Relentless Reds rally in rolling to 5-0 record

JustinVerlander35 · Apr 6, 2011

Buy a ticket to a Reds game with Edinson Volquez starting, and you seem sure to get the range of emotions. You might laugh or cry, cheer or jeer -- all alternating within a span of minutes.

Hey, it's better than "Cats." You'll want to see it again and again.

Volquez survived another rocky beginning on Wednesday, but the Reds stormed back in a 12-4 come-from-behind victory over the Astros to keep their record unblemished at 5-0. Houston, now tagged with a 0-5 record, took a 4-0 first-inning lead on Volquez before the Reds responded with 12 unanswered runs.

"Everybody knows what this ballclub can do," Volquez said. "We've been scoring a lot of runs in the first five games. We did it again tonight."

Although the winning pitcher, Volquez had a line only a mother could love. He allowed four earned runs and five hits with five walks, eight strikeouts and a balk. In the 23-minute top of the first alone, he threw 44 pitches and faced 10 batters -- with three walks (one with the bases loaded). Chris Johnson added a two-run single and J.R. Towles hit a RBI single for the four-run Astros lead.

Volquez (1-0) was reaching 96-97 mph in the early going, and his first six outs came via the strikeout. Reds manager Dusty Baker instructed his pitcher to stop worrying about strikeouts and to put the ball in play for the defense.

"They didn't really get to him. He sort of got to himself," Baker said. "He trusts his stuff. He just trusts all of it, sometimes at the wrong time. He was over-pitching. He was showing every pitch he had to every batter in the very first inning and never really established a location and his fastball."

Even things weren't going well for Volquez as a hitter. In the second inning, he botched a sacrifice bunt and hit into a rather unique 2-5-4 inning-ending double play.

On Opening Day Thursday vs. the Brewers, Volquez threw 30 pitches in the first inning and allowed five runs overall. It took Ramon Hernandez's three-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Reds a win, as Volquez got a no-decision.
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Relentless Reds rally in rolling to 5-0 record

JustinVerlander35 Bringin' the Heat

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Relentless Reds rally in rolling to 5-0 record

JustinVerlander35 Bringin' the Heat

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