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Reds' Arroyo seeks to bounce back from horrid effort

Jun 29, 2008 - 1:21 PM Cincinnati (36-45) at Cleveland (37-43) 1:05 pm. EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Bronson Arroyo has struggled all season, but his last outing was historically bad.

Arroyo aims to put the worst start of his career behind him on Sunday when the Cincinnati Reds aim to take the rubber game of a three-game series with the in-state rival Cleveland Indians.

Johnny Cueto threw 6 1/3 strong innings and Paul Bako drove in three runs to lead the Reds to a 5-0 victory on Saturday.

Arroyo (4-7, 6.52 ERA) allowed a mind-boggling 10 runs and 11 hits in one inning of a 14-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. The righthander became just the sixth pitcher in history to give up at least 10 earned runs while failing to pitch more than an inning.

Arroyo, who is winless in his last five starts, may benefit from facing an Indians team that has struggled to score runs. Cleveland has lost seven of its last 11 games and is averaging just 3.1 runs in that span.

That puts more pressure on rookie lefthander Aaron Laffey (4-4, 2.83), who 1-1 with a 2.48 ERA over his last four starts. Laffey allowed one run and four hits in six innings, but did not factor into the decision in a 3-2 loss to San Francisco on Tuesday.