Steele bitten by 'falling behind' in bumpy 3rd

CINCINNATI -- For the second consecutive night at Great American Ball Park, it was a long, frustrating third inning that ultimately doomed the Cubs.

This time, it was second-year starter Justin Steele who was on the mound for the crucial frame. The lefty was unable to record an out in the third inning, following a barrage of timely hits, and walks that ended his outing and put the Cubs in an early hole. The Reds struck for eight runs in the frame, which led to a 20-5 loss in the final game of the four-game series.

The 20 runs -- which were the most allowed by the franchise since July 3, 1999 -- were the result of 20 hits and seven walks.

“I kind of just felt like it was one of those days,” said Steele, who fell to 1-5 on the season. “Anything that [was] touched was kind of finding a hole. … Definitely so in that third inning. I was falling behind, kind of getting predictable. [When I] fall behind, they know a fastball is coming, so they’re able to get their foot down earlier. They were making adjustments and doing what they’re supposed to do.”

Not every long ball comes off of a mistake pitch, and that was apparent in the second inning. The Reds’ first big hit of the game came on a breaking ball well below the strike zone that shortstop Kyle Farmer golfed 400 feet, according to Statcast, over the left-center-field wall.

“Sometimes you just have to tip your cap, go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get better from this outing,” Steele said. “I’ve got to do a better job of figuring out how to stop the bleeding or doing something different to change up their pace.”

Despite not earning a win since his first start of the year on April 9, Steele came into the finale at the top of his game, with an 1.80 ERA over his last three starts. He had his finest outing of the season two starts ago, when he struck out a career-high 10 batters against the D-backs on May 15.

This time out, falling behind in counts in the game’s early innings ended up being his downfall.

“Falling behind doesn't help … [whether they were] making weak contact, hitting the ball hard, everything seemed to be falling for a hit,” Steele said. “All of that just compiling on top of each other is what leads to big innings like that. We just have to do something to learn from it.”

“He was just behind in the count. A lot of three-ball counts in [the third inning],” Cubs manager David Ross said. “You’ve got to pitch ahead.”

Reliever Scott Effross, who’s been reliable this season -- he came into the day with a 1.93 ERA in 18 2/3 innings out of the bullpen -- entered in the third with two runners on and no outs, but he was unable to neutralize the Reds’ lineup, which quickly added to their lead. Even after a 59-minute rain delay in the top of the sixth that came well after Steele’s departure, Cincinnati’s bats didn't cool off. They continued to pile it on the visiting Cubs through their final at-bats of the night, scoring five runs off veteran shortstop Andrelton Simmons -- who was making his first career appearance on the mound -- in the eighth.

An important piece in the back end of Chicago's rotation, Steele’s development will be key for the team to make a push back towards the top half of the NL Central.

“He seems to have that one inning where he kind of loses command of the baseball a little bit,” Ross said. “Sometimes he locks that back in, and sometimes he’s not able to, and that was more [like] today.”