Jon Moscot returned to the Cincinnati Reds‘ rotation with a bang. The 24-year-old gave up four home runs and seven earned runs in two innings of work on route to a 17-4 thrashing of the pitiful Reds (17-35) by the Colorado Rockies.
Moscot looked like he was throwing Home Run Derby batting practice in his first start with the Reds since April 27.
Moscot was followed by Daniel Wright, who gave up two home runs in 3.1 innings and Dayan Diaz who was blasted for a grand slam.
The seven home run total tied the record for the most home runs given up by Reds’ pitchers in a game. The deed had been done three times before in 1939, 1950 and 1979.
Remarkably, the Reds didn’t set a new team record for most home runs surrendered in a game. The Rockies had their seven long balls after six innings. Only a herculean effort by career minor-leaguer A.J. Morris over two innings prevented the 2016 Reds from being even more historically bad in a class all by themselves.
Morris did give up one earned run in his two innings of work, which added to the overall historically bad ERA of the 2016 Reds’ bullpen.
The 2016 Reds now have the fourth-worst ERA in baseball history at 6.76. The third-worst team in history – the lowly 1950 St. Louis Browns – recorded an ERA of 6.81.
The Reds may improve their bullpen by shifting current starting pitchers to the bullpen once injured starters return from the DL. Moscot was one of those injured starters, but after the merciless shelling he sustained, he’s probably not ready for any role with the Reds just yet.
The next injured starting pitcher slated to return is Anthony DeSclafani, who pitched four innings on Monday in his second minor-league rehab start on the DL. DeSclafani has missed the entire 2016 season so far due to an oblique strain.
The Reds have to hope that DeSclafani will show better in his return to the rotation than Moscot did.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
The post Jon Moscot pitches Cincinnati Reds to historically bad game appeared first on OutsidePitchMLB.