Reds' loss may prove costly with Deadline plan up in air

ST. PETERSBURG -- Reds manager David Bell can say until he is blue in the face that no one game -- or game outcome -- is more important than any other. But the team's record, its distance in the standings and a looming Tuesday Trade Deadline indicate otherwise.

And that's why Cincinnati's 4-0 loss to the Rays on Saturday at Tropicana Field hurt -- a lot.

The 50-54 Reds' playoff hopes -- and hopes to make trade additions rather than subtractions -- took a hard shot to the solar plexus as they fell to five games back from the third National League Wild Card spot.

"Every one of these games means something going into the Deadline. We all know that," Reds right fielder Jake Fraley said. "Everyone in here is aware of the business side of baseball. It’s no surprise to anybody with what we’re going through, and [we’re] figuring it out day by day.”

Now 3-4 on their eight-game road trip (plus a rainout) that began with the club being swept by the Nationals in three games, the best the Reds can hope for is to finish the trip .500 with a win on Sunday.

“We don’t make the decisions," Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott said. "We just come to the ballpark ready to play at the end of the day. I don’t really see it get on anybody’s mind, really. Just show up to play and if you get traded, you get traded.”

Abbott allowed four earned runs, a season-high eight hits and two walks over four-plus innings with two strikeouts. His personal six-start unbeaten streak ended as he moved to 9-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 21 starts.

The lefty’s day took a hard turn in the bottom of the fifth. Already trailing 1-0, he faced four batters in the inning and allowed four extra-base hits -- including two home runs.

Alex Jackson opened the rally by hitting a 0-1 sweeper for a leadoff homer to left field. Yandy Díaz made it back-to-back homers by driving an 0-2 fastball on the outer half of the plate to right-center field.

"You go out there and you get pitches, guys start putting the barrel on the ball, and it kind of flows from person to person," Jackson said. "When one person gets going, you kind of jump on it and it just goes."

Back-to-back doubles, including Brandon Lowe's, which was hit to left-center field, gave the Rays their four-run lead.

“They hit some good pitches," Abbott said. "Two of them were pretty spot-on with where I wanted to go with them. They just put really good swings on those. I wished they would have stayed in and [I could] give the team a little more chance to come back.”

The Reds, who won with only three hits on Friday, notched four hits -- all singles -- on Saturday. Three of them were over seven innings against Rays starter Zack Littell, who happens to lead the American League in hits allowed.

It was the eighth time Cincinnati has been shut out in 2024.

“He was nasty. He didn’t miss any spots," Fraley said of Littell. "I think if you go around the clubhouse, everybody would be saying the same thing, that they felt really good at the plate. That’s what happens -- elite pitching always beats elite hitting.”

Fraley didn't believe the Trade Deadline -- while certainly a presence -- was distracting or causing players to press.

“There’s a lot of guys in this room with experience with it, so I don’t think it’s pressing," he said. "Obviously, Washington didn’t go well for us coming after the break. But being in a place like Atlanta and playing like that against good pitching was a positive and so was winning the opener here yesterday against another good pitcher."

Tampa Bay is clearly in the midst of selling before the Deadline. It traded two players on Friday and Littell has been named in rumors that he too could be on the move.

Soon, the Reds’ front office will have to make its own decisions about which direction their club should go ahead of Tuesday. Saturday's loss certainly made the possibility of selling in some form more tangible.

“We just have to keep playing hard, keep working at it, continue to prepare and not let one game like today change anything," Bell said.