Ross Ohlendorf made his first start since the Pirates second game of the season on April 7th. He has been suffering from back-related issues, but he appears to be near 100% and ready to be fully back in the rotation. Last night Ross gave the Pirates 4 solid innings, but did not have his best stuff and was very inefficient.
Ohlendorf gave up only 1 earned run on 3 hits while striking out 3 yesterday. However, he walked 4 and threw 84 pitches in those 4 innings. 47 of his pitches were strikes, which is just over 50% and not what you want to see from one of your best starters.
The good news yesterday was that Ross looked hard to hit. Although we did not get a very long look at him since he only pitched those 4 innings, the Reds could only muster 3 hits and that is a good thing to see. The one run he allowed was on two consecutive hits in the 4th, but other than those couple batters no one was hitting him hard at all. The other note of good news was that Ross showed the ability to get batters out in big situations. He left 6 runners on base in his 4 innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the 4th when he got Orlando Cabrera to ground out to shortstop.
The bad news yesterday was that Ross clearly didn't have his best stuff. His fastball was consistently between 90 and 92 mph. While his career average fastball speed is just under 92 miles per hour, more recently he has shown the ability to get it up or 94 or 95. It was his first start back after missing over a month, so I'm sure the stuff will improve.
All-in-all it was a very positive comeback for Ross, and I'm expecting him to have a very solid 2010 season.
Unfortunately the Pirates lost the game 2-1, as the offense couldn't get anything going off of Bronson Arroyo, Arthur Rhodes, and Francisco Cordero. Ronny Cedeno was responsible for the Pirates only run with his solo home run in the 8th. That really could have been enough to send the game to extra innings if not for another Andy LaRoche error that allowed Joey Votto to reach first on a groundball in the 8th, he would score on the next at bat when Scott Rolen doubled. LaRoche's defense had been very solid all year, but the past couple games his play has been very mediocre.
The Pirates will look to bounce back tonight as they send Charlie Morton to the hill to face Johnny Cueto and the Reds for the 2nd game of the 3 game set.
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