Getaway day was a missed opportunity for the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, April 16 as their six-game homestand ended at .500 (3-3) with a fiery 3-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants in front of 16,898 fans in attendance.
The bats, much maligned through three weeks, were silenced by a trio of San Francisco pitchers. The Giants avoided a sweep behind timely two-out hitting in a three-run seventh inning and six shutout innings from starter Landen Roupp.
Roupp flirted briefly with a no-hitter, issuing just two walks and hitting a batter through five innings. Reds catcher P.J. Higgins broke up that no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was Cincinnati’s lone hit of the afternoon.
Beyond the box score of a shutout loss, Higgins had a productive day offensive and defensively. The 32-year-old reached base twice, caught Willy Adames stealing in the first inning, then won an ABS challenge for a strikeout of San Francisco catcher Patrick Bailey to end the sixth.
“I feel like we played well. It was a hard-fought game,” Higgins said. “We played hard. It was just one of those days, the third game in a series, early in the day. We fought and our guys had good stuff on the mound.”
It may have been Higgins best big-league performance since the final game of his last stint in The Show −four seasons ago.
On Oct. 5, 2022, Higgins walked twice, doubled, had three RBI and scored three times in the Chicago Cubs’ 15-2 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
The defeat officially marked only the second 100-loss season in Reds history and was the last time Higgins was on a big-league roster until he was called up a week ago after Jose Trevino went to the IL.
“Yeah, that was my last game in the big leagues. We actually faced Graham (Ashcraft) that day when he was a starter,” Higgins said. “Yeah, it was a good day right at the end on the very last day of the season in 2022.”
Higgins thought 74 games in the Majors that season would be enough to crack a big-league roster the following year when he signed with Arizona. He would end up playing 331 Triple-A games until his next MLB appearance.
“It’s hard. You have your ups and downs. I felt like I had growth (in 2022), experience and knowledge of what to do the next year if I got the opportunity. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity for four years. It was a waiting game,” Higgins said.
Higgins is making the most of his long-awaited MLB return, albeit in a small role behind Tyler Stephenson. Thursday was Higgins’ third start. The Reds are 0-3.
Higgins went hitless in his Reds’ debut April 9 in a loss to Miami, then made his MLB pitching debut in a lopsided loss to the Angels April 10. He worked a scoreless inning on 10 pitches. Two days later, he was one of just two Reds to log a hit against Los Angeles Angels’ right-hander Jose Soriano in a 9-6 loss April 12.
Most importantly, Reds’ pitching had its best performance with Higgins behind the plate in three games this season in Thursday’s loss. Rhett Lowder and Andrew Abbott combined to give up 12 runs in 8 ⅔ innings while working with Higgins against the Marlins and Angels, respectively.
Albeit against a San Francisco lineup that ranks last in the National League in scoring, Chase Burns and Higgins teamed up to shut out the Giants for six innings. Reds pitching did not allow an earned run in Thursday’s loss.
“It definitely feels good to get on the same page with Chase (Burns) and work with him a bit. The longer I’m here, the more I can get in flow with them,” Higgins said. “I always try to watch film and try to translate what Stephenson does and what I do to make it as smooth of a transition as possible. The more we work together, the better it’s gonna be.”
Who knows how long that will actually be for Higgins, who is now 2-for-8 in three games with a walk. He’ll take the same mindset he had for the last four years into however long this latest MLB stint in Cincinnati lasts.
“It’s just like an old cliche of trust the process,” Higgins said. “Continue to work hard, play hard and show up when you’re name is called.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Reds catcher PJ Higgins trusted the process to make MLB return
Reporting by Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
