. He returned to his hometown of Terre Haute this week, where they held a special “Tommy John Night,” where he was given a key to the city. In September, it’ll be 50 years since he got the very first of the elbow ligament operations that became known as the “Tommy John surgery,” in 1974, when he was with the Dodgers. That’s when John had only been pitching in the majors for 11 years. Afterward, he was able to continue his career 15 more years, ‘til 1989, when he retired as a New York Yankee.
On Night 1 of the NBA draft, both Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Kel’el Ware were selected. Edey goes to the Memphis Grizzlies as the 9th overall pick. Ware was the 15th in the first round, chosen be the Miami Heat. The Pacers didn’t have any picks last evening, but they’ll have 3 coming up in this afternoon’s second round.