Cincinnati Reds rookie Rhett Lowder is wasting no time proving he belongs in the big leagues.
The 22-year-old right-hander will search for his first win on Tuesday when the Reds visit the St. Louis Cardinals to open a three-game series.
Lowder (0-1, 0.87 ERA) pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Astros on Thursday in his second major league start. He held Houston to four hits and four walks while striking out three as the Reds eventually won 1-0.
Lowder has made a rapid transition from college baseball to the majors. After coming to the Reds as the seventh overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Wake Forest, he started his professional career this season.
He made five starts at the advanced Class-A level, 16 starts at Double-A and just one start at Triple-A before graduating to the Reds. In his big-league debut, he allowed one run in four innings during a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 30.
“It’s awesome to get up here. I didn’t really try to put a timeline on myself,” Lowder said. “I felt like that was out of my hands. All I could do was go out, try to put together good starts and good innings, and it just happened to be now. This experience is huge. I just want to throw up as many zeros as I can and learn as much as I can.”
That worked against the Astros.
“There’s no question he’s showing he is prepared to be here, pitching big games for us and doing it in a way that shows he knows how to pitch,” Reds manager David Bell said.
Cincinnati catcher Tyler Stephenson added, “You could tell he was a very established, really good college pitcher in just how he handles himself. Changes pitches, mixes speeds, hit all of his spots.”
The Reds (70-75) edged the Atlanta Braves 1-0 on Monday for their sixth victory in eight games, with Nick Martinez, Fernando Cruz and Alexis Diaz combining on a two-hitter.
The Cardinals (72-71) started their homestand by losing two of three games to the Seattle Mariners. They took their first series loss since Aug. 16-18 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
St. Louis will counter Lowder with Andre Pallante (6-7, 4.07 ERA), who is trying to cement his spot in the rotation for this season and beyond.
Pallante struggled with his command in his latest outing, a 9-3 loss at Milwaukee on Sept. 2. He walked five batters in five innings and allowed five runs and five hits, including two homers.
Prior to that defeat, Pallante permitted just seven runs (six earned) in 25 1/3 innings over his previous four starts.
He believed he was overly reliant on his four-seam fastball against the Brewers.
“That should not be a primary pitch,” Pallante said. “Throwing five of them in a row — of any pitch — is a bad idea, especially one that is not my best pitch.
“Really what I’m more upset with is the way I wasn’t throwing my (two-seam) fastball in to righties. That’s a very important pitch for me. That’s the biggest thing I changed. It’s given me a lot of success this year.”
He will try to get back on track against the Reds, a team he has dominated: 5-0 with a 1.31 ERA in 14 games (four starts). This year, Pallante has won both of his starts vs. Cincinnati, firing a combined 11 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out nine and walking six.
The Cardinals hope to get second baseman Brendan Donovan back for the Tuesday game. He missed the previous two with a foot infection.
The Reds’ second baseman might return, too. Jonathan India exited the Sunday game with a sore left elbow and did not play on Monday.
–Field Level Media