The Reds continue to spiral in their discouraging slide
SAN FRANCISCO — Whenever the Cincinnati Reds look like they’re building up some momentum, something gets in their way.
On Sunday, the San Francisco Giants beat the Reds, 6-5, on a walk-off hit from Giants shortstop Casey Schmitt and handed the Reds their 13th loss in their last 16 games. Cincinnati entered this season with a division title on its mind. But now, through 40 games, the Reds have a 17-23 record and plenty of concerns.
"We’ve got to play better, no doubt," Reds catcher Luke Maile said. "It’ll help when we can find a few breaks. They’re starting to come. But we’ve got to make them happen."
The series finale at Oracle Park was right there for the Reds to take, and they had one chance after another to win it. In the first inning, Reds first baseman Jeimer Candelario broke open the game with a bases clearing, three-run double.
A struggling Reds team had a rare big lead to work with, and Opening Day starter Frankie Montas was rolling through four innings.
Just like has been the case all season, the good didn’t last very long.
Reds center fielder TJ Friedl got hit by a pitch in the right hand in the first inning, but it initially looked like he had avoided an injury. He stayed in the game and slid headfirst into second base, showing confidence in his hand.
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But when the Reds’ defense went onto the field for the bottom of the first inning, Friedl was out of the game with a right thumb contusion.
"Late in the game, there were a lot of switches that could have been made that we weren’t able to do (because Friedl was out)," Maile said. "We’ve had quite a few guys go down with what seems like the same hit by pitch. That didn’t help us."
The Reds took a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning, but then Montas fell apart. Before that inning, Montas’ fastball had looked like a dominant pitch over his last two starts. In the fifth inning, the Giants crushed it for a single, a double, a game-tying home run and a go-ahead RBI single.Reds reliever Nick Martinez entered out of the bullpen, and shortstop Elly De La Cruz made a throwing error on a routine ground ball. De La Cruz had been one of the Reds’ best defenders over the last few weeks, but this critical mistake let a run score from first base on a ball that didn’t leave the infield. The Reds’ 3-0 lead became a 5-3 deficit.
The Reds rallied to tie the score with a solo homer from designated hitter Mike Ford, but he stranded the go-ahead run on third base with a strikeout with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. Then in the 10th inning, De La Cruz stranded two runners in scoring position with a strikeout with two outs. In the bottom of the inning, Reds reliever Lucas Sims allowed the automatic runner at second base to score as the Giants won the series.
Reds manager David Bell spent most of the game in the clubhouse with a stomach issue.
"Right now, we’re in a tough stretch," Reds bench coach Freddie Benavides said. "We’re not playing to what we’re capable of. It’s tough to lose a game like that, especially when you’re trying to win the series. We’ve just got to keep battling. Tomorrow is a new day."
It was a crushing game in a season that keeps getting more frustrating for the Reds.
In spring training, expectations were sky high. After the Reds splurged in free agency, this was supposed to be the year where the Reds became contenders.Then, Noelvi Marte got suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs, Matt McLain suffered a significant shoulder injury while diving for a ground ball in practice and Friedl broke his wrist diving for a line drive in a spring training game.
Despite missing some key pieces, the Reds had their best start in a decade. The high point was on April 24, when the Reds clinched the season series win over the Philadelphia Phillies. There was a big celebration in the clubhouse that night. The Reds showed that they were capable of playing up to the level of one of the best teams in baseball.
The Reds haven’t played well since that series. In late April, three different illnesses spread around the clubhouse, which caused four different players to miss time.
First baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand fractured his hand on April 27. He tried to play through it for 11 days before he discovered the full extent of the injury.
"It’s felt like every night something went against us," Maile said. "We’ve stayed in games. But obviously we’re missing that little extra thing to go right. That extra timely hit. We’ll get it. It’s certainly frustrating."
The Reds have been relying on young talent to develop quickly, but it hasn’t been a straight line up for most of these players’ development. De La Cruz has made the leap this year and still has flaws. But Will Benson, Jonathan India, Encarnacion-Strand and Spencer Steer have all had long stretches this year where they haven’t been productive.
As the Reds look for some consistency, the top-half of the lineup has had a revolving door full of players. Last week, the Reds released Ford from their Triple-A roster because they didn’t see a fit for him on the Major League roster. Now, after Encarnacion-Strand’s injury, Ford is an every day player who hits third in the lineup when the Reds face a right-hander.
When the Reds lost eight straight games in early May, the losing streak started because of how much the lineup was struggling. The Reds’ offense has ticked up over the last few games. But more recently, overaggressive baserunning and disappointing defense have led to pivotal runs scoring for the other team.
The Reds’ starting pitching has been solid on the whole this year, but that’s been the only consistent strength on the team in 2024.
To turn their season around, the Reds are counting on the development of their young core. Some of those players are injured, and most of the rest of that group has underperformed. After losing a winnable series to a Giants team that has been decimated by injuries, the uphill climb continues in a Reds season that isn’t going the way the team expected.
"We can’t think about that," Montas said. "We just have to keep going out there and keep on grinding. This is not going to be the whole season. We’re all working to get out of this. That’s the only thing we can control."
Road trip continues in Arizona
The Reds begin the second leg of their three city, 10-game road trip against the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday night (9:40 p.m.).
Graham Ashcraft, 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA, will face Arizona's Jordan Montgomery, a left-hander who is 2-2 with a 4.70 ERA in only four starts after signing late with the Diamondbacks.
In his last start, Montgomery allowed only two runs in seven innings in a 4-3 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Reds continue to spiral in their discouraging slide
