Janson Junk was charged with two runs over a career-high 7 1/3 innings on Monday in a loss to the Reds.
Junk tallied three strikeouts and limited Cincinnati’s strong lineup to just seven hits, including an eighth-inning homer by Tyler Stephenson, and required an extremely efficient 87 pitches (57 strikes) to work into the eighth. The 30-year-old righty has looked like a different pitcher this season, with his fastball velocity up nearly two mph from last year, averaging 96.1 mph in this one, while also featuring a kick changeup to neutralize left-handers and a gyro slider to combat right-handers. He’ll carry a solid 3.09 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 8/2 K/BB ratio across 11 2/3 innings into a road matchup against the Tigers on Saturday to close out a two-start week.