Tuesday, March 21, 2000Neagle unhappy with 6-hit outing
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati EnquirerSARASOTA, Fla. — Shortly after Denny Neagle entered the clubhouse after his pitching performance Monday night, a visitor was warned not to enter.
Translation: Neagle needed some time to cool off.
Neagle wasn't happy with his performance — five innings, six hits, four runs, two walks, two strikeouts — in the Reds 6-3 loss to the Texas Rangers.
“I'm really ticked off at myself because I should have gotten out of that inning with no runs,” Neagle said of the fourth inning.
He gave up three consecutive hits. The third one, Scarborough Green's RBI double over Ken Griffey Jr.'s head in deep center, was the one that had Neagle shaking his head.
“That's the No.8 hole hitter,” Neagle said. “You have to bear down in those situations. If I get him, I strike out the pitcher, and I'm out of the inning.”
Instead, after striking out pitcher Darren Oliver, Royce Clayton knocked in another run with a groundout to short.
Chad Curtis followed with a deep fly to right-center to make the score 4-2.
“That was a bad pitch,” Neagle said of the pitch Curtis hit. “I can live with that. It's the mental part — not bearing down — that really had me ticked.”
Neagle said his stuff was good.
“I threw my best breaking ball of the spring,” he said. “My velocity was pretty good. You want to get your work in and all that ... but you don't want that to happen, even in spring training.”
Neagle's spring ERA is 7.20. He's allowed 16 hits in 15 innings, including four homers.
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