Cincinnati Reds no-hit until ninth by Alex Cobb, lose again to San Francisco Giants, 6-1

SAN FRANCISCO — That sound coming from the Bay Area late Tuesday night wasn’t an earthquake.

But it sounded seismic for the Cincinnati Reds when they hit bottom on a crucial west coast road trip, their embattled, depleted lineup finally coming up nearly empty altogether when San Francisco Giants right-hander Alex Cobb no-hit the Reds for 8 2/3 innings in a 6-1 Giants victory at Oracle Park.

Spencer Steer broke up the no-no on Cobb's 125th pitch of the night, driving a double to the right-center gap that drove home Nick Senzel, who had walked with one out.

Until Senzel's walk, the only base runner to reach against Cobb was Senzel in the third, on a throwing error by third-baseman Casey Schmitt – a play originally ruled a hit until the official scorer reviewed it and changed the call a half-inning later.

“He made it tough for us, and a lot of that had to do with his split,” manager David Bell said. “It had really good diving action, and not only down but down and in, almost like a sinker. He was just in total command really the whole game.”

Cobb (7-5) was allowed to finish the game after Steer's double and a visit to the mound by Giants manager Gabe Kapler. And Elly De La Cruz followed by striking out for the second time.

And just like that, the Reds have lost two straight and their best player, Matt McLain, to the injured list (oblique) since getting to San Francisco – a 5 a.m. Monday arrival delayed by more than eight hours because of engine problems with the charter flight in Phoenix.

They've had their own mechanical issues since then, still waiting to fire up again, having lost five of the first six during this 11-game stretch against other wild-card contenders.

“We haven’t got the results we wanted obviously,” Steer said. “There’s still plenty of baseball left to play, still plenty of games left. We control our own destiny at this point if we play good baseball going forward. We can’t get these ones back. We’ve just got to keep going forward.”

Whether the Reds left their playoff hopes on the tarmac at Sky Harbor Airport, they lost the tiebreaker to the Giants for a possible playoff berth, the Giants leading the season series 4-2 with one to play Wednesday.

And they fell to 9-17 since the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

“We've got the whole month of September to figure things out,” said rookie left-hander Brandon Williamson, who pitched six innings in his 19th start since debuting in May. “Every team goes through this. There’s an extra spot in the wild card now. So anything can happen when you have three spots to go for.

"I think we’re still a good team. We still think we’re a good team. And I think we can get hot," he said. "We know we have that ability. We’ve done it before. And if that happens we’re in a good spot.”

Williamson allowed five of the six Giants runs, but only three were earned, thanks to an error by third-baseman Noelvi Marte just ahead of a two-out home run by Patrick Bailey in the third.

The first run against him scored on a third-disengagement violation in the second inning, with runners at the corners and without the standard communication to the pitcher that his subtle step-off when he thought the pitch timer was being reset for the batter had counted as a second "disengagement."

New rules this year make it a balk to throw to the base or otherwise "disengage" from the rubber three times during an at-bat without throwing out the runner.

Williamson earned his third quality start of the month – one of only eight for the team in August. The Reds are just 2-6 in those games.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds nearly no-hit in San Francisco, lose 5th of last 6