The Cincinnati Reds kept running into the same wall Tuesday night: solid pitching, almost no offense, and another blank spot in the run column. This time it ended in a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, with the Reds managing only three hits all game.
Andrew Abbott did his part and then some. The left-hander worked into the seventh inning and gave Cincinnati a chance to hang around, allowing two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out six. But the bats never backed him up, and that has become an all-too-familiar problem.
Cincinnati’s offense produced nothing but singles, all three of its hits coming in that form. It marked the sixth time in the Reds’ last 10 games that they’ve been held to one run or fewer, a stretch that says plenty about where this lineup is right now.
"Even though we did a good job with the pitch count, we had nothing to show for it, which is kind of frustrating. They've done a really good job against us.
When you look up in the fifth, sixth, seventh innings, and you have three hits a few games in a row... We've got to find a way to score some runs."
Before the game, Francona was even more direct about how much this group leans on Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart. The manager told Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard:
"When him (Elly) and Sal (Stewart) don’t get hits, it gets pretty glaring for us," Francona told Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard. That’s a big load for them. Not altogether fair.”
That’s the heart of the issue for Cincinnati. When those two don’t deliver, the rest of the offense hasn’t shown enough to pick up the slack.
The Reds did get a needed boost from their pitching staff after Monday’s doubleheader, with Abbott handing the game off after a long outing and Maxwell finishing things off by allowing one run over 2 2/3 innings. Maxwell’s command was sharper, as he didn’t issue a walk and struck out two.
The series continues Wednesday night with Chase Burns on the mound for the Reds and Matthew Liberatore starting for St. Louis.
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Instead, the situation has only deepened the Reds winter dilemma. Friedl is no longer a simple lineup puzzle, because the organization has younger outfielders pushing for chances and more flexibility if it decides to move on from him, which means his place on the roster is suddenly tied to a much bigger offseason decision than anyone would have imagined a year ago. [Read more 🡒]