(Sports Network) – Texas native Homer Bailey looks for a second straight successful post-DL start tonight when the Cincinnati Reds visit Minute Maid Park for the second of three games with the host Houston Astros.
Bailey, a first-round pick (seventh overall) out of LaGrange, Texas, was on the shelf for the season’s first month with shoulder trouble before making his 2011 debut against the Astros on May 5.
He lasted six full innings in the start, scattering four hits and allowing a single run with a walk and seven strikeouts in the Reds’ 10-4 victory in Cincinnati.
In two career starts against Houston, the now 25-year-old — his birthday was May 3 — has allowed just three earned runs and seven hits in 11 2/3 innings, allowing a .163 opponent batting average.
Bailey won a career-best eight games in 20 starts in 2009, then was hampered by injuries and limited to only four wins in 19 starts last season.
The Astros go with right-handed workhorse Brett Myers, who was on the short end of the May 5 encounter with Bailey and the Reds.
Myers, who pitched at least six innings in 32 of 33 starts with Houston last season, was held to less than that threshold for the first time in 2011 when he gave up nine hits and six runs over 5 2/3 against Cincinnati.
The 30-year-old is without a victory in four starts since April 12, when he allowed eight hits and a run in seven innings of an 11-2 defeat of the Chicago Cubs.
Myers is 3-4 lifetime against the Reds with a 4.46 earned run average in 70 2/3 innings.
In Monday’s opener, Travis Wood threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings and belted a three-run homer to lead the Reds to a 6-1 victory.
Wood (2-3) allowed six hits and just one walk while striking out six.
Ramon Hernandez added a two-run home run for the Reds, who have won five of their last six.
Aneury Rodriguez (0-1), making just his second major league start, suffered the loss after allowing five runs and eight hits over five innings.
Hunter Pence hit his fifth homer of the season to account for the Astros’ only run. They have lost three straight and five of six.
The Reds have taken five of seven from the Astros so far this season and have won 12 of the past 17 played at Minute Maid Park.