Trevor Bauer’s struggles continue in Japan: Former Cy Young has yielded 16 runs and in 21 innings

Trevor Bauer’s attempt to revive his derailed career in Japan has resulted in a string of poor outings for the once-celebrated pitcher.

He returned from a brief minor league assignment on Saturday to pitch for the Yokohama Bay Stars, but gave up a pair of home runs to beat Seiya Hosokawa in a loss to the Chunichi Dragons. To his credit, Bauer only gave up two earned runs in six innings pitched on Saturday, but the 32-year-old right-hander now has a monstrous 6.86 ERA as he hit seven home runs in his first four starts of the season.

And he wasn’t much better in the minors, where he gave up a homer to the first batter he faced last week, though he rebounded to fan 10 batters in six innings of work. Bauer was not demoted but agreed to make a minor league start after missing a performance due to a rainstorm, according to his agent, Rachel Luba.

The Los Angeles Dodgers cut ties with Bauer after he was suspended for 324 games in 2021 on sexual assault allegations, though the suspension was eventually reduced to 194 games by Commissioner Rob Manfred. Bauer had $32 million left on his contract – $22.5 million of which was to be paid by the Dodgers.

Bauer has denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime. He has since filed a defamation lawsuit against his accuser, Lindsey Hill, who has since contradicted Bauer, claiming he is trying to silence her.

A native of San Diego, Hill was granted a temporary restraining order against Bauer on June 28, 2021 after she was treated for her injuries at a hospital near her home and made a statement to police. Her efforts to obtain a permanent restraining order against him were rejected here, and prosecutors in Los Angeles said in February 2022 that they would not pursue criminal charges because there was insufficient evidence to support her claims beyond a reasonable doubt.

Bauer has admitted that the two had sexual intercourse, but says both encounters were “entirely consensual.”

Hill is one of three women who have accused Bauer of sexual assault.

As the Washington Post found out in August 2021, an Ohio woman had also tried to get a temporary restraining order against Bauer in June 2020, and police reports showed that in 2017 she charged him with physical assault after being threatened with death by the pitcher .

Then, in April, the Post reported another Ohio woman’s claim that Bauer also strangled her unconscious and sodomized her without consent during his time at Cleveland’s minor league affiliate in Columbus, Ohio.

She also shared screenshots of text messages with the Post, supposedly in which Bauer told her, “I want to fuck you while you’re completely unconscious.”

Bauer has also denied these allegations.

Prior to the allegations, Bauer had established himself as one of baseball’s most reliable pitchers, with a career ERA of 3.79, winning the Cy Young with Cincinnati in 2020, and then cashed in on that success by signing a three-year contract of $102 million to sign. with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Bauer went 8-5 with a solid 3.01 ERA in 17 starts before being suspended by MLB.

While serving his suspension, Bauer received no offers from major league teams and instead decided to sign a one-year, $4 million deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, a Central League team in Nippon Professional Baseball.