Stephenson struggled against the Cubs on Saturday, allowing two earned runs on four hits and three walks over 1.2 innings while continuing to miss with his fastball, MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports. "He just had a lot of misses and elevated fastballs," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "He just really hasn't gotten into his groove yet. He'll bounce back, I'm sure. He's got good stuff, and he's a better pitch now than he was at this point last year."
While Price is expressing confidence that Stephenson will bounce back, he had similar struggles last season and is off to a slow start compared to Amir Garrett, Tyler Mahle and Sal Romano.