Rhett Lowder painted a Picasso on the pitching mound Saturday night, but after the game he acted as if it was more like a kindergarten finger painting.
Over six innings, he held the Texas Rangers to no runs and three hits as the Reds clung on to a first-inning two-run lead for a 2-0 victory in Global Life Field.
The Reds are 5-3 and all five wins have been by two runs or less — 6-5, 3-2, 2-0, 5-3 and 2-0.
It was Lowder’s eighth major-league start and his earned run average is 1.30, fifth lowest in MLB history for a pitcher’s first eight starts since they began tracking ERA’s in 1913.
And yet Lowder acted as if somebody stole his puppy.
Cincinnati Reds outfielders Dane Myers (17), TJ Friedl, center, and Spencer Steer, right, celebrate after winning a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.
LM Otero – AP
“Honestly, it was a grind,” The 24-year-old rookie and the Reds No. 1 draft pick in 2024 told reporters after the game. “Me and Trevie (catcher Jose Trevino) were on the same page and doing a lot of hard work. I was trying to get into a rhythm as best I could.”
After the Reds scored two runs in the top of the first, Lowder retired the first two in the bottom of the first, but Corey Seager and Jake Burger singled.
Joc Pederson nearly cleared the bases, but center fielder TJ Friedl caught his bid for a three-run homer at the base of the wall.
And the Rangers put a runner on in the second, a runner on in the third and another runner on in the fifth. He pitched a perfect sixth and his 80-pitch night was over.
Trevino disagreed with Lowder’s ‘grind’ assessment.
“He was hitting his spots, man,” Trevino told reporters. “He got comfortable towards the end. In the beginning he was kinda pulling some stuff, yanking some pitches. Then he got comfortable and settled in.”
And manager Tito Francona?
“He just kinda pitches like a veteran,” he told reporters about Lowder’s night. “In an era of grip it and rip it, he can go to different quadrants and doesn’t have to throw 95 or 96. Like I said, he looks like a veteran who knows what he is doing.
“Even tonight, when he pitched behind in the count he didn’t have to come in with a fastball. He can change eye levels and he can spin it down low to avoid barrels.”
Lowder was facing the Rangers’ No. 1 draft pick in 2023, Kumar Rocker. And the Reds rocked him in the first inning.
Cincinnati Reds’ Nathaniel Lowe (31) smiles with first base coach Mike Napoli (75) after hitting a single as Texas Rangers first baseman Jake Burger, left, looks on during the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.
LM Otero – AP
After Friedl grounded out, Matt McLain singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Elly De La Cruz. Sal Stewart singled to left and De La Cruz, on the run with the pitch, scored from first.
It was 2-0 and that’s how it stood due to Cincinnati’s keep-‘em-in-the-dark pitching and several above-and-beyond defensive plays.
Graham Ashcraft pitched the seventh and gave up a two-out walk and that was it.
Tony Santillan pitched the eighth and went 1-2-3 through the top of the Texas order.
Then it was closing time and another in The Adventures of Emilio Pagan sagas.
He had Jake Burger 0-and-2 to open the ninth, but walked him. The problem looked solved when Joc Pederson, 0 for 14 on the season, hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
Two outs, nobody on. Just one out to get. But Pagan tempted fate again by walking Josh Smith on a full count and giving up a single to Josh Jung.
Now the potential tying runs were on base, perched at third and first.
Catcher Trevino walked to the mound for a heart-to-heart with Pagan.
“I just reminded Emilio how good he is,” said Trevino. “I just went out there to fill him with confidence, because he is really good, really good at what he does.”
Cincinnati Reds’ Elly de la Cruz breaks his bat while hitting a single, scoring teammate Matt McLain, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.
LM Otero – AP
And Pagan ended it by striking out Evan Carter for his third shaky save.
The defense? It was Red Leather Day for the Reds. They have played eight games without making an error. That set the team’s all-time record for most errorless games to start a season.
And they had several superlative plays Saturday on which they could have made errors, but turned them into outs.
In the second, Joc Pederson lined one to right. Will Benson started in, then had to leap and use all of his 6-foot-4 body to snag it as if performing a slam dunk.
On the next play, Josh Jung scorched a low liner headed for the left field corner until third baseman Eugenio Suarez backhanded it inches off the ground.
In the fourth, Josh Smith drove one deep into the right center gap and Benson, after a long run, chased down what appeared to be a certain double.
In the fifth, Benson sprinted the other way, a long way to the right field foul line to snag another would-be double hit by Brandon Nimmo.
In the sixth, Friedl was playing left field and ran full speed ahead on a blooper hit by Pederson. Friedl did a belly whopper, stuck up his glove as he slid across the foul line and caught it.
In the seventh, Smith dribbled one between third base and the pitcher’s mound. Trevino bolted from behind the plate, catcher’s gear flapping. He picked up the ball, spun completely around and fired a blind throw to first for the out.
Lowder was the recipient of a few of those defensive dandies, but credited Trevino for leading him through whatever travails he imagined.
“Trevino followed a good game plan, making it easy on me,” he said. “It was a little bit of everything. I never got into a rhythm. It was a grind. It was fun, I’m happy with it for sure, but it wasn’t easy.”
If six innings of no runs and three hits is a grind, the Rangers can’t imagine what it would look like if Lowder pitched a game he thought wasn’t a grind.
NEXT GAME
Who: Reds at Rangers
When: 2:35 p.m., Sunday, April 4
Streaming: Reds.TV
Radio: 700-AM, 1410-AM