Sunday, April 21, 2002
Strikeouts plague Reds
By John Fay jfay@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CHICAGO — The Reds went into Saturday leading the major leagues in strikeouts. We're not talking about their pitchers here; we're talking about their hitters. Reds hitters had struck out 133 times coming into Saturday.
They pushed it to 142 in Saturday's 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
“It concerns us,” hitting coach Jim Lefebvre said. “Not so much the strikeouts, but the way we're striking out. (Friday) when we struck out 15 times, eight of them were on pitches way out of the strike zone.”
“You've got to make the pitcher throw strikes.”
The Reds were more selective Saturday. Kerry Wood, one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball, did strike out six in 4 2/3 innings, and nine Reds struck out overall. But the Reds worked six walks, four of which were the key to a three-run fifth.
“There are three strike zones,” Lefebvre said. “The hitter's, the pitcher's and the umpire's. You've got to make adjustments.
“We're addressing it.”
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Strikeouts plague Reds
