After another struggle, Bronson Arroyo impatient for results

Bronson Arroyo is getting impatient with himself.

He’s already waited nearly three years to return to the major leagues, weathering two surgeries and the advancing march of time that previously seemed to affect every pitcher but him. He was so eager to get back, he signed a minor-league deal that’s currently paying him the major-league minimum.

In spring training, he battled through the flu. He took a ball off the face. He turned 40 years old.

But two starts into his comeback attempt – the last a six-inning, five-run outing in a 5-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday – he doesn’t feel good enough to be a major-league pitcher.

Cincinnati Reds fall to Milwaukee Brewers as Bronson Arroyo struggles again

He’s not willing to put up with it much longer.

“The next two times out, if I don’t see something a little bit crisper and able to keep us in the ballgame a little bit better, maybe you’re at a dead end street,” Arroyo said. “I’m not sure.”

Arroyo feels that way despite at least incremental improvement from his first start of the season. Last Saturday in St. Louis, the right-hander walked three and needed 75 pitches to get through four innings. He gave up six runs, much of them on a pair of homers.

Thursday things were undeniably better, although still not good. He didn’t walk a single batter, and threw just 80 pitches in six frames. He felt stronger, his fastball averaging 85 mph compared to 83 mph his first time out. But he again succumbed to a big inning, culminating in a three-run homer by Ryan Braun to cap a four-run third. Again that wasn’t the only one he allowed, as Eric Thames floated one to right-center two innings later.

Arroyo has always given up homers, but he prides himself on limiting their impact. What concerns him is that when he really needed a strikeout Thursday, he couldn’t find one. He finished with two, both to start an inning.

“I feel like they’re having to put the ball in play all the time for me to get outs,” Arroyo said. “Strikeouts don’t mean a whole lot, but when you want to get one, it’d be nice if you can reach back and have pitches that are crisp enough to put some guys away. Right now, that’s a bit of a problem.”

Get the latest Reds news. Download our app on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Reds manager Bryan Price seemed willing to give his veteran righty more rope than Arroyo was affording himself. Arroyo has never been a flamethrower, but has survived with lower velocity before, Price said. If Price wouldn’t judge a rookie off two starts, he won’t judge Arroyo on his first pair of outings in years.

Arroyo wasn’t signed to be an ace, either. The Reds engineered a reunion so he could eat the innings that less predictable rookies might not be able to cover. Five runs in six innings may not look pretty, but it did save an already busy bullpen.

“It will slightly be a work in progress because he’s trying to manage his way back at this level,” Price said. “I think he’s going to settle in fine.”

Price agreed that Arroyo’s secondary offerings need some fine-tuning. Arroyo can see no other way to accomplish that but to keep throwing, to continue putting his arm through motions that it may have trouble remembering. The only solution, if there is one, is time.

That’d be a wonderful luxury if Arroyo weren’t so competitive. The other eight players in the lineup didn’t suit up just to watch him suck.

“You’re getting paid to produce, man,” he said. “It’s got to get a little bit better a little quicker.”