CINCINNATI (WXIX) – In late August, the Cincinnati Reds dug themselves a big hole in the wild card race with poor situational hitting and worse defense as they dropped series versus the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Cardinals. Those struggles resulted in a players’ only meeting following Saturday’s loss against St. Louis.
During that timespan, the pitching was solid but not spectacular. It wasn’t costing the Reds games for the most part. But it also wasn’t carrying the Reds to wins, which is what you need from the strength of your team when you’re trying to make a push for a playoff spot.
Then, over the last two days, the pitching staff has crashed.
On Tuesday, the Blue Jays beat the Reds, 12-9. On Wednesday, the Blue Jays beat the Reds, 13-9, as Cincinnati dropped its fourth consecutive series. According to my friend and Bengals writer Jay Morrison, the last time the Reds lost back-to-back games despite scoring nine-plus runs in each was 1970.
“We’re going through it right now,” said Nick Martinez, who took the loss on Wednesday. “Late in the season. You throw in a little bug (illness) going around. We could sit here and complain about it or go to work and fight through it. We can play victim, or we can do something about it. I think we should do something about it.”
With Wednesday’s loss, the Reds fell five games back of the Mets heading into a series between the two teams this weekend. The Reds are only a half-game up on the Cardinals, who were sellers at the deadline. In the NL Central standings, the Reds are closer to the last-place Pirates (seven games up) than the second-place Cubs (10 games back).
The Reds entered September without much margin for error. The situational hitting and defense were the biggest factors in a sub-.500 August, but the pitching staff also didn’t meet expectations. Hunter Greene was on the IL for about half of the month, Nick Lodolo and Chase Burns were on the IL for most of the month, Martinez had a 5.11 ERA in August, and Zack Littell had a 3.90 ERA. The exception was Brady Singer, who had his best month of the season.
The pitching was fine. It kept the Reds in games. But as the calendar flipped to September, the rotation needed to reach another gear. So did the Reds’ middle relief pitchers. Two bullpen candidates in Martinez and Burns weren’t able to contribute in that role as Martinez was needed in the rotation and Burns was on the IL. Graham Ashcraft suffered a forearm injury. Sam Moll struggled on his way to a demotion to Triple-A. Scott Barlow hasn’t had good command at times. Tony Santillan and Emilio Pagán have been asked to pitch a ton.
Despite all of that, the Reds’ clearest path toward a playoff spot is still the pitching staff putting the team on its back.
The last two days have gone very poorly.
It started on Tuesday as Lodolo fell ill. He wasn’t able to make his start against the Blue Jays. Scrambling, the Reds pivoted to a bullpen game. The other option would have been calling up starter Chase Petty from Triple-A, but the 22-year-old prospect has had a tough season.
Barlow allowed a leadoff homer, surrendered three walks and then gave up a three-run double.
“He wasn’t commanding anything,” Terry Francona said. “You could tell it was a struggle. Ball one, ball two, ball three in a hurry.”
Brent Suter followed Barlow out of the bullpen. While Suter was able to give the Reds 2 ⅓ innings, he allowed six runs.
“It’s been one of those seasons in a season,” Suter said. “I’m attacking. I’m feeling good up there physically. I’m just not either putting away guys or I’m giving them an inch and they’re taking a yard. And then the home run ball comes into play.”
The Blue Jays started rallies by hitting good pitches from Suter. And then his mistakes came with poor timing, including a three-run homer by Bo Bichette and a two-run homer from George Springer.
At one point in the game, the Reds turned an 8-1 deficit into an 8-6 game and a 10-6 deficit into a 10-8 game. The Reds went on to score nine runs, but the Blue Jays scored 12.
“I just wish I could have done a better job of keeping us in it,” Suter said. “It’s heavy. We scored nine runs. That should be enough.”
The bullpen game had an impact that carried into Wednesday. “That was a lot yesterday,” Francona said after Wednesday’s loss.
Barlow, Suter and Connor Phillips, who threw two innings on Tuesday, likely weren’t available to pitch much if at all on Wednesday. The Reds optioned Reiver Sanmartin postgame and called up Lyon Richardson to give the team another long relief option.
The Reds really needed length out of Littell. He only lasted 4 ⅓ innings as he allowed five runs and four homers. A 5-0 Reds lead evaporated quickly.
The Reds scored nine runs again. It wasn’t enough again.
“You’ve got to keep fighting,” Martinez said. “Keep swinging. Swing your way out of it and try to get into a groove here.”
The pitching staff is fighting a lot right now. Illness. Fatigue. The grind of a long season. It all added up in a series loss vs. the Blue Jays.
The Mets now come to town with a five-game lead over the Reds. Abbott, Greene and Singer are scheduled to start.
Martinez used the word “vital” to describe the upcoming series.
“It’s going to be a very important series,” Martinez said. “We’ve backed ourselves into a bit of a wall. We’re going to be facing teams we need to be facing to give ourselves a chance.”
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