Pitchers Audition

Edinson Volquez pitched out of trouble in each of his three innings.

"He has a knack of pitching out of trouble. We'd like him to use more pitch conservation," manager Dusty Baker said.

Volquez allowed six hits and two walks, leaving the bases loaded twice and two men on in his other inning of work. He was unscored upon.

For the second game in a row a big inning doomed the Reds.

Bill Bray was on the mound in the fifth inning in which Tampa Bay scored all seven of its runs.

The inability of Edwin Encarnacion and Jeff Keppinger to come up with slow ground balls, that would have allowed the Reds to escape with a lead. Bray allowed six runs but only one was earned.

Carlos Fisher, who had thrown the ball very well, until recently allowed a three-run home run to Ried Brignac. It was the second straight batter to take Fisher deep. He was the victim of a walkoff home run against the Blue Jays on Sunday.

"If we make a couple defensive plays, we don't have that big inning," Baker said.

This was Micah Owings day to try to nail down the fifth spot in the rotation.

He had a 1.23 ERA in 14.2 innings prior to today.

Owings pitched in a minor league game and the results were vastly different. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing nine hits and seven runs. He struck out five.

Owings also hit a home run in two at bats.

Owings and Homer Bailey appear to be the top two candidates to win the fifth spot in the rotation.