Rhett Lowder left Rogers Centre with the kind of finish that can steady a young pitcher’s winter. The Cincinnati right-hander worked six shutout innings Saturday as the Reds beat the Blue Jays, 5-1, turning back a difficult September with one of his sharper outings of the 2026 season.
Lowder finds a way through the early trouble
Lowder’s final line was clean: three hits, two walks and two strikeouts over six innings, with 79 pitches and 50 strikes. The win gave him a 7-12 record in 29 appearances, including 26 starts, while his ERA finished at 5.74.
- The afternoon opened uncomfortably. Lowder threw eight straight balls and walked Toronto’s first two hitters.
- He recovered by striking out Vladimir Guerrero Jr., then got Alejandro Kirk to roll into an inning-ending double play.
- Brett Bateman lined a one-out double in the third, but Lowder did not let the inning grow. From that point, he retired 11 of the last 12 Blue Jays he faced.
- He completed six scoreless frames, a welcome departure from a September stretch in which he had gone 0-4 with a 12.33 ERA across his previous four starts. Only one of those outings had lasted beyond four innings.
Manager Terry Francona has continued to stress the context around Lowder’s season. Though he made six starts for Cincinnati in 2024, Lowder remained a rookie in 2026 after injuries wiped out his entire 2025 campaign.
His first full season carried the usual bumps: rough outings, injured-list time and a short period in the bullpen. Saturday offered a better final snapshot, with Lowder settling in after the shaky first inning and keeping Toronto off the board.
The Reds supply the early cushion
- JJ Bleday opened the scoring in the second inning, leading off with a home run to right-center against Toronto starter Trey Yesavage.
- Cincinnati added two more runs in the third. Eugenio Suárez delivered a two-out RBI double as part of the inning.
- Héctor Rodríguez extended the lead in the fifth, driving a triple off the wall in left field to bring home two runs.
That support put Lowder in a manageable game, and he handled it like a starter who had finally found some late-season footing. The final record will show a losing mark and a high ERA, but his last start gave the Reds something more encouraging to carry into the offseason: six scoreless innings from a pitcher still learning how to navigate his first uninterrupted big-league year.
