Cincinnati Reds vs Colorado Rockies Box Score on Jul 04, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jul 4, 2017

DENVER -- After two miserable starts that yielded scant progress, Homer Bailey took a sizeable step forward on the comeback trail Tuesday night.

The erstwhile Cincinnati Reds ace held the Colorado Rockies to one run in six innings and earned his first win since Aug. 17, 2016, as the Reds routed the Rockies 8-1.

Cincinnati evened the four-game series at one game apiece.

Three surgeries limited Bailey to just 10 starts dating from Sept. 5, 2014. Two of those outings came late last month at Washington and against Milwaukee. The games left Bailey with a 27.00 ERA as he worked a combined 4 2/3 innings and was strafed for 12 hits, three of them homers, and 14 runs.

Bailey (1-2) was very efficient Tuesday, though, throwing 65 of 99 pitches for strikes. He gave up eight hits, all singles, with no walks and three strikeouts.

He got an inning-ending double play in the first when the Rockies scored their lone run and stranded runners at second and third in the fifth with the Reds leading 4-1.

Rockies starter Kyle Freeland (8-7) yielded five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs in the first three innings, all with two outs, and lost his third consecutive start.

The Reds broke the game open against struggling Adam Ottavino in the eighth when Scott Schebler hit his 21st homer and pinch hitter Scooter Gennett belted a two-run homer to make it 8-1. Gennett's third career pinch-hit homer gave him 14 long balls for the season, tying the career high he set last year.

Ottavino allowed one run in three innings. He has been scored upon in five of his past six games and has a 23.14 ERA in that 4 2/3-inning stretch, raising his overall ERA to 6.00.

Jose Peraza gave the Reds a 5-1 lead when he belted his fourth homer with one out in the sixth. He connected on the 92 mph fastball Freeland threw on a full count.

Freeland then walked No. 8 hitter Tucker Barnhart, ending his outing. In his past three starts, Freeland has a 7.27 ERA.

The Reds packed four runs into the first three innings, scoring all of them with two outs.

Jose Peraza's RBI single in the third gave Cincinnati a 4-1 lead. The ball dropped in front of left fielder Raimel Tapia, who has shown hesitancy coming in on balls.

Peraza's hit was the third straight two-out single off Freeland.

Billy Hamilton's two-run single in the second gave the Reds a 3-1 lead. Schebler led off the inning with a double, and Freeland walked No. 8 hitter Tucker Barnhart with one out. Bailey sacrificed him to second, putting runners at second and third, and Hamilton followed with a single to short left.

The teams traded runs in the first, the Reds scoring on Adam Duvall's RBI double. The hit scored Hamilton, who opened the game with a single.

The Rockies retaliated with three straight one-out hits, the last by Carlos Gonzalez that drove in a run and put runners on first and second. But Bailey got slumping Mark Reynolds to ground into a double play.

NOTES: Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (testicular cancer) threw 25 pitches to hitters in his first live batting practice session. He will face hitters again Friday. ... Colorado 1B Mark Reynolds' single in the sixth broke a string of 18 consecutive hitless at-bats. ... Rockies OF Gerardo Parra (right quad strain) began what is expected to be a three-game rehab assignment with Triple-A Albuquerque, playing five innings in left field and going 0-for-2. ... Rockies 2B DJ LeMahieu, who left the Monday game in the ninth with right groin soreness, did not play Tuesday on a planned rest day. ... Reds CF Billy Hamilton was back in the lineup after not playing Monday due to lower back stiffness. He went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. ... Cincinnati SS Zack Cozart returned to the lineup after a scheduled day off Monday as he eases his way back from a right quad strain that sidelined him for four weeks.