Reds snap scoreless streak but bats remain quiet

CINCINNATI -- The last time the Reds experienced this, Elly De La Cruz had only been in the Majors for just over a week. Christian Encarnacion-Strand has never known it during his young big league career.

The Reds are waking up on Sunday as a sub-.500 team.

With a 2-1 loss to the Orioles on Saturday -- which extended their losing streak to a season-high four games -- the Reds are 16-17 and have a record under .500 for the first time since June 14, 2023, when they were 34-35.

A 22-inning scoreless streak ended with Spencer Steer's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. Cincinnati had loaded the bases with one out during the rally but couldn't push across another run.

“Look, we’ve been battling," Steer said. "It seems like we just can’t buy one at the moment. I think that last inning was great to see. Guys were battling, having really good at-bats. We fell short, but that’s promising to see fight like that.”

Until Steer drove in a run, the Reds had been held scoreless at home for 26 consecutive innings. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the club's longest streak since it was blanked for 27 innings in 1967 at Crosley Field.

Orioles starter John Means, who has battled elbow injuries since 2022 and has made seven starts in three years, kept the Reds scoreless for seven innings during his 2024 debut.

During their last eight games -- which include six losses -- the Reds are batting .185 and have struck out 78 times. Conversely, the rotation has posted a 2.09 ERA in the same stretch.

“We’re a team. There’s going to be times when one part of your team has to pick up the other part of the team," Reds manager David Bell said. "Over the course of the year, that’s going to balance itself out. Our pitching is doing a great job. They’re keeping us in the game and doing a great job of that. That’s all you can ask.”

Andrew Abbott gave the Reds a five-inning start and allowed two earned runs and seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. A pair of solo home runs was all Baltimore needed -- one from Jorge Mateo in the fourth inning and the other from Adley Rutschman in the fifth.

“We know those guys. They’re putting in the work," Abbott said of the offense. "They’re going to figure it out. Up and down the board, those guys are in the batting cage, hitting BP, doing tee drills, stay after, coming here to do their thing. Just keep going.”

The Reds -- which had five batters in Saturday's starting lineup batting .200 or lower -- currently lack options for an offensive boost.

Center fielder TJ Friedl -- working his way back from a fractured right wrist -- is only three games into a rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville. One of Louisville's best hitters -- Mike Ford -- was batting .297 with six homers, but invoked an opt-out in his Minor League deal.

Ford was released on Saturday. While the front office had discussed promoting the veteran lefty slugger, Bell endorsed the decision not to bring him up.

“I’m so focused on our team and grateful for the players that we have here, and I’m all-in on who we have here," Bell said. "That’s my focus every day.”

Bell noted that his young club is still experienced enough to know there will be stretches like this is during any season.

"You string together a few games where it’s tough to get hits or get on base, of course the confidence is going to be affected," Bell said. "The other team picks up on that. It works both ways. We’ve been on the other side of it a lot. We have to flip it around. You turn it around as quick as you can.

"You can’t press to do that, so there’s a balance there of working and staying confident and believing in yourself down deep until it turns around.”

Steer acknowledged that he's one of the hitters who has been pressing.

"It feels like when you don’t score for that long, it feels a lot longer than it really is. You try to do too much," Steer said. "I kind of found myself doing that in my second at-bat, swinging first pitch. It’s kind of an uncharacteristic thing for me to do, chasing a first-pitch curveball. Definitely I felt, for me personally, I was trying to do a little too much for sure.”