Being a starter is still the plan for Lorenzen

PITTSBURGH — With the Reds hanging onto a 3-1 lead entering the eighth inning on Saturday, Reds manager Bryan Price turned to right-hander Michael Lorenzen to serve as the bridge to Aroldis Chapman.

Lorenzen retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a hit and being replaced by Chapman, who recorded the four-out save.

While Lorenzen was a closer in college, the Reds aren't looking at him in the bullpen in 2016. His time as a reliever this year has everything to do with the 1561/ 3 innings he's amassed between Louisville and Cincinnati.

"At this point in time, Michael's really a starter, he's in the bullpen because of his innings workload," Reds manager Bryan Price said after Saturday's game. "We'll take advantage of what he has here in the last couple of days and if he can do it again (Sunday), maybe we'll see him in the ballgame again."

Lorenzen would be an attractive candidate to close if Chapman is traded as part of Walt Jocketty's "retooling" plan, but Price said any change for the team's young starters' role would have to be weighed against the long-term plan.

"The thing about young pitchers is that you want them to have the opportunity to pitch in the rotation and struggle long enough to where it becomes obvious that the bullpen is the best option," Price said on Sunday. "Where we have to get as a team, as an organization, is decide where we are going into 2016 and would a decision to move someone to the bullpen be in the best interest short-term or long-term?"

Lorenzen has thrown seven pitches that were 98 mph or better this season, all in relief. That type of velocity coupled with his slider makes him an attractive replacement for Chapman, if that happens.

Of course, that ability is what also makes him so valuable as a starting pitcher prospect.

"Yeah, you know it's always tempting with young pitchers to try to fill an immediate need and really right now our immediate need is both – the back-end bullpen and starting pitchers," Price said. "Starting pitchers are hard to find. I think any decisions we make with any of these young starters potentially pitching in the bullpen would simply be because we're making the commitment to seeing them as relief pitchers."

And at this point, it's unlikely Lorenzen is in that discussion.

DRAFT ORDER FINALIZED: With a Reds victory on Saturday coupled with the Phillies' losses against the Marlins in a doubleheader, Philadelphia secured the top overall pick in next June's draft. The Reds will pick second.

The Reds have never had the top pick in the draft. The team took shortstop Kurt Stillwell with the second overall pick in the 1983 draft. Two years later, the Reds took another shortstop with their first pick, hometown kid Barry Larkin.

After the 1987 season, the Reds decided Larkin was their shortstop of the future and traded Stillwell to the Royals along with Ted Power for left-hander Danny Jackson and shortstop Angel Salazar. Even though Stillwell earned an All-Star nod in 1988, it turned out to be the right decision, as Jackson was also an All-Star that year and helped lead to Reds to the 1990 World Series title. Larkin went on to play his entire Hall of Fame career with the Reds.

STREAK ENDS: Joey Votto wasn't too upset about his 48-game streak of reaching base ending on Saturday, because it came in the same game that his team broke its 13-game losing streak.

Votto now shares the record with Pete Rose, who reached base in 48 consecutive games in 1978.

"You know, I just don't look at it that way. I think about my at-bats," Votto said after Saturday's victory when asked about sharing a record with Rose. "I think about my work beforehand and being competitive in the game. I think about what I have to do to perform on a consistent basis. It just so happened that here I am, 48-straight games. I meant what I said when I said 'I don't care.' We were playing really poorly for a while there. That's frustrating. Chasing something like this is not something that matters to me."