Reds' Stephens delivers five healthy frames

About four months ago, Cincinnati right-hander Jackson Stephens said he felt an "aching pain" in his elbow. As headlines detailed season-ending Tommy John surgeries for several of his professional contemporaries, Stephens mentally prepared himself for the worst.

"I was scared to death," the Reds' No. 15 prospect said.

Stephens was diagnosed with a strained UCL and didn't make his season debut until June 21, but he was able to avoid surgery. Now healthy, he's making up for lost time in the Midwest League. He continued to dominate Wednesday by allowing one hit and four walks while striking out eight over five scoreless innings for Class A Dayton in a 5-4 win over South Bend.

The 20-year-old slimmed his ERA to 2.79 through four starts. Even better, he's felt no ill effects from the UCL strain.

"It was a blessing that they caught it in time," said Stephens (2-0). "I didn't have to have surgery, knock on wood. I just stayed down there [in extended spring training] to get healthy. The rehab people did a great job in Arizona getting me back here."

The 6-foot-3 right-hander walked Chuck Taylor and Daniel Palka in the first inning, but struck out Marty Herum and Stryker Trahan to end the frame. Jamie Westbrook reached in the second on an interference call on catcher Joe Hudson and Taylor again on a base on balls in the third, but neither advanced beyond first.

Stephens retired the side in order in the fourth, then worked three strikeouts around Breland Almadova's single and Andrew Velazquez's walk in the fifth to complete the gem.

"I just had great command of the fastball," Stephens said. "I had a great two-seam. They have some good lefties in this lineup. I was able to challenge with the two-seam inside to righties and away from lefties.

"I went through the lineup the first time and the next time ... and let them try to beat me with that. I was challenging them. That's all I did."

Stephens can reach the mid-90s with the fastball, though he usually works lower than that, and pairs it with a slider and a curveball. He said he leaned a little more on the slider Wednesday, but is comfortable throwing either breaking ball to right- or left-handed batters.

"I can use all my pitches to any batter honestly," Stephens said. "I needed the slider a lot more tonight. I had great command with it, throwing it low and away to righties and back-door once or twice to lefties."

Stephens did go to the curve late, using the bigger breaking ball to strike out Taylor for his eighth punchout.

"I threw the curve there," he said. "I knew he hadn't seen one yet. You get the slider and then come back with the longer, loopy curve -- a little more of a depth pitch that moves down. That was really effective."

Mostly, though, Stephens is just pleased to be back pitching after missing three months rehabbing his elbow. The right-hander worked with the team's training staff to adjust his mechanics to hopefully prevent further damage, working on keeping his arms closer to his body as he moves toward the plate.

"I just had to take the safe way," Stephens said. "I didn't want to stay in extended. I wanted to break with a team for the first time in my career so badly, but you have to do what you have to do."

Velazquez's free pass extended the South Bend leadoff man's on-base streak to 68 games, and he later added a single to lift his average to .307. The switch-hitter has 30 extra-base hits, 36 stolen bases and an .848 OPS this year.