Cincinnati Reds drop sixth straight as pitching woes prove costly again in loss to Nats

A former All-Star starting pitcher greeted the Cincinnati Reds as they filtered into the clubhouse Sunday morning, and he was there to help a slumping, pitching-needy team.

“Give the boys some vibe,” said Bronson Arroyo, his guitar slung from his shoulder, amp near his feet, between dulcet sets of 1990s folk/rock tunes that earned the attention and appreciation of players and staff — and even a stealth iPhone video recording or two.

“That’s sick,” one pitcher enjoying the music said with a smile.

Rookie Elly De La Cruz bobbed his head to the music as he entered the far end of the room and went to his locker.

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It may not have been the kind of outside help from a pitcher this team needed most at Tuesday’s trade deadline.

But Arroyo — who lives in the area and has occasionally played for the team before, often using the natural acoustics of the shower to perform — saw a moment of need and made the morning trip.

“I’ve watched the last couple games,” he said. “See if we can shake things up a little bit.

“In baseball, if you can blame something on superstition, there’s no better feeling,” he said. “If it works you keep riding it. If they get blown out today, I won’t be back for a while.”

There was no blowout Sunday. There also was not much of a vibe once Arroyo was done and the Reds’ 6-3 loss to the Washington Nationals ensued.

Mostly, it made for a day of constant reminders what the Reds don’t have — at least yet — in their quest to earn the playoff berth they put within reach by shocking the rest of baseball with two months of youthful exuberance. And lots of winning.

If the morning appearance of one of the rotation stalwarts from the Reds’ last division winner in 2012 wasn’t enough of a reminder, then sophomore ace Hunter Greene’s check-in Sunday during an injury rehab assignment scheduled for two more weeks before he returns almost certainly was.

“It’s been tough, but I’m close and looking forward to getting back,” Greene said before the Reds’ sixth consecutive loss, tying their longest skid of the season — their second six-gamer in less than a month.

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That’s the thing. Will it be too late by the time Greene returns Aug. 20 if he stays on schedule? Or by the time starter Nick Lodolo is back about 10 days later?

Meanwhile, the Reds called up hard-throwing prospect Lyon Richardson for the team’s MLB-leading 13th big-league debut.

Richardson immediately made history by allowing home runs on the first two major-league pitches he threw, to CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas, during a four-run Nationals first inning.

He’s the first to do that in the 25 seasons the league has tracked pitch counts.

Richardson pitched around more trouble in the second and got through the third. But that was it as the Reds and their bullpen endured a sixth start of less than five innings in the last seven games.

Adding injury to the insult that is the Reds’ second-worst rotation ERA in the National League, lefty reliever Alex Young — who might be the unsung hero of the position area that certainly has been the unsung hero for this team all year — left the game in the eighth inning because of lower back spasms. His status for the next series was not immediately clear.

Sunday’s visiting troubadour — a starter so well regarded by the franchise that he was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame last month — said he’s enjoyed watching what the Reds have done to reach the brink of contention for the first time since he was on the Reds’ last three full-season playoff teams.

“Totally different vibe than anything I’ve ever seen here,” he said. “Defense, speed, put the ball in play. We had a lot of teams where it was a log of swing and miss, pop a lot of homers, very streaky. They seem more consistent.

“I always felt like our starting pitching and our bullpen was kind of driving our train back then in those days. And here it seems to have been flip-flopped.”

Which raises the obvious question: Does this team have enough pitching?

“Only if Lodolo and Greene — one of the two has to come back and be really, really good,” Arroyo said.

He said he didn’t follow the trade deadline news enough to know whether he should be surprised the club didn’t add more than lefty Sam Moll as a bullpen depth arm.

But he knew this much when asked about opportunities to contend like this:

“This is as precious as it gets,” said Arroyo, who pitched for the Boston Red Sox curse-busting champion in 2004 before joining the Reds. “This is a moment to stand in front of this team and say you might not ever, ever — in the next 20 years, if you play all 20, you might never feel the vibe that’s about to be right here in this two-month window.

“To get to the playoffs and smell the air in October during batting practice is a whole different ballgame. And, man, is it worth it.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds fall behind early, lose season-high 6th straight