PHILADELPHIA – On a cold Philadelphia Tuesday night – for six innings of a game the Cincinnati Reds eventually lost 6-1 – all seemed right again for Reds right-hander Homer Bailey. He didn't look like a 31-year-old who spent the last three seasons recovering from three surgeries, struggling throughout.
With confidence and command, Bailey worked through the Philadelphia Phillies lineup with a fastball that located like a NASA satellite in orbit.
Through five innings, Bailey allowed one baserunner, a hit batter on a fastball that ran in on the hands of Jorge Alfaro.
With one out in the sixth, Bailey allowed his first hit of the game, a single through the right side of the infield to leadoff man César Hernández.