Blanco dices up Reds for career-high 11 K's over 8 scoreless

HOUSTON – After rocking the Astros for 10 runs in the first inning Saturday night, the Reds were served an early reminder Sunday afternoon by Ronel Blanco that things would be a little bit different this time around.

Blanco came out pounding the strike zone and struck out the side in the first, setting the stage for a dominant performance that was sorely needed after Houston used five relief pitchers to cover 8 2/3 innings the day before. Blanco struck out a career-high 11 batters and allowed two hits and one walk in eight scoreless innings to lead the Astros to a 6-0 win at Daikin Park.

“I had a really good feeling once he came out throwing a ton of strikes,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “His changeup against lefties was outstanding, and he used all his pitches and was ahead in the count. He was really good. We needed a start like that.”

Blanco threw a season-high 101 pitches (65 strikes), relying mostly on a slider that he threw 40 times and generated nine of his 16 whiffs with. He attacked the strike zone against a team that takes a ton of pitches and likes to work counts.

“I think he’s starting to get in a groove with his confidence,” Espada said. “That’s the Blanco that we saw all last year. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get going, right? I think he’s got the feel for his pitches, his confidence is up, and we need outings like that throughout the season, but especially during this long stretch of games [17 in a row without an off-day].”

The outing was the second longest of Blanco’s career, behind only the no-hitter he threw against the Blue Jays on April 1, 2024. On Sunday, he threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 27 batters he faced and allowed one hitter to reach third base while lowering his ERA by nearly a run (4.04 from 4.98).

“I was just focused on going inning by inning and tried to get hitters out with the [fewest] pitches possible,” he said. “That was my main focus.”

Blanco (3-3) sent down 13 of the first 14 Reds batters he faced, including seven by strikeout. He allowed one-out doubles in the fifth and eighth innings to Spencer Steer and Jose Trevino, respectively. Blanco, who entered the game with an 11 percent walk rate that was the seventh worst in the American League, walked one batter.

“I was really focused on striking out hitters,” he said. “I was focused on mixing all my pitches and attacking the hitters, and that’s what helped me today.”

The Reds, who were shut out by the Astros in Friday’s series opener in a game started by Hunter Brown, managed to hit only one ball harder than 85.2 mph off of Blanco. The Reds had a 73.1 mph average exit velocity.

“Fastball kind of got above our barrel, and two breaking balls [were] kind of out the same window -- slider, curveball,” Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said. “Both of them were good.”

Astros catcher Yainer Diaz followed a one-out double by Isaac Paredes and an infield single by Christian Walker in the third by hitting a Statcast-projected 392-foot homer to left field for a 3-0 Houston lead. Walker added a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a two-run single in the sixth, both of which came with the bases loaded.

“I thought once we got that three-run lead, I think Blanco just settled,” Espada said. “I just thought he controlled the tempo of that game from pitch No. 1.”

Diaz appears to have put his slow start at the plate behind him. He has a nine-game hitting streak during which he’s batting .368 with five runs scored, two doubles, two homers and nine RBIs. In his last 15 games, he’s hitting .339 with eight runs scored and 13 RBIs.

“I feel like I keep getting better and just making adjustments in each at-bat,” he said. “It’s a long season.”