Bearcats in the Big Leagues: Harrison Pinch Hits, Does No Damage Against Cincinnati

Josh Harrison

After a nagging leg issue kept him sidelined for a couple of days, Harrison made a small cameo in the Pirates’ 5-2 loss to the Reds on Wednesday. With Pittsburgh trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Harrison pinch hit for recent trade acquisition Joaquin Benoit with two outs and no runners on. He grounded out to shortstop and Adam Duvall ended up launching a two-run home run in the top of the ninth to expand Cincinnati’s margin of victory. Hopefully this means Harrison will be ready for full game speed again and, assuming the majority of Down the Drive readers are also Reds fans, its a good thing he didn’t do any damage against the hometown team.

Ian Happ

On the same day Harrison returned to the field, Happ went back to the bench, taking a day off during the Cubs 3-0 loss to the Diamondbacks. The off day came after Happ went 2-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored on Tuesday against Arizona. The Cubs were pretty nicely handled by Zack Godley, earning only three hits while leaving a mere four runners on base. Happ obviously hasn’t hit for much average recently, or during the entirety of his rookie campaign, but with 14 home runs and a .254 isolated power reading, a pinch hit job from him wouldn’t have hurt as the Cubs struggled to get anything going offensively.

Connor Walsh

In his second appearance for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, Walsh pitched well, as he struck out three batters without allowing a run during an inning of relief against Durham. Walsh pitched the seventh inning and did give up two hits and now has a WHIP of 1.50 in an incredibly small sample size at the Triple-A level. Based on his work in Double-A, Walsh has had more trouble with walks (27 allowed) as hits (27 allowed) since free passes are usually the lower of the two numbers and are more frustrating in that they require more pitches and mean your hurler is missing the plate.

Ryan Atkinson

Its still time to play the waiting game as Atkinson looks forward to his day to pitch in the rotation for the Jackson Generals.