Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers made quite an impressive return to the mound for the Cincinnati Reds Monday night.
Spiers (4-2) returned from a stint on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement to throw five scoreless innings of one-hit ball in the Reds’ 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park. He struck out four batters and walked two to earn his fourth win of the season.
Spiers, who pitched for Clemson from 2017-2020, retired the last 12 batters he faced after allowing a first-inning single to Chicago’s Ian Happ. The 26-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 3.46 in eight total appearances, earning praise from Reds manager David Bell.
“His first time back, we were looking at 50 to 60 pitches, maybe,” Bell told reporters. “He went above and beyond that. It’s good to know Carson’s healthy.”
It was Spiers’ sixth start this season after sliding into the rotation in mid-June. He’s since thrown three quality starts in addition to 5 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against the Cubs in his last non-relief outing back on June 9.
Spiers said he was pleased with Monday’s 68-pitch performance.
“Some kinks and things to work through, sure, but just kind of how baseball is. Take two weeks off, you’ve got to brush through those rusty things,” Spiers said.
“I definitely wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be, but what I told [pitching coach Derek Johnson] after the game is I made the pitch when I needed to and luckily the cutter was pretty good.”
Spiers’ next start should come Sunday when the Reds host the San Francisco Giants at Great American Ball Park.
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