In his return to the mound after a bout with COVID, Brandon Williamson pitched four innings for the Cincinnati Reds vs. the Detroit Tigers Tuesday night at Comerica Park. The Martin County West graduate hadn’t pitched since Aug. 29 at San Francisco.
Williamson was one of four Cincinnati pitchers and six total players to wind up on the COVID IL list.
The left-hander allowed five runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out four. He threw 92 pitches, 57 for strikes.
The Reds beat the Tigers 6-5 in 10 innings to move to within one game of Arizona for the third National League Wild Card spot.
Williamson was just eight pitches into his start when Detroit homered, then he needed 29 pitches to work through the first inning and 20 to complete the second.
He rebounded to retire seven in a row. Though his final line included five runs, Williamson showed his mettle by holding Detroit scoreless for three consecutive frames after nothing seemed to go right early.
“I felt like I actually executed pretty decent at anything; [things] just kind of went their way,” Williamson told Dawn Klemish of MLB.com “... They definitely hit good pitches. I left a few for them that they took advantage of, too, but [I was] mostly competitive.”
For the season, the left-hander has a 4-4 record with a 4.47 earned run average.
In 102 2/3 innings he has allowed 56 runs (51 earned) on 96 hits, walked 35, hit one and struck out 91. Opponents have a .246 batting average. Cincinnati is 11-9 in games Williamson starts.
The Reds play two more in Detroit before heading to New York for three games vs. the Mets Friday-Sunday. Williamson is scheduled to start the final game in New York.
That would mean he would miss starting against his home state Minnesota Twins. The American League Central Division leaders will be at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati for three games Monday-Wednesday.