Reds Vs Padres Live Stream: Watch Online Free 6:10 ET Cueto-Ross Pitching Battle Second Of Double-Header Thursday
Reds vs Padres live stream: Watch online free 6:10 ET for the second a double-header on Thursday.
Cincinnati welcomed in San Diego for the start of a double-header, on the way to winning the first one vs the Padres (19-21). The Reds (17-20) are continuing to try and get to the .500 mark and will throw out their best pitcher in Johnny Cueto while Tyson Ross will be on the mound for San Diego, looking for another win.
Watch the free live stream online of the Reds vs Padres below:
Cueto is the Major League leader in ERA (1.43), innings pitched (63) and opponents' batting average (.138). He is the first Reds pitcher to throw at least seven innings in his first eight starts of a season since Bucky Walters in 1944, according to MLB.com.
"I was really impressed by the hits-to-innings-pitched -- really, really impressive," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Not knowing him, but just following a little bit from afar, it seems like now he's totally healthy; I know that he's fought some injuries over the last couple of years, a variety of things going on physically.
"But I can't imagine anybody pitching any better than he has this early part of the season. Eight starts, 63 innings, that's impressive. I'm not a mathematician, but that's almost eight innings a start. In this day and age, that's pretty good. Walks are down, strikeouts are up. It's real, he's good. He's got a good arm, he's got good stuff."
Until Cueto's eight-inning start vs. the Rockies on Friday, no one in the Majors began a season with at least seven innings pitched over the first eight starts with two runs or fewer allowed in each since the Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, according to MLB.com.
"I'm amazed, and yet not surprised, because I've had a chance to see him a lot," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "I've talked with Johnny in the past about empty pitches, which are pitches that are thrown that really didn't serve a purpose -- like a high fastball or a slider that misses way off the plate. It didn't serve any value. He has thrown so few of those pitches this year. He's around the plate with everything. When he's not, he's teasing the hitter just off the plate or just below or above the zone.
"He's quite pitch efficient. He's not going into the eighth inning with 119 pitches or throwing 135 pitches to throw nine innings. He's so pitch efficient, that it's a lot more comfortable to see him out there in seventh, eighth and ninth innings and see those innings start to stockpile."