Bittersweet Return for Latos

The long road to recovery finally ended for Mat Latos as he started for the Reds this past Saturday as they took on the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.

Latos looked like the dominant pitcher he was last year, pitching six innings of shutout baseball. He gave up only two hits and left the game with the Reds leading the Brewers 1 – 0. It looked like Latos would be able to cap off his triumphant return from injuries with a win, but the bullpen’s struggles would cost the Reds another victory.

After the Brewers took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Billy Hamilton’s homerun in the top of the eighth tied the game at two runs apiece. However things took a turn for the worse in the bottom half of the inning as JJ Hoover gave up a two-run homer to Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun to give the Brewers the lead and the win. Hoover’s record dropped to one win and five losses while Latos got a no decision.

Hopefully, Latos will continue to pitch this well throughout the rest of the season. For a guy coming off knee and elbow injuries that required him to miss two months of baseball, a six inning, zero run debut in which he struck out four batters is simply terrific. Latos is scheduled to next pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays when they pay a visit to Great American Ballpark this weekend.