Not smooth days for Owings, Volquez

Courtesy of Larry “The Repairman” Herms from the Reds, the line for Micah Owings in a game vs. Rays Minor Leaguers in Sarasota:

4.1 IP, 9H, 7R, 6ER, 5K, 1HB (71TP, 51K). Owings also went 1-for-2 with a solo homer.

• Obviously, that’s the first blight on what’s been an otherwise spectacular spring for Owings. However, sometimes these Minor League game results have to be taken with a grain of salt. Young hitters are usually thrilled to be facing a Major League pitcher and they come ready to hack at just about anything. I will hopefully talk to Owings tomorrow and try to learn more.
• As for Edinson Volquez here in Port Charlotte, he pitched three scoreless innings but he had an uneven outing himself. Volquez gave up six hits and two walks with two strikeouts. He worked out of bases loaded jams in both the first and second innings. In the first, an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play by Pat Burrell saved Volquez. After getting a double play in the second, an error and two singles juiced the bases before Volquez struck out Carl Crawford. Volquez allowed two more hits in the third.

“I think I had too much power today. I was overthrowing a little bit,” said Volquez, who threw 71 pitches. “I don’t like feeling like that -with too much power. You don’t throw the ball where you want to throw it. I talked to Dick Pole about it and said I couldn’t control my pitches today. He said ‘just do the best you can.’”

• It was a rough one for Bill Bray, who gave up six runs but only one earned. A two-error by Jeff Keppinger with the bases loaded extended the inning. Bray gave up a two-run single and right-hander Carlos Fisher took over and allowed Reid Brignac’s three-run homer.