Pitching for the Reds, Dunn returns to face Mets

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Freeport native Justin Dunn couldn’t have dreamed of a better week to return to Major League Baseball.

Out of MLB action for over a year due to a right shoulder strain, the 26-year-old pitcher, a first-round draft pick of the New York Mets in 2016, finally made his debut on the Citi Field mound on Aug. 8.

Following six rehab starts at the Triple-A level, Dunn was recalled to the big leagues and made his Cincinnati Reds debut that same night against some of his closest friends, including Pete Alonso, who was drafted by the Mets in the second round in 2016.

“God is good,” said Dunn, who gave up three runs in 4 2/3 innings but held Alonso, the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year, hitless in three at-bats and struck him out once. Dunn threw 70 pitches and allowed five hits, walked two and struck out two in the Reds’ 5-1 loss. “It was a pretty special moment,” he said. “It was a long road back.”

Playing for the Louisville Bats, the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, since July 1, Dunn learned of his promotion to the Reds two days before he was scheduled to pitch against the Mets, and was soon on a plane bound for New York. He called home and told his parents, Donna and Ed Dunn, who months earlier had correctly predicted when their son would be back in the majors.

“They called it,” Justin said of his parents’ forecast. “I thought for a minute about not saying anything, and surprising them by taking an Uber from the airport to Freeport, but I was afraid they’d find out through social media. So my dad picked me up at JFK on Sunday, and I met up with the team later at the hotel.”

Dunn said he needed 56 tickets to accommodate family members and friends at Citi Field. They all sat in the lower level, behind the Cincinnati dugout. “To look up and see my parents, girlfriend and everyone else in the stands was pretty incredible,” Dunn said. “They gave me a lot of energy.”

The last time Dunn had pitched in a major league game was June 17, 2021, as a member of the Seattle Mariners, who traded him to the Reds in March as part of a five-player deal. Seattle acquired Dunn from the Mets in December 2018 in a six-player trade that brought Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to New York.

Dunn, who as a youngster played in the Baldwin Little League as well as travel baseball for the Freeport Red Devils, never pitched for the Mets. He made 25 starts for the Mariners over three seasons, going 5-4 with an ERA below 4.00 and 92 strikeouts in 102 innings.

Following Cincinnati’s three-game series in New York, the Reds headed to Iowa, where they faced the Chicago Cubs in the MLB Field of Dreams Game Aug. 11 in Dyersville, a town popularized by the 1989 movie of the same name starring Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones and Ray Liotta. Dunn said it was one of the best experiences of his life.

“‘Field of Dreams’ is such an iconic movie, and the intimacy of the whole thing reminded me a lot of Cooperstown,” he said, referring to the experience of playing at Doubleday Field, near the Baseball Hall of Fame. “Walking out of the cornfields was really awesome.”

Dunn said that staying healthy, first and foremost, and staying in a Cincinnati rotation in need of reinforcement following the recent trades of Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle to Seattle and the Minnesota Twins, respectfully, are his immediate goals. “I’m feeling good,” he said. “I want to finish the year healthy and have a normal offseason.”