Test run for Mesoraco:
Wacha (1-0) allowed three hits and a run, striking out six and walking one. The Cardinals ended a three-game skid and stopped the Reds’ three-game winning streak.
Wacha went 17-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 30 starts in 2015, but struggled a year ago, going 7-7 with a 5.09 ERA in 138 innings. He earned the fifth spot in the rotation with a strong spring, posting a 2.42 ERA in 26 innings over seven starts.
“I was able to establish the fastball down in the zone and was able to work that changeup off it, and I was able get some swings and misses on it,” Wacha said.
The Reds called up the 40-year-old Arroyo (0-1) to make the start. The righthander, who spent 2½ years out of the major leagues with elbow and shoulder troubles, allowed six earned runs on six hits over four innings, with three strikeouts and three walks.
Diaz hit a solo homer in the first inning. He hit a twoout, three-run drive in the fourth after Wacha extended the inning with his 14th hit in 143 career at-bats.
“Yeah, that killed me,” Arroyo said of Wacha’s single. “You know we get the pitcher out there it’s 2-1 and I’m going into the fifth and you’re looking pretty good and keeping yourself in the ballgame. But I opened up a can of worms there I just couldn’t put the lid back on, and Diaz hurt me twice. Both of them were the two worst pitches I threw all day.” Catcher Devin Mesoraco (right hip) was scheduled to catch seven innings for Double-A Pensacola on Saturday night. He caught six innings Thursday
Brice makes brief appearance:
Right-hander Austin Brice (ulnar nerve inflammation, right elbow) made his first rehab appearance for Pensacola on Friday, striking out two in a 13-pitch inning.
Cardinals’ Piscotty sits:
Outfielder Stephen Piscotty (knee) was out of the starting lineup after injuring his knee sliding into second base on a steal attempt on Friday.
Today’s pitching matchup:
Scott Feldman (0-1, 5.79) will start for the Reds. Feldman took the loss in his season debut, allowing three earned runs on seven hits in 4⅔ innings against the Phillies on opening day. He will make his second career appearance against the Cardinals. His opponent will be right-hander Carlos Martinez (0-0, 0.00), who struck out 10 in 7⅓ scoreless innings in the season opener against the Cubs. He is 5-1 with a 2.76 ERA in 16 appearances (five starts) against Cincinnati.
While White Sox slugger Todd Frazier looks at Wins Above Replacement, runs saved and other modern stats, he admits some of the computations don’t register.
He’s not anti-analytics, but prefers the eye test.
“I don’t understand most of it, to be honest,” Frazier said. “I understand basically if you’re a ballplayer or not. The best compliment you can get is if a guy comes up to you or tells somebody ‘That guy is a ballplayer,’ or ‘That guy can play.’
“They don’t worry about numbers. But at the end of the day, when you look at that baseball card, what do you do? You look at the numbers on the back. Some look pretty. Some don’t.”
As baseball nears the third decade of the 21st century, some of the numbers on the backs of baseball cards are increasingly ugly.
A record 38,983 strikeouts were recorded in major league baseball in 2016, an average of 21.1 percent of at-bats. Strikeout totals have risen every season since 2005, and don’t show any signs of going down.
The players don’t seem to mind and fans now are accustomed to the new norm. Home runs also went from 4,186 in 2014 to 5,610 last year, a 34 percent rise, so it’s a trade-off many can accept.
The simple explanation for the increase is the rise in velocity among strong, young pitchers.
“It’s just part of that’s how it is,” Angels center fielder Mike Trout said. “Pitchers are throwing harder, and have nasty stuff.”
Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant concurs, suggesting the higher strikeout totals are a byproduct of harder throwers, especially toward the end of games.
“It’s just where things are going with pitchers, how good they’re getting,” Bryant said. “It seems like every reliever is coming in throwing upward of 100 mph, and obviously that’s tough to hit. But it has been around for a couple of years now.
“For myself, it’s all about improving.”
Few complain about the strikeouts of Trout or Bryant, the reigning MVPs of their respective leagues. Frazier hit a career-high 40 home runs in 2016 with 163 strikeouts, and his 24.5 percent strikeout rate was 21st highest in the majors.
Still, he wound up 28th in RBIs (98) and could have been higher if he had hit better in the clutch. Frazier, a former Red in his second year with the Sox, batted .169 with runners in scoring position, 18th worst among players with 50 or more at-bats.
Frazier said he needed to work on his RISP, but believes the strikeouts are something that “comes with” being a slugger.
“If you try to hit the long ball, sometimes you’re going to be late,” he said. “Some guys guess at pitches. If they get that pitch, most of the time they don’t miss it. My strikeouts were up last year, but I’m not really worried. I know it’s going to come.”
After having a league-leading 199 strikeouts in 2015, his Rookie of the Year season, Bryant cut his total to 154 last year. He also sliced his strikeout rate from 30.6 percent in 1915 — third-worst in the majors — to 22 percent. Keeping that rate around 20 to 22 percent or less “would be great,” Bryant said.
“To me it’s not necessarily looking at the number of strikeouts because it’s all dependent of what kind of team you play on and how many at-bats you get,” he said. “I look at the percentage, and that’s a good percentage for me.”
Frazier said he would like to average less than one strikeout per game. “You don’t want to be over 162,” he said. “I was pretty close last year, but it’s baseball. Some days are better than others. And home runs win games.”