Hitting pitcher to face D-Backs

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By Hal McCoy, Staff Writer Updated 4:12 AM Tuesday, May 12, 2009

PHOENIX — When Micah Owings fills out his 1040, does he list his occupation as pitcher/hitter or hitter/pitcher?

Right now, hitter should go first because he is batting .333 with a home run and three doubles in 18 at-bats. His pitching record is 2-3 with a 5.08 earned run average.

Owings hopes to improve upon the pitching part of his vocation tonight when the Cincinnati Reds right-hander faces his old team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that traded him last August 11 to the Reds for Adam Dunn.

Reds manager Dusty Baker remembered spring training, when pitchers were not supposed to be hitting, “But I walked by the indoor cage and there was this guy hitting. He had on a helmet with flaps on boths sides, so I couldn’t see him very well. He was smacking the ball and I thought, “Nice stroke. Must be a minor-leaguer. It was Micah.”

Baker knows the value of a pitcher who does more with a bat than use it for a walking cane.

“With 12 pitchers on your staff, it leaves you short on the bench,” said Baker. “Owings gives us six guys on the bench while other teams have only five.”

Owings, though, is more interested in facing his old teammates on the mound than in the batter’s box. “I know them pretty well and they know me pretty well,” said Owings of the D-Backs. “I came here with the Reds in September, and it helped me get over the feeling of facing old teammates.”

His home run was Sunday, a pinch-hit blast on a 3-and-2 count in the ninth with two outs and it tied the game, 7-7, but the St. Louis Cardinals won it in the 10th, 8-7. Jerry Hairston Jr. started the ninth with a home run.

After Sunday's game, Jay Bruce said, "That's backyard stuff where you imagine hitting a game-winning home run on 3-and-2 with two outs in the ninth."

Owings laughed and said, "As a kid I can remember doing that stuff with my little brother in the backyard, but we put it on a little more of a grand scale, like the World Series.

"I heard Dusty before the ninth inning telling Hairston, 'Stay in it, we can win this game. That was encouraging and when I got in the box I was just trying to keep things going."

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