And that’s where they found Chase Anderson, who recently opted out of a minor league contract with the Tampa Bay Rays and signed a minor league deal with the Reds. The 34-year-old right hander has been released by four major league teams.
He was the sacrificial lamb Monday night in Great American Ball Park against the St. Louis Cardinals. Chase was chased after 1 1/3 innings.
And the expected unfolded: St. Louis 13, Cincinnati 4, the 13th win in 16 games for the first-place Cardinals.
Anderson, the 33rd different pitcher to toe the rubber for the Reds this season, gave up five runs on four hits during a 36-pitch cameo appearance.
The Cardinals scored eight runs on eight hits in the first three innings and neither Paul Goldschmidt nor Nolan Arenado reached base. Everybody else did.
Anderson retired the first four Cardinals before giving a one-out home run in the second to Tyler O’Neill, a 423-foot upper deck shot, a distance that would have made the Artemis moon rocket proud.
After O’Neill’s home run, the Cardinals ran the bases like a carnival carousel … eight straight players reached base against Anderson and Ross Detwiler.
Albert Pujols singled, Corey Dickerson singled, Andrew Knizner walked to fill the bases, Tommy Edman doubled (3-0 and Detwiler replaced Anderson), Lars Nootbar singled (4-0), Brendan Donovan singled (6-0).
Reds’ fans did not see their team do much, but they saw part of ongoing history in the third inning. After Detwiler walked O’Neill to open the third, Pujols drove his 694th career home run into the right field seats to make it 8-0.
With an eight-run lead, St. Louis pitcher Miles Mikolas relaxed and pitched as if sitting in a La-Z-Boy recliner for four innings, no runs, three hits.
He relaxed too much in the fifth and watched three basesballs leave the premises.
Poker-hot T.J. Friedl homered, Stuart Fairchild launched a 431-foot home run. Fairchild is batting .128 and has only five hits this season, four of them home runs. After Colin Moran walked, Chuckie Robinson drilled his first career home run, a 388-footer and it was 8-4.
When Jonathan India singled, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, Mikolas was removed, two outs shy of qualifying for the win after he was given an 8-0 lead.
Chris Stratton replaced Mikolas and walked Jake Fraley, putting runners on second and first with one out. Kyle Farmer struck out and Donovan Solano grounded out, leaving the Cardinals gasp a bit with their 8-4 lead.
It stayed that way only until the Cardinals came to bat for the sixth and scored four runs off Reiver Sanmartin and Hunter Strickland.
Sanmartin walked Nootbar to open the inning. Donovan hit a double play ball to third baseman Solano and he threw the ball away, putting runners on third and second.
Strickland replaced Sanmartin to face Goldschmidt, who had struck out three times. This time he grounded out and the runners held. But Arenado picked on the first pitch and shot a two-run double off the left center wall. O’Neill homered for the second time and it was 12-4.
The game’s start was delayed an hour-and-a-half by rain and another delay of 30 minutes hit after the top of the sixth.
After using seven pitchers, the Reds did the surrender thing, the embarrassment of using a position player to pitch. Infielder Alejo Lopez pitched the ninth.
And, of course, Corey Dickerson led the ninth with a home run to make the score 13-4.
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