Manager David Bell had no issues with Lorenzen expressing his displeasure that way.
“We all cope with success or failures differently,” Bell said. “The big key is turning the page quickly and being focused on the next opponent. I don’t have any doubts he’ll be able to do that.”
Bell has seen that same competitiveness and intensity throughout the roster during intrasquad scrimmages. Near the midpoint of the three-week Summer Camp that leads up to the July 24 season opener, the Reds are holding controlled scrimmages every day at Great American Ball Park. They’ll see another team next week, scrimmaging the Tigers on July 21 and 22 before starting the 60-game season against them two days later.
The intrasquad scrimmages are friendly, Bell said, but deep down, there’s fire because everyone’s competing hard. Sometimes, the coaches create game situations — placing runners at second and third with two outs, for example — to make the most of the time. Other times, they’ll let the game play out.
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“Today we’re playing seven innings,” Bell said Friday, “and a lot of those situations will happen organically. Some days we’ll just kind of stay out of it and make it more of a real game and let both teams compete without impacting the result too much by trying to create situations. Some days we’ll make it all about situations.”
The Reds are streaming all the scrimmages on their website: MLB.com/Reds. Some players from Prasco Field in Mason, where 22 of the 57 players picked for Summer Camp are practicing, travel to Cincinnati for the scrimmages.
On Friday, the Prasco group’s lineup included Scott Schebler, Aristides Aquino and Jonathan India, while the Great American Ball Park group started many of the expected starters with Shogo Akiyama batting first as the designated hitter.
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Many Reds are still shaking off the rest at this point in camp. A day after Lorenzen struggled, another reliever, Amir Garrett, had his own problems. Bell said he sees it often early in spring training and expected similar issues this month. He has no real concerns about Garrett.
“His timing was off,” Bell said. “He was just a little out of sync. That’s to be expected. His arm looks good. The velocity is there. Physically, he’s fine. That’s the main thing.”
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