Mysterious struggles continue for Reds lefty Peralta

The mysterious misfortunes of Wandy Peralta continued Tuesday night as the Cincinnati Reds left-hander allowed three earned runs in one inning of relief.

It was the fourth time in the last five outings Peralta has struggled with his control while allowing at least one run to raise his ERA to 4.94.

“We talk about it in here a lot,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said, referring to conversations with pitching coach Danny Darwin, bullpen coach Ted Power, president of baseball operations Dick Williams and general manager Nick Krall.

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“We just keep waiting for it to turn around because we know how good this kid is,” Riggleman added. “It’s been a struggle for him this year, no question. A very talented young guy. Left-handers are like gold in the game the way he pitched for us last year. And we fully expect that to be the case in ‘18. But we need to have him get it going.”

Peralta posted a 3.74 ERA in 69 appearances in his first full season in the majors last year. He walked 24 batters in 64.2 innings. This year he’s issued 23 walks in 27.1 innings.

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Riggleman said he’s been trying to use Peralta in “softer” situations, such as Tuesday night’s appearance when the lefty entered the game at the start of the seventh inning with the Reds training 6-1.

“I’m trying to get him on a little hot streak,” Riggleman said. “I thought we kind of had done that about 10 days ago. We had a couple good days in a row in some situations I thought ‘OK, he’s ready to take off.’ But it hasn’t happened. I’m still confident that it will.”

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From May 8 to May 25, Peralta threw 8.1 scoreless innings despite walking five batters in that stretch of nine appearances. And he’s walked four batters in his last six appearances.

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