Cincinnati Reds drop third straight, drop out of first place after another short start

CHICAGO — Even before the Cincinnati Reds turned to the most oughta-be-gassed bullpen in the National League in the fourth inning again Thursday night, Reds lefty Alex Young called it “the elephant in the room.”

It’s the enormous workload the Reds bullpen has been asked to carry into August. An enormous part of why the Reds got to Thursday in first place in the National League Central.

And an even more enormous part of their prospects of being there when the season ends.

Did somebody say prospects?

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That’s one thing the Reds have plenty of — more good ones than they probably should by now, considering they didn’t use any of them to add a starting pitcher or to do anything more for the bullpen than to add journeyman depth lefty Sam Moll.

“I think the reason why we really didn’t go after starters is because I think we have what we need,” Young said a few hours before his bullpen mates covered another impressive five innings in a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night at Wrigley Field.

With starters Hunter Greene (hip/back) and Nick Lodolo (leg) both due back from the injured list within 10 days of each other in late August, Young and several teammates in recent days say they like their chances to stay in the race and do damage down the stretch.

Until then, the Reds’ third straight loss Thursday dropped them out of first place — a half-game back of the Milwaukee Brewers.

And the surging Cubs — winners of 11 of their last 13 — are just two games behind the Reds.

It’s not for lack of performance from the relief crew — who didn’t give up a run Thursday until Dansby Swanson’s leadoff double in the eighth off Fernando Cruz came around to score on a sacrifice fly. Or lack of performance from a lineup that scored 24 runs during the lost four-game series. Or lack of effort from a too-thin starting corps.

But a lack of reinforcements at the deadline continues to be conspicuous for the team that led the division at the time — especially in the context of significant additions by the teams chasing the Reds.

“As a player it’s never really a great idea to have a macro view like that,” said catcher Luke Maile, who wound up pitching in two blowout losses this week because of pitching problems against the Cubs.

“We’re not in the front office; we don’t have the ability to control that, regardless,” he said. “It’s the here and now for us, and looking at it any other way — it’s definitely human; it’s something guys do all the time.

“As far as roster additions and moves on other teams,” he added, “quite frankly, that’s their problems. I don’t try and clean other people’s houses.”

The problem might be the all-in-house approach the Reds took at the deadline instead of something at least an inch or two closer to all-in.

One day after fourth starter Ben Lively went back on the IL with his recurring pec injury, fifth-starter Luke Weaver faltered in the third — but only after appearing to have secured a 1-2-3 inning.

Instead, the breaking ball Nico Hoerner swung through for what should have been the final out got past Maile for a wild pitch.

Then came a walk, a run-scoring single and three more walks to force in another pair of runs.

The veteran Maile pointed the finger at himself for the wild pitch, but Manager David Bell and Weaver praised the catcher.

"Sometimes the ball just has a weird eye on it," Weaver said. "It's on me to come back strong. I threw a couple good pitches there in the next at-bat, so we won't get into that. But everything just started to kind of elevate, and the crowd gets into it. It's just about trying to execute pitches."

By the time the third run of the inning had crossed the plate on the fourth walk, Bell had earned his sixth ejection of the season. Not for arguing balls and strikes, he said, but to take some heat off the visibly frustrated Maile and "make sure it wasn't escalated," Bell said. "I got ejected before I really got out there to make that point."

Also before he could make another early call to the bullpen. That came one batter into the fourth. And that meant the bullpen that leads the majors in pitcher appearances and is among the National League's top three in innings pitched covered 18 1/3 of 33 innings in the series.

"They continue to be who they are," Bell said of a group that held serve again long enough to give Spencer Steer a chance to put the Reds within one with an eighth-inning homer.

But it wasn’t enough on this night. And whether it’s enough the next two weeks — never mind two months — is anybody’s guess at this point.

They still say they love their talent and like the position they've put themselves in this late in the season — and like their chances.

“We’re in a strong position because of what got us here,” Maile said.

Said Young: “Obviously, no one thought we were going to be here. So it’s just us vs. the world at this point. So that’s the way we’re taking it.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds knocked out of place by Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Wrigley