Hard-luck Homer: Reds fall to 1-17 when Bailey starts
It hasn't been a pretty season for Cincinnati Reds right-hander Homer Bailey - and that's being kind.
Bailey's woes continued Sunday at Wrigley Field when he allowed six runs (three earned) on eight hits over five innings, as Cincinnati fell 9-0 to the Chicago Cubs. Bailey was saddled with the loss, dropping his record to 1-12, and extending a dreadful pattern for the Reds this year whenever he's taken the hill.
The Reds are now 1-17 in the 18 games he's started in 2018, the worst single-season mark for a team through one pitcher's first 18 starts in a season since 1920, according to Stats.com.
But the dubious history made by the Reds and Bailey on Sunday only gets worse. Before this year, the last time a team managed to fail one of its starting pitchers in such spectacular fashion was the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who finished that season with a major-league record 134 losses.
The Reds are 1-17 in Homer Bailey’s starts. This matches the record of the infamous Syndicate Ball 1899 Cleveland Spiders, 1-17 in Frank Bates’ 1st 18 starts. Bates, who was given 2.95 Run Support, lost start #19 and was last known to be alive a hundred years ago...in Cincinnati pic.twitter.com/VwVVJE6wLf
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) August 27, 2018
Bailey earned his lone win of 2018 by throwing five innings at Dodger Stadium on May 12.
He's been victimized by opposing teams this year, but the Reds have also lost some of his starts in truly painful fashion. During one particularly hard-luck outing for him - on July 31 against the Tigers - Bailey allowed only two runs and just three hits in eight innings of work, but was handed the "L" as the Reds lost 2-1.
All told, the Reds came into Sunday having scored just 27 total runs while he's been on the mound, averaging out to 2.66 runs per nine innings.
The 32-year-old Bailey, who threw no-hitters in both 2012 and 2013, owns a 6.17 ERA while averaging just over six strikeouts and 11.6 hits per nine innings in his 18 starts this year. He's scheduled to earn $23 million next season.