TORONTO – When Rhett Lowder debuted for six starts out of necessity in 2024, he looked so poised, looked so dazzling, looked automatic.
Which is to say he looked a lot in those six starts like he did against the Toronto Blue Jays in his final start of this season.
In between? Not so much.
Between injuries that wiped out his 2025 season and an up-and-down 2026 season that included another stretch on the injured list, it was everything the Cincinnati Redsrookie could to knock his ERA down to less than 6.00 by the time he got done pitching six scoreless innings on Saturday (Sept. 26) for a 5-1 win over the Blue Jays.
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“I think people have lost sight of the fact that he didn’t pitch last year,” manager Terry Francona said after Lowder (7-12) survived walks to his first two batters of the game on eight pitches, rebounding to allow three base runners the rest of the way.
“He has not commanded the ball like he can or will. When he does he’s gonna be just fine.”
Lowder, who demonstrated Francona's point during that six-start debut that produced a 1.17 ERA, threw only 79 pitches in Saturday's start, but that was due in part to the fact Lowder woke up with back stiffness he dealt with early in the start.
"Nothing crazy," said Lowder, who was sick the past week and was "coughing so much" he tweaked the back. "Just something to deal with."
“I just thought enough was enough (through six),” Francona said. “And it was important for him to leave on a good note.”
What comes next for Lowder – and Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, et al – is all but assured of dictating the story of next season coming off one of the franchise's most disappointing seasons in decades.
The Reds starting rotation, which ranked among the best in the game during last year's playoff season, slumped to near the bottom in several categories despite the emergence of rising young ace Chase Burns (15-3, 2.86 ERA).
Part of that was injuries that cost four starters, including Lowder, time on the injured list. A bigger part of that was simply poor performance. That included Lowder's command issues that contributed mightily to a 5.74 ERA.
“But I know areas I need to improve on, and I’m gonna improve on them,” said the Reds’ No. 7 overall draft pick from 2023. “It’s just good to put a full season together and know the areas I need to get better. And I will.”
Lodolo, who lost nearly half the season this year because of a finger blister that landed him on the IL twice, allowed two runs in five innings in the series opener Friday but finished 3-6 with a 4.97 ERA.
“It sucks for sure,” said Lodolo, who said his top priority of the offseason is to better master the new grip on his breaking ball he developed to try to avoid the chronic blister problems he’s had in his career. “And get it to where it’s a true weapon.
“I’ve got another opportunity here to have another (healthy) offseason and clean it up and be ready to go.”
Until the blister issue hit critical mass, scouts in recent years debated whether the Reds' best starter was Hunter Greene, the triple-digit mph All-Star (who will miss next season after undergoing Tommy John surgery).
That's how much of a strength the rotation was for a no-depth team that wasn't better than the rest of the league at much of anything else.
Considering the enormous to-do list involved in fixing all the things that are broken on this 2026 roster and that the small-spending Reds won't have a normal offseason to work with because of the impending labor lockout, the improvement of the in-house rotation guys might be as good as it gets for upgrades that give them a prayer of competing in 2027.
When talking about Lodolo’s blister issues before the lefty’s final start of the season over the weekend, Francona said the key is just to be able to keep throwing.
“The more he can play, the more he can practice, the more he can train with health, it’s gonna serve him well,” the manager said. “Because his stuff is really good.
“And we desperately need him.”
The last comment might be as telling as any.
Because if the Reds don't get as much out of their starters as they got last year, it's not going to matter if Elly De La Cruz follows his 30-30 season with a 40-40, or if Sal Stewart goes from 112 RBIs to 130.
“We’d all like to be a little bit more consistent,” Lowder said. “I don’t have any doubt that everybody’s gonna take the offseason and go and get better, and we’re gonna come back stronger next year.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Rhett Lowder shows what '27 must look like for Reds to have any chance
