Rank relief: John Maine is the sacrificial lamb for Jeffrey Loria

By Taylor on April 19, 2013

John Maine turns to watch Todd Frazier’s hit clear the wall.

Not too many people would have picked the Marlins against the Reds even with rookies Tony Cingrani and Jose Fernandez on the mound. The Reds tagged Fernandez for 5 runs through four innings and then they decide to send John Maine in. John Maine did not pitch well. here is what he did in the 5th:

Here’s the talley: 3 singles, 4 walks, and 1 wild pitch. It was about to get really ugly, but Joey Votto grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the inning. On the intentional walk him almost hit Devin Mesoraco in the head twice…impressive. The core was 5-1 before the 5th and 9-1 after. You’d think that’d be it for Maine. Nope. They ran him back out for the 6th inning. He still did not pitch well.

This isn’t as bad, but a walk and a home run put another 2 on the board for the Reds. He did strike out the side though. Just a little hiccup in between. I get that the Marlins were saving their bullpen, but these were two brutal innings.