Reds swap in Spiers for Lodolo (paternity list) in upcoming rotation

BALTIMORE – The Reds’ rotation will temporarily have a sixth starter this weekend.

Left-handed starting pitcher Nick Lodolo was placed on the paternity list Friday and right-hander Carson Spiers was recalled from Triple-A Louisville.

Lodolo was scheduled to pitch on Sunday vs. the Orioles, but Spiers will take that start instead. Manager Terry Francona has pushed Lodolo back one day to start on Monday vs. the Marlins in Miami upon his return to the roster.

“The one caveat to that is because our bullpen has been used a lot the last couple of days, Spiers will be out there [in the bullpen Friday] as insurance," Francona said. "We’re not going to try to use him to leverage to win a game. But if we got into extra innings or something crazy happened, then we’d have to figure something out after that.”

Spiers opened the season in the Reds’ rotation while Andrew Abbott was on the injured list and went 0-2 with a 4.82 ERA in two starts. He has since made one start for Louisville and allowed five earned runs and seven hits – including a pair of home runs – over six innings in a loss.