PITTSBURGH -- Walks will haunt, they say. Seven consecutive walks? That's a pitching-staff nightmare.
It happened during a 17-7 rout of a Reds loss to the Pirates on Saturday at PNC Park. And it tied a Major League record that has only happened twice previously, with the last time coming nearly 43 years ago.
In the bottom of the second inning, Reds starting pitcher Rhett Lowder and reliever Connor Phillips combined to give up walks to seven straight batters, resulting in a five-run inning as 10 batters came to the plate without notching a hit.
“No excuses for that. That was bad, but we’ll be back. We’ll be better," said Lowder, who was charged with eight runs, five hits and four walks over only 1 1/3 innings.
Cincinnati trailed by a 5-3 score when Lowder, who already scuffled through a five-run first inning that saw nine men bat while he threw 31 pitches, struck out Oneil Cruz to open the bottom of the second before the wheels came off.
Brandon Lowe drew a walk after being in a 2-2 count. Bryan Reynolds was in a 1-2 count before Lowder lost him to another walk. A four-pitch walk to Ryan O'Hearn loaded the bases and brought out manager Terry Francona to take the ball from his rookie right-hander.
"Really uncharacteristic, I think, of Lowder," Francona said. "He just couldn’t quite reel it in. Obviously we were trying to send him back out hoping we could get some innings, because the last thing you want is a bad day to bleed over into the next day.”
After Cincinnati used its bullpen heavily in Friday's 9-1 loss to the Pirates, Francona turned to a fresh arm in Phillips, who had just walked out to the bullpen from the dugout with Reds relievers after a two-run top of the first inning.
Phillips walked each of his four batters.
“We brought Phillips in, and it just unraveled," Francona said.
“Honestly, it was a pretty quick turnaround for me there. I didn’t really give myself the chance to find it in the bullpen. Rhett was out there battling," Phillips said. "I never gave myself a chance to slow it down. I wished I would have done things a little differently today, preparing-wise, in the bullpen."
Facing Sam Moll, Henry Davis stopped the streak when he grounded to third base and beat out a double play as the rally's fifth run crossed.
According to Elias, the two times a team walked seven straight batters were:
- Aug. 28, 1909: White Sox batting vs. the Washington Senators in the second inning
- May 25, 1983: Jim Bibby and Jim Winn of the Pirates combined to do it in the bottom of the third inning at Atlanta
The record for the most walks issued in an inning (non-consecutively) since at least 1974 is eight -- most recently done by Blue Jays pitchers vs. the Twins on April 17, 2014.
It was also the first time since April 27, 1994, that a team allowed at least five runs in an inning without giving up a hit. That's when the Mariners allowed that line to the Yankees in the third inning.
“I just didn’t really have anything today. I was trying and just couldn’t get back in the zone," said Lowder, who saw his ERA jump from 3.18 to 5.09 in his seventh start.
The struggles were not contained to the first two innings, as the Pirates batted around for the third time in the fourth while putting another five spot on the scoreboard against Brock Burke.
Overall, Pittsburgh collected 19 hits and 11 walks.
There was no drama in the final score, but a dust-up occurred in the seventh inning when Pirates reliever Chris Devenski threw a first-pitch brushback to Sal Stewart.
After a lengthy meeting, the umpires ejected Devenski.
"I saw there was 17 seconds up there, so I just waited a second and called time," Stewart said, referencing the pitch timer. "Then, the next thing you know, the ball was just running through my ribs. I really don’t know what happened. No one wants to get hurt. No one said anything. It was pretty blatant, obviously. I’m glad the umpires took care of it.”
For the second game in a row, and third time in the last four games, Francona turned to backup catcher Jose Trevino to finish the final two innings.
“I just told the guys, ‘This is a humbling game, but we’ll figure things out together. Just keep picking each other up.’ They’ve done a terrific job," Francona said. "The last couple of days have been really difficult. Just come out tomorrow and compete and go from there.”