“His hip is a little cranky,” manager Bryan Price said about Davis before Sunday’s game against Boston, the Reds’ final home game of the season. “He felt it for about three weeks, but it wasn’t as big a hindrance as it is now.”
McGuire, Toronto’s 2011 first-round draft pick and that year’s 11th overall selection, was signed as a minor league free agent in February and spent the season starting for Double-A Pensacola. He was 9-9 with a 2.79 earned-run average in 28 games, including 27 starts, while striking out 170 batters and walking 57 in 168 innings. He led the Southern League in starts, strikeouts and innings and the Cincinnati organization in strikeouts and was named to the mid-season Southern League all-star team.
He started Game One of the Southern League championship series and became the first Blue Wahoos pitcher to turn in eight shutout innings with zero walks and as many as 13 strikeouts.
The Richmond, Va., native, who is pitching in the major leagues for the first time in his seven-year professional career, was called up after Pensacola’s playoff season ended. He hasn’t allowed a run in 5 2/3 innings over four appearances.
“He makes the most sense to start right now,” Price said. “It’s an opportunity to see what kind of fit he’ll be moving forward. He’s got the full arsenal. He’s a strike thrower, controls the running game – showing some competitiveness.”
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound McGuire, 28, is relishing the opportunity.
“Any time you get the opportunity to pitch in the major leagues, it’s a big deal,” he said. “I’ve been challenging people, throwing strikes. I’m throwing all four pitches for strikes.”
Right-hander Homer Bailey (5-9, 6.96 earned-run average) is Cincinnati’s scheduled Wednesday starter, and rookie right-hander Sal Romano (5-7, 4.43) is projected to start on Thursday.
Davis, who was on the 10-day disabled list for two weeks with a right forearm problem in April and spent most of the season with Triple-A Louisville, will be shut down for the rest of the season, Price said. He finishes 1-3 with an 8.63 ERA in seven games, including six starts.
The pitchers for the final three regular season games of the 2017 season against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago next season had yet to be announced.
The Reds have won two of their last three series in Milwaukee and six of the last nine games against the Brewers, who went into Sunday’s game against the Cubs at Miller Park in second place in the National League Central Division, 4 ½ games behind Chicago and one-half game ahead of third-place St. Louis. Milwaukee was in third place in the wild-card standings, one game behind second-place Colorado.
Cincinnati is 6-10 against the defending World Series-champion Cubs, including 2-5 at Wrigley Field.
Steady progress: Right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, Cincinnati’s projected Opening Day starter who missed the entire season after developing an elbow problem, threw 64 pitches over three innings in a simulated game in Arizona on Saturday, Price reported.
The next step is throwing 80-85 pitches over five innings in an Instructional League game, Price sais.
“I’m hoping to see him pitch when I get home,” said Price, who makes his off-season home in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Still ahead: Center fielder Billy Hamilton returned to the starting lineup on Sunday, his second appearance since being activated from the 10-day disabled list after missing almost two weeks with a fractured left thumb.
Despite the absence, Hamilton went into Sunday’s game still leading the major leagues with 58 stolen bases. He led Miami’s Dee Gordon by two.
Hamilton would be the first Reds player to lead the National League in stolen bases since Bobby Tolan with 57 in 1970.
Hamilton was leading the major leagues in stolen bases each of the last two seasons before suffering season-ending injuries in September.
Attendance slips: The Reds needed a crowd that was roughly double the Great American Ball Park capacity on Sunday to equal last season’s total home attendance. They went into the game having drawn 1,811, 372 for their first 80 home games and needed 82,713 to match last year’s total of 1,894,085.
They had to settle for drawing the fewest fans since the 2009 team attracted 1,747,919 to the ballpark.
Saturday’s loss guaranteed that Cincinnati would finish the 2017 season with a losing home record for the third consecutive season. The Reds went into Sunday’s game with a 39-41 home record.
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