'Exactly what I needed:' Lowder shows resilience in traffic-filled start

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Rhett Lowder's fourth spring game in his bid to make the Reds’ rotation lacked the zeros he enjoyed previously during camp. As the A's came out attacking on Monday, Lowder pivoted from his game plan and found a way to recover.

While throwing 59 pitches (43 strikes), Lowder allowed five runs (three earned) over 3 2/3 innings with seven hits, no walks and four strikeouts in Cincinnati’s 9-7 loss. Four of those runs and four of those hits came in Lowder’s 26-pitch top of the first inning. While there was early hard contact during the rally, some poor defense behind him set the stage for a big inning.

Lowder credited a mound visit from catcher Tyler Stephenson for helping turn the tide.

"They came out swinging on some fastballs. I kind of had to make an adjustment and pitch backwards," Lowder said. "After that mound visit with Steve-o, we realized like, 'All right, we’ve got to pitch backwards, get soft going early.' Smooth sailing from there.”

Lowder gave up a one-out single in the second inning before escaping with a double play on a grounder to third base. He gave up a two-out single in the third inning and a one-out double in the fourth inning. After Lowder exited with two outs in the fourth, Connor Phillips gave up a first-pitch two-run homer to Jeff McNeil.

"In the first inning, I don't think he commanded his fastball like he wanted to,” said manager Terry Francona. “But after that, I thought his breaking ball was good, and the next 2 1/3 [innings] were fine."

In three Cactus League games -- including two starts -- Lowder has a 4.15 ERA with two walks and 11 strikeouts. That doesn't include his three scoreless innings with two hits and three strikeouts last Wednesday vs. Cuba's World Baseball Classic squad.

Lowder, who is ranked by MLB Pipeline as Cincinnati's No. 4 prospect (No. 86 overall), is trying to return to the big leagues after he missed all of 2025 with right elbow and left oblique injuries. He had a 1.17 ERA in six big league starts over the final month of the 2024 season after debuting that August.

“I feel good with what I’ve done," Lowder said of his spring. "I think today was awesome. This is exactly what I needed, especially coming off not getting in many games last year. Getting some traffic, getting behind the count, having to throw different pitches, seeing a mix of righties and lefties. … And I feel like I handled it well after getting that adversity early.”

Three more spring cuts

The Reds made three more cuts on Monday with first baseman/third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand and starting pitcher Chase Petty being optioned to Triple-A Louisville and catcher Michael Trautwein being reassigned to Minor League camp. Cincinnati has 42 players left in camp.

Encarnacion-Strand, 26, always seemed on the periphery for the first-base job in camp. He was overtaken on the depth chart by Gold Glove Award finalist Spencer Steer and Sal Stewart last season and then by Eugenio Suárez, who signed in February. Prone to expanding his strike zone in his big league stints from 2023-25, Encarnacion-Strand showed improvement in camp and batted .333 (5-for-15) with an .800 OPS in six games. That included a nicely hit opposite-field double high off the right-field wall into a stiff wind during the Reds’ 13-4 loss to the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

“The big thing we’ve talked to him about is we’re not trying to turn him into an on-base machine," Francona said. "But if we can get him to swing at pitches over the plate that he can handle, he’s so strong and he can go pole-to-pole. That’s the goal. I thought he actually did a pretty good job this spring. There just wasn’t going to be enough at-bats.

“He’s in a good place. He’s been really good with hitting guys. We kind of reminded him that in Triple-A, you can probably get away with some things out of the zone that you can’t here.”

McLain at shortstop

For the first time this spring, Matt McLain started at shortstop as the Reds played the A's. Cincinnati's usual second baseman, McLain is slated to be the backup shortstop on select days in the regular season when Elly De La Cruz is given a day off.