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Heading into the season, the Cincinnati Reds were counting on catcher Tyler Stephenson to carry a big load. But an oblique strain sustained in mid-March during spring training put him on the injured list.

Stephenson returned Friday and made an immediate impact, ripping two doubles with two RBIs in the Reds’ 6-1 win against the Washington Nationals.

Stephenson will look for a repeat performance when Cincinnati hosts Washington on Saturday night in the second contest of a three-game set.

“Regardless of results, even if those two (hits) were outs, I would have been happy just for controlling the at-bats,” Stephenson said. “For sure happy with a couple hits and a walk.”

Stephenson, 28, has proved to be a durable and reliable catcher for the Reds.

Last season, he batted .258 with 19 home runs, 118 hits and 66 RBIs in 138 games. Those numbers were an improvement from the year prior, the only down year of Stephenson’s career, when he hit .243 with 13 homers, 113 hits and 56 RBIs in 142 contests.

“We’re thrilled to have him back, and he’s a big part of what we want to be doing,” Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said.

Stephenson’s return gives the Reds three catchers, and Francona said he plans to keep all three for the time being. Jose Trevino and Austin Wynns delivered in Stephenson’s absence, with Trevino hitting .324 in 25 games and Wynns batting .394 in 12 games. Francona said Stephenson, a right-handed hitter, will serve as the designated hitter in games against left-handed pitchers,and will be behind the plate versus righties.

Nick Lodolo (3-2, 2.25 ERA) will start on Saturday for Cincinnati. The left-hander is coming off a stellar outing in his last appearance, tossing seven scoreless innings in an 8-1 win against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. He gave up only two hits, walked one and struck out nine.

Lodolo is 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA in two career appearances against Washington, which will counter with right-hander Trevor Williams (1-3, 5.70).

Williams, 33, has faced the Reds 16 times (12 starts) in his career, but Saturday will be his first start against them since May 2, 2021, then with the Chicago Cubs. He is 6-3 with a 4.07 ERA against Cincinnati.
Washington hopes he’ll fare better than Mitchell Parker, who gave up five runs on four hits and walked four in four innings on Friday.

“When you fall behind hitters and start walking guys, you put yourself in a bad situation,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.

Washington will look to find its offense on Saturday after being limited to four hits in the series opener. Two of those came in the eighth inning, long after the game had been blown open.

Josh Bell delivered the lone run in the loss, connecting for his fifth home run of the season. The first baseman tweaked his groin running out a ground ball in the seventh inning and was replaced by a pinch hitter in the ninth, but he said he doesn’t expect the ailment to linger.

–Field Level Media