CINCINNATI -- In a unique move to squeeze a game into a brief window without rain over Cincinnati, the Reds moved Saturday's game vs. the Padres up one hour to 3:10 p.m. ET on only a few hours notice. For routine-oriented starting pitchers like Matt Harvey, this could have been a problem.
Harvey wasn't thrilled about the improvisation but there was no way one could tell during a mostly exceptional six-inning performance for a 7-2 rain-shortened win over San Diego at Great American Ball Park. Harvey struck out 10 batters while giving up two earned runs, four hits and three walks. He was boosted, offensively, by a seven-run bottom of the second inning that featured Joey Votto's grand slam.
"I think it was definitely a first for waking up and kind of going through the routine and then having the pitching coach call and say it was an [hour] earlier," Harvey said. "Usually, it goes the other way and gets pushed back. I think we all came in and we were shocked that it was moved forward."
Despite the earlier first pitch, Harvey came out dealing in the top of the first inning. The right-hander struck out the side on 10 pitches with seven swings-and-misses as his fastball touched 96 mph.
"It was kind of one of those days where everything was coming out pretty good," Harvey said. "I could tell in the bullpen - I don't know if it was one of those where you kind of have [irritation about] coming in and feeling like you got rushed. Fortunate enough, I was able to kind of settle down and pretty much let the pitches work."
The only rough patch for Harvey came in the top of the fourth inning. Hunter Renfroe hit a leadoff single before Eric Hosmer launched a two-run homer into the left-center-field seats. After a one-out triple by Austin Hedges got by Billy Hamilton in center field, Harvey walked the next two batters to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Francisco Mejia just missed three RBIs when his drive to right field hooked foul by inches.
Harvey rebounded and struck out Mejia and Freddy Galvis to escape the jam and went on to retire his final eight batters.
"He used a high fastball to get Galvis," Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. "He really reared back -- it looked like it was up and away and got a little extra on it. After the foul ball that Mejia hit, he did a great job on that pitch of driving it down low to where he swung at a breaking ball in the dirt. Those were the big at-bats for me."
Harvey's strikeout of Cory Spangenberg to end the top of the sixth gave him 10 strikeouts in a game for the first time since May 8, 2016, when he pitched for the Mets. Jared Hughes took over for the top of the seventh and gave up a soft one-out infield single before the game was halted and the tarp brought onto the field. Following a one-hour, 13-minute delay, the game was called.
"I'd like to applaud the decision to start the game early, because if we didn't, we wouldn't have got the five innings in," Riggleman said. "It was a great decision by the people who made that decision. Matt was throwing the ball very well, we had a nice rally in the second inning. Good, clean baseball, considering the conditions that we were playing in."
In his last six starts, Harvey is 2-1 with a 3.37 ERA. The Reds opted to not deal him ahead of the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline and then pulled him back from waivers last month when the Brewers made a claim and a trade could not be worked out. Harvey will go into free agency this winter and speculation is sure to follow whether his career resurrection with Cincinnati could make it possible for the Reds to sign him.
That was likely far from Harvey's mind Saturday amid rainy conditions, and a moved-up first pitch. During the game, he rarely had to shake off pitch selections from catcher Curt Casali and often pumped fastballs to San Diego's hitters.
"I was able to locate the fastball down in the zone pretty early in the count and get some foul balls when I needed to, and obviously elevate," Harvey said. "When I'm able to accumulate a lot of strikeouts, it's usually up in the zone. It's a good weapon to have."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Big rally: Cincinnati sent 11 men to the plate in the second inning against Padres starter Robbie Erlin. Brandon Dixon's RBI single scored Eugenio Suarez for the game's first run. Next was Harvey's perfect bunt single between the mound and third base that loaded the bases and led to Hamilton's sacrifice fly that scored Casali. Scott Schebler added an RBI single that scored Dixon and reloaded the bases for Votto.
Votto slugged a 2-1 fastball from Erlin into the right-field seats for a grand slam that was his 10th homer of the season. It was his first homer since July 9, ending a 36-game drought that was the second-longest of his career.
"Supposed to be a fastball down and away, and it was middle-up, maybe middle-in," Erlin said. "Probably the area to stay away from with him. Very poorly executed pitch. He's Joey Votto. He's going to do what he does with that."
SOUND SMART
In the fifth inning, Votto drew his 100th walk of the season. It marked his sixth season with at least 100 walks, tying Joe Morgan's club record.
UP NEXT
Tyler Mahle will step back into the rotation, replacing Homer Bailey, when the four-game series vs. the Padres concludes at the newly set 4:10 p.m. ET on Sunday. The originally scheduled 1:10 p.m. start was pushed back because of rain in the forecast. Jacob Nix is scheduled to pitch for San Diego. Mahle was 7-9 with a 4.95 ERA in 22 starts before he was optioned to Triple-A Louisville in early August. After he went 4-0 with a 2.04 ERA in seven starts from June 1-July 6, he was 0-3 with a 16.88 ERA over his last four big league starts. Mahle posted a 2.73 ERA in five starts for Louisville ahead of his September callup.