Reds' bats quiet during skid: 'Got to come up with the big hit'

PITTSBURGH -- To borrow a phrase from the golf world, lately the Reds’ offense has not been able to drive for show, nor putt for dough.

Cincinnati's season-high losing streak reached five games with Saturday night's 2-1 defeat to the Pirates at PNC Park. Although this was a close game, the Reds have been outscored, 28-6, during the losing streak.

"We’ve been through a six-game stretch that’s definitely been frustrating for the team and personally," said Wil Myers, who started at first base. "Come back tomorrow, get ready to play and hopefully, get out of it. We need a win tomorrow, not get swept on the road. Hopefully, we come back tomorrow, put together better at-bats and come back with a win."

The lack of production during the past week has included:

• No Reds hitters have hit a home run during the streak.

• The losing streak began with Cincinnati being held scoreless for 24 consecutive innings, including being shut out twice by Tampa Bay.

• Myers, who was signed to bolster the offense in the offseason, is in a 1-for-22 funk with 10 strikeouts -- including three on Saturday -- over his past six games.

• Jake Fraley, who appeared as a pinch-hitter and grounded out in the eighth inning, is 1-for-22 over his past seven games.

"Collectively, we can do better," Myers said. "It takes each individual looking at themselves and finding out ways to get better. We’ve definitely got to do a better job, including myself specifically, with better at-bats."

To face Pirates lefty starting pitcher Rich Hill, Reds manager David Bell implemented an entirely right-handed lineup. Cincinnati had no 1-2-3 innings against Hill, putting at least one runner on in each of his five innings.

But overall, the Reds went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10. With two on and two out in the first inning, Hill struck out Myers with a curveball to end the threat. With two on and no outs in the third inning, Myers and Tyler Stephenson both struck out before Kevin Newman ended the inning by grounding into a forceout.

“Those hits are important. They lead to runs," Bell said. "You need to come up with the big hits. We need, also, to get guys on base. It’s a combination of both of those things. So it’s good we had them on, but we’ve got to come up with the big hit, for sure. We just need to get a couple of our guys going. They’re working hard, and once that happens, we’ll be back on track.

"You go through these things. You face adversity, challenges. You find out how good you are during these times. That’s how we’re going to approach it.”

Reds starting pitcher Luis Cessa bounced back nicely from his disastrous start last Sunday, when he allowed 11 earned runs and 14 hits in three-plus innings against the Phillies. Against the Pirates, Cessa gave up two earned runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings with no walks and four strikeouts.

In the first inning, Pittsburgh hitter Ke'Bryan Hayes hit a leadoff triple that got by center fielder Jose Barrero and went to the wall. Hayes scored on Bryan Reynolds' sacrifice fly. Back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning led to Jack Suwinski driving in Carlos Santana for a 2-0 Pirates lead.

Jonathan India manufactured the Reds' lone run with aggressive base running. On Stuart Fairchild's one-out single in the fifth inning, India blew through second base and distracted center fielder Ji Hwan Bae enough for him to make an error fielding the ball. India kept running and scored.

"I’ve been happy with the baserunning," Bell said. "Jonathan has been running well, really, since the first day of Spring Training. He was flying there. The main thing was he was just running hard the whole time and [making] the defense stop you."

Little else has gone right of late. Bell tried shuffling the lineup earlier in the week, putting all the hotter hitters together at the top of the order. With two outs and one on in the sixth inning on Saturday, he summoned hot-hitting lefty batter TJ Friedl to pinch-hit for Curt Casali against righty reliever Yohan Ramirez.

Friedl came through with a single into center field. But the rally died when India struck out to end the inning. In the eighth, Bell gave up the designated hitter by pinch-hitting Fraley for backup catcher Luke Maile. Stephenson went from DH to behind the plate for the bottom of the inning.

“We just did everything we could to give us a shot to get back into the game there," Bell said.