With their most recognizable face back on the field and producing, the Cincinnati Reds look to continue their longest winning streak in more than a decade when they host the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
The Reds enter their Tuesday game against the Rockies having won nine in a row, a run that has propelled them past the Brewers and into sole possession of first place in the National League Central. Winners of 31 of their last 51, the Reds lead Milwaukee by a half-game.
Activated off the 60-day injured list for his first major league game since Aug. 16, 2022, Joey Votto homered and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a two-run single in the sixth during his 2023 season debut, a 5-4 win against the Rockies on Monday night.
Votto returned 10 months after undergoing left shoulder surgery to repair his torn rotator cuff and biceps.
The 39-year-old veteran joined a Reds team that was riding its longest streak since winning 10 straight in July 2012. Votto was the star of that team, the last Reds club to win the NL Central.
“It was a long, daunting rehab,” he said. “You have your doubts. … I mean weeks or months ago doubts. We’re in a perform-based game. … You have to perform. I expect to perform. It’s intimating when you have a surgery like that, and you’re an older player.
“Tonight was a good night for me.”
This is the final guaranteed year of Votto’s 10-year, $225 million contract.
To make room for Votto on the roster, starter Hunter Greene was placed on the 15-day IL because of right hip pain, the same hip that forced him to miss a start two weeks earlier. Greene is 2-4 with a 3.93 ERA in 14 starts in 2023.
The Reds will send right-hander Ben Lively (4-4, 4.07 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday for his first career start against Colorado. However, he did make a relief appearance against the Rockies on May 15, when he took a loss after allowing a run in 2 1/3 innings.
Lively matched a season high with 10 hits allowed against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday in his most recent start. However, he allowed just two runs in 5 2/3 innings to earn his fourth win.
The Rockies will counter with right-hander Noah Davis (0-1, 6.17 ERA). Davis was an 11th-round selection by the Reds in 2018, and he started his professional career in the Cincinnati minor league system in 2019.
Tuesday will mark the fourth major league start of the season for Davis, but his first since allowing seven runs on seven hits in two innings in an 11-4 home loss to Arizona on April 29.
Davis subsequently landed on the IL due to right elbow inflammation. After returning to make one rehab appearance for Albuquerque, he was optioned to the Triple-A club on June 1.
In seven Triple-A starts overall this year, Davis is 0-2 with a 6.31 ERA.
Before the Monday game, Colorado placed shortstop Ezequiel Tovar on the paternity list and selected the contract of Connor Kaiser from Albuquerque to take his place.
Kaiser was 0-for-2 with a strikeout in his major league debut on Monday, batting ninth and playing shortstop. Kaiser, who played at Vanderbilt, was drafted by the Pirates in 2018. He signed a minor league deal with the Rockies last winter.
“The scouting report on Connor is he’s a very capable defender,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “Against a left-handed pitcher (Monday), let’s get him in there, let’s get him his debut. We’ll see, you never know. Maybe in a couple days, we’ll find a little lightning in a bottle and he’ll contribute.”
–Field Level Media
