Reds right-hander Michael Lorenzen was strong in his start against the Marlins on Thursday, but was left with a tough-luck loss. Lorenzen allowed two runs on five hits over six innings, walking four and striking out five. He actually lowered his ERA to 3.53 with Thursday's performance.
Lorenzen (3-4) allowed a first-inning run, and then gave up a second run in the fifth. Otherwise he was able to avoid any serious damage, despite a rather significant amount of baserunners in the 2-0 loss.
"I wasn't able to outpitch Fernandez," Lorenzen said, per MLB.com. "That was my goal. When you get an opportunity to go up against a guy like him, you want to do your best and show that you can compete at the highest level."
The rookie heads into the All-Star break on a bit of a roll, having allowed a total of nine earned runs in 28 2/3 innings over his last five starts.
"There are lessons to be learned," manager Bryan Price said. "Number one, when you don't have your best stuff, you can still compete -- which he did today…They just sprinkled a few base hits throughout the course of their lineup. I'll tell ya, when Michael gets to where he's commanding the zone better, he's gonna be a force."