PHILADELPHIA – For nearly a fortnight, Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price had watched his rotation struggle to put up even respectable outings. One after another his starters went five and dive, if they even got that far. It put the bullpen in such desperate straits, the Reds had to add two pitchers to the 40-man roster just to avert disaster.
Then along came the Philadelphia Phillies, fielding a lineup featuring only one player hitting better than .255 and four players hitting worse than .240. And along came Tim Adleman, who got the hapless Phillies to hack their way into providing the Cincinnati rotation with its longest start since May 13.