With the release of Ryan Raburn on Monday, Arismendy Alcatara, Hernan Iribarren, Patrick Kivlehan, Desmond Jennings and Sebastian Elizalde were in the lineup, hunting the three or four bench jobs.
Stuart Turner was the catcher and Rob Brantly played first base — either of them could hold a place for cDevin Mesoraco if he is not 100 percent ready to catch on a regular basis.
Jose Peraza was the only participant in the lineup who has a job. Peraza was named the starting second baseman after Brandon Phillips was traded before spring training.
Reed had a rough day. He gave up 10 runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. Buster Posey hit Reed with a line drive back through the box that struck Reed as he lost his glove. Reed hit Joe Panik with a pitch and walked Brandon Crawford in the Giants’ seven-run fourth.
“I got behind a couple times,” Reed said. “I thought I snuck a couple strikes inside, That’s been my strength the last, three or four times out. … When I got behind a Major League lineup. I made more mistakes than they did. They took advantage of me. That might be the worst I’ve ever been hit around, even from last year.”
Reed had a string of good games until Monday. He shut out the Angels on one hit in a 5 2/3 inning stint last week.
Baumgarner allowed four hits in seven innings. Elizalde hit a single and double off Baumgarner. Iribarren singled and scored on Turner’s first home run of the spring.
This turn through the rotation was tough on six of the seven pitchers trying to nail down the open rotation slots:
Reed allowed 10 runs in 3 2/3 in Monday’s 14-2 loss.
Tim Adleman allowed six runs in 3 1/3 innings Sunday against the Clubs
Robert Stephenson was hit for four runs in four innings Saturday against the Cubs
Sal Romano had his worst outing, giving up seven runs, five earned in 4 2/3 innings on Friday against the Brewers
Amir Garrett gave up six runs in five frames Saturday to Oakland.
Rookie Davis was tagged for five runs, three earned in 4 2/3 innings Sunday against Seattle.
Only veteran Bronson Arroyo escaped, allowing two runs in four innings against the White Sox on Thursday. Arroyo will pitch in a minor league game Tuesday and another here in Goodyear on April 2. He will join the team in Cincinnati if he earns a roster spot.
Scott Feldman, the Opening Day starter, will pitch on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The other pitcher with a guaranteed spot barring injury, Brandon Finnegan, will start the Reds’ last Cactus League game against Cleveland on Wednesday.
Reds manager Bryan Price sees the formation of the 2017 Reds differently from his past three years in charge.
“We have less ambiguity to the roster,” Price said. “We have three undefined starters, two undefined bullpen spots and probably three undefined bench spots, however, we’re drawing from a pool of guys that I think are Major League capable. I don’t think the last couple years we could say that.”
The injury cloud is there but not as prominent as last season when they broke camp without Bailey, DeSclafani and Mesoraco. The same trio will likely miss Opening Day again but Mesoraco appears to be close to resuming his career that was taking off in 2014.
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