CINCINNATI -- With a homer surrendered by Blake Wood to Jung Ho Kang in the seventh inning of Friday's 9-7 loss to the Pirates, the Reds' bullpen has set the Major League record for home runs allowed in a single season with 93.
The Reds tied the record on Wednesday when Ross Ohlendorf allowed a homer to Milwaukee's Domingo Santana. The record was previously held by the 1964 Athletics. The homer also put them at 236 homers allowed as a staff, tying the 2004 club record. It also places them within three of the National League record, set by the 2001 Rockies, and five of the all-time record for homers allowed by a staff, set at 241 by the 1996 Tigers.
"You have to do special things to put up special numbers -- unfortunately this special thing is not something we're terribly proud of at all," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We're not going to blame it on the ballpark, either. This isn't a ballpark-related issue. It's not like we're giving up a bunch of Front Row Joe home runs. The ball has to be hit relatively well to go out of the ballpark. We've given up a lot. There's no other way to describe it. Obviously, a record-setting amount of home runs."
Ohlendorf has allowed the most homers among the Reds relievers with 13, followed by J.J. Hoover and Josh A. Smith at nine and Jumbo Díaz at 8 and Keyvius Sampson and J.C. Ramirez with seven each.
"We've had a lot of guys that have pitched for us this year that weren't ready to play at this level," Price said. "We had to do that because of the injuries and the lack of depth in the organization. We have to get better in those areas."
While the Reds' bullpen has been maligned this season, it's been much better since Raisel Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen returned in late June. In the first three months of the season, the bullpen posted a 6.04 ERA and allowed 62 homers. Since July 1, it has a 3.66 ERA and had allowed 31 homers.