Rhett Lowder Gets Honest After Shaky Return to Cincinnati Reds Rotation

Cincinnati Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder made his way back to the mound on Sunday, and it did not go the way he wanted.

The 24-year-old was activated from the 15-day injured list to start the series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, his first game action since leaving a May 7 start against the Cubs with right shoulder discomfort.

Lowder lasted just three innings, walking five batters and hitting another while striking out four in what turned into a 5-3 loss that completed a three-game Cardinals sweep.

After the game, Lowder kept it simple when talking about what went wrong.

"Gotta get ahead and throw strikes, but battled through it," Lowder said. "I gotta keep them off the board, but I gotta get ahead."

The good news for Lowder is that he did not give up any earned runs in his three innings on the hill.

The bad news is that five walks in three frames is nowhere near the kind of command the Reds need from him, and it is the same issue that has followed him around during a rough stretch this season.

The Reds were clearly managing his workload on the way back from the shoulder problem, and Chris Paddack took over in the fourth before the bullpen let the game slip away late.

Lowder entered this season with a lot of buzz after a strong rookie run in 2024.

The seventh overall pick back in the 2023 Draft out of Wake Forest posted a 1.17 ERA across six starts as a rookie, and through his first eight career starts he held a 1.30 ERA, the lowest by a Reds pitcher since 1913.

He missed all of 2025 with oblique and forearm injuries but won a rotation spot out of camp this spring and looked sharp early on, going 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA through his first six outings.

Then things fell apart.

A disastrous start in Pittsburgh saw him get pulled in the second inning after giving up eight earned runs, and his next outing in Chicago ended early when the shoulder started bothering him.

Through nine starts this season, Lowder sits at 3-3 with a 5.01 ERA, 31 strikeouts, and 23 walks across 41.1 innings.

The Reds need Lowder to find his footing because they cannot afford to keep sliding.

Cincinnati sits at 31-33 and in last place in the NL Central, 9.5 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.

They have lost four straight and gone 2-8 over their last 10, a skid that has pushed them below .500 for the first time all year.

Getting Lowder back was supposed to settle a pitching staff that has been beat up by injuries all season long, but Sunday showed there is still work to be done before he can be someone the team counts on every fifth day.