Former UK star AJ Reed’s first MLB hit a single

Former University of Kentucky star AJ Reed singled in the fifth inning Friday night for the first hit of his Major League Baseball career.

Reed had started his career 0-for-16, including a third-inning strikeout in the Houston Astros’ 5-0 victory against the Chicago White Sox.

But he followed that up with a base hit to right field off Chicago starter Miguel Gonzalez. He also drew a walk, his third in five games, in the seventh inning and was replaced by a pinch runner with the Astros ahead 3-0.

“Kind of a weight lifted off your shoulders and now I don’t have to come to the ballpark and think ‘Today’s the day,’” Reed told the Associated Press. “So go out and relax and have fun.”

Reed, who had batted as high as fifth in the Astros’ batting order, was eighth in the lineup Friday as the team’s designated hitter.

“For a while, he probably felt like there wasn’t going to be a hit out there for him,” Manager A.J. Hinch told MLB.com. “There’s a collective exhale for him and everybody around him. We got to have a good time with it.”

MLB.com also reported that Reed, a left-handed hitter, likely won’t be in the starting lineup the next two games because the Astros are facing White Sox lefties Chris Sale and Jose Quintana.

“The first two series for him have been a lesson in how the league will try to adjust to you based on what they see — a lot of offspeed pitches, they’re messing with his timing and they’re going to make him make an adjustment early,” Hinch told MLB.com prior to Friday’s game.

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This story was originally published July 1, 2016 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Former UK star AJ Reed’s first MLB hit a single."