Winker with back-to-back starts on heels of Reds calling off rotation

One week after saying he was planning on ending the four-man outfield rotation in order to play Billy Hamilton, Adam Duvall and Scott Schebler more regularly, Cincinnati Reds interim manger had Jesse Winker in the starting lineup in back-to-back games.

Winker went 1 for 4 with a walk and an RBI in Tuesday night’s 9-6 loss to Colorado, and he’s back in left field and batting leadoff Wednesday night.

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Riggleman said It’s more a matter of circumstance than a change of course.

“With all the off days, I just cannot let (Winker) have that many days,” Riggleman said. “If you sit him and then you have a bunch of off days, it’s just too much. And he’s a guy we’ve got to have in there as much as we can against righties.”

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In addition to four off days in a 15-day span, the Reds are coming off a nine-game road trip where they needed Hamilton’s speed and defense each day in the bigger parks in Colorado, Arizona and San Diego.

Hamilton got the night off Tuesday, while Duvall is the odd man out Wednesday.

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"It couldn't be (a four-man rotation) out west because we had Billy in there every day, but as we get here, and smaller ballparks, we can give Billy a day now and then like we did yesterday," Riggleman said. "But I don't know that I can label it as anything other than I'm just going to every day try to put three of them out there to help us win a ballgame and hopefully there won't be too many off days for any of them."

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