That’s the basic scouting report on Chase Petty. That and MLB.com’s declaration that he has the best slider of any Reds pitching prospect. He’s rated from No. 5 to No. 8 on various Reds prospect lists. On Wednesday, he pitched four innings, struck out six and allowed only an unearned run on three hits and one walk.
But the rest of the night didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t as futile as being no-hit the night before, but the Dragons managed only four hits, left nine runners on base, were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and struck out 11 times in a 5-1 loss to Fort Wayne.
“I don’t know what to think about tonight,” said LaHair, whose team leads the Midwest League in striking out. “We were in it in a tie ballgame until the seventh. We didn’t execute enough so that’s what we’re working on trying to get better at executing and being better in situations.”
Forth Wayne (13-22) scored four runs in the seventh against Dragons reliever Dennis Boatman. Otherwise, Petty and Braxton Roxby and Brooks Crawford, each with two innings of scoreless relief, shut down the TinCaps.
Petty, who turned 20 on April 4, came to the Reds from the Twins in the Sonny Gray trade. Petty, a right-hander, strained the UCL in his throwing elbow in his final start last season for Dayton. In his first start last week he allowed one run in four innings. His pitch counts have been 64 and 57. His ERA is 1.13.
“Everything’s good,” he said. “Just really worried about staying healthy and kind of just staying on this track and just getting better with every outing.”
Petty said the slider was his best pitch Wednesday.
“It felt really good,” he said. “We’re really just getting the hang of things, trying to get better.”
Petty likes the trajectory he’s been on since he began pitching as a high school freshman in New Jersey. He didn’t get by on just talent. From the beginning, he worked on learning how to pitch effectively, not just throw hard, with Mike Adams of the Baseball Performance Center in New Jersey.
“He’s been a huge help through through my entire career,” Petty said. “Every offseason I’m with him. I text him all the time, even now during the season. We’re always talking, we’re talking with the Reds and we’re always relaying things back and forth.”
Offensively, the Dragons (15-20) aren’t performing the way the did on a 7-5 road trip. Austin Hendrick entered Wednesday hitting .345 over his previous 14 games and singled in the Dragons’ only run in the first inning.
Blake Dunn, the Midwest League player of the month in April, struggled on the road trip and took Tuesday off. He was hitless Wednesday but got on base three times with a walk and being hit by a pitch twice to raise his season total to 13.
Edwin Arroyo entered the game 8 for 28 (.286) with three home runs in his last seven games. He was 0-for-2 with two walks. Michael Trautwein came in batting .385 (10 for 26) with two home runs, a triple, and five RBIs in his last eight games. He was 0-for-4.
The team numbers help to explain the inconsistency. The Dragons are fourth in the 12-team league in runs scored and seventh in on-base percentage. But they are ninth in batting average and last in strikeouts. They are 1-11 in one-run games. And the pitching staff, while putting up a more than respectable 3.76 ERA, has blown 11 of 15 save opportunities.
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