The Cincinnati Reds made four roster moves on Tuesday afternoon prior to the second game of their series against the Seattle Mariners. They have called up right-handed reliever Kevin Herget from Triple-A and they added Lyon Richardson to the taxi squad. Herget was not on the 40-man roster, so to make room for him the club designated Michael Mariot for assignment. Cincinnati also sent Kevin Newman to Triple-a Louisville to begin a rehab assignment.

We’ll start off with Michael Mariot. He was the feel-good story yesterday, going 2528 days between big league outings. Mariot had last pitched as a major leaguer on October 2nd of 2016 before he took the mound in Cincinnati on Monday afternoon. Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote about his story, including the fact that he was a week away from retiring this summer before Cincinnati signed him out of the American Association.

Mariot threw 2.2 innings yesterday and allowed a run while giving up four hits, walking a batter, and striking out two. Now he’s available to any team that would like to keep him on their 40-man roster via the waiver process.

Kevin Herget is getting called up to Cincinnati again. He was with the team for two different stints earlier this year – one in April for two weeks and then for a month during June and July. Herget’s been in Triple-A since June 13th. His first two outings in Triple-A after returning did not go well. He allowed nine earned runs on 13 hits and gave up four homers in 5.1 combined innings. Since then he’s pitched in 23 games for the Bats, posted a 2.51 ERA, and given up just three homers in 28.2 innings on 19 hits and eight walks. He’s also struck out 28 during that time.

After the team needing to use seven pitchers in their win over Seattle, the Reds could use some available pitchers and Herget gives them at least one. While it hasn’t happened recently, he has pitched as many as four innings in an outing this season. More recently he’s been asked to pitch two innings for Louisville on occasion. He last pitched on September 1st and threw just eight pitches that day, so he should be as fresh as can be expected.

Lyon Richardson was recently returned to Triple-A. He was with the club as a Covid-19 injury replacement player, so he is eligible to return to Cincinnati whenever. Under a normal send down he would have to wait 15 days before returning to the big leagues, but that rule doesn’t apply here. Richardson had been listed as the probable starter for Wednesday before he was returned to Louisville’s roster. It’s likely that he will still be starting on Wednesday, but the team needed his roster spot for yesterday’s bullpen game.

Kevin Newman has missed the last three weeks with an oblique strain. He’ll be in Louisville tonight as they host the St. Paul Saints. With missing just a few weeks, and there being less than a month remaining in the regular season, if Newman looks and feels right, his rehab stint could be a short one