Cincinnati Reds LHP Nick Lodolo (8-6, 3.08 ERA) leads the Reds' stout rotation in starts, innings and strikeouts. He's 3-0, 0.82 in his last 3 starts.
WASHINGTON – Two of the biggest keys for the Cincinnati Reds this season as they’ve hung at the periphery of the playoff picture this deep into the season are the guy who started the final game on the just-concluded road trip. And the guy who finished it.
That would be Nick Lodolo in both cases.
And that would be just the latest example of how important Lodolo has been to the Reds’ fight to stay within striking distance of the pennant chase as they approach the final two months of the season.
“He looks like the tank is not pointing in the wrong direction,” manager Terry Francona said.
It’s hard to overstate what that has meant to this team this first year under the new manager.
Even within a starting rotation that has been the competitive backbone of the team, Lodolo has stood every bit as tall as his 6-foot-6 frame might suggest. If only by answering the bell every fifth day.
“Huge,” Francona said. “Because that hasn’t happened with a lot of guys here.
“I know when I came here last November, everybody said if we can keep him on the mound he’s going to be fine,” the manager added. “You look at what he can do. It’s been interrupted so many times for so many reasons. Now he’s able to throw a side, he’s able to run, he’s able to work on his craft.
“And you’re starting to see the results.”
Nick Lodolo is breaking Reds career highs
Results like these:
His 21st start of the season July 23 already matched a career high. His first career shutout that day to beat the Nationals gave him a career-high of 122 2/3 innings. And he’ll reach a career high in strikeouts with 19 more.
“So far it’s great,” he said. “I worked really hard to get to a point where I felt I could continuously make turns. That’s been my problem. I’m in a really good spot, and I’m pleased with that.
“Just keep going and take it a turn at a time.”
It sounds simple. But a stress fracture in his leg two years ago lingered through most of that season and into the following spring. And then he spent four stints on the IL last year for a laundry list of ailments that in none of those cases had anything to do with his arm.
“I feel good. I’m pitching consistently, which is definitely helping me,” Lodolo said, “where in the last year it was a couple starts here and stop. That was definitely difficult.”
If his last few starts are any indication, there’s no stopping him now.
Lodolo’s 105 pitches Wednesday marked just the fourth time in his career he’s thrown that many, first since his first two starts of 2023.
And, said Francona, “I thought it was a game where he got stronger, which is a really good sign.”
Technically, it also was his second complete game of the year, having pitched all six innings of a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Twins last month that was called early because of weather.
Reds' Nick Lodolo is pitching as well as he ever has
And that part about getting stronger? In his last three starts, he’s 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA, 19 strikeouts and just one walk allowed across 22 innings.
Who saw that coming, based on the way he and some of the Reds’ other prominent young starting pitchers have spun the turnstile on the injured list the past few years.
Opening Day starter Hunter Greene, for example, has made only three starts since May 7 because of a groin strain. He started a minor-league rehab assignment Wednesday.
“Being able to stay in rhythm and keep going and making turns is definitely helping me,” Lodolo said.
And helping the team in ways that inspire visions of what Lodolo might look like near the front of a playoff rotation?
That might be getting a little ahead of things with so much time left in the season, even if his next start comes against the Dodgers at home.
But that three-game heater has Lodolo’s ERA (3.08) on the cusp of the top 10 in the National League, and he and teammate Andrew Abbott are in the league’s top five in baseball-reference.com pitching WAR.
His four-hitter Wednesday marked the Reds’ first shutout without a walk since Johnny Cueto in 2014.
All of which seems to make Lodolo the poster child for the idea that most of success is all about showing up.
Francona said the Reds are keeping an eye on the workload as Lodolo reaches unchartered waters. But Lodolo and the team also have confidence that the first healthy offseason in years helped prepare him for this moment.
And as far as Lodolo is concerned his team-leading workload to this point is only the beginning for his expectations.
“I would like to not just beat (the career highs),” he said. “I’d like to blow past them.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'Huge': Workhorse Nick Lodolo key for Cincinnati Reds playoff chase
Category: Baseball
