CINCINNATI -- Bad outings have been few and far between for Graham Ashcraft, who has recorded a quality start in eight of his past nine appearances and hasn’t allowed more than three runs in an outing since June 24.

Unfortunately, run support also has been hard to come by for the right-hander. Ashcraft pitched seven innings for the third straight start and grinded through trouble with his pitch mix on Tuesday night, but the Reds were blanked by the Guardians, 3-0, to open the Ohio Cup at Great American Ball Park.

“It's a great start. He's been on a roll for us,” manager David Bell said. “Maybe not even quite as sharp tonight. … He did a great job with what he had, and [he] continues to pitch really well for us.”

Ashcraft had a rocky start to his night. Steven Kwan led off with a single, and José Ramírez doubled when left fielder Spencer Steer lost his line drive in the sun. After Ashcraft struck out Andrés Giménez for the first out of the game, Kole Calhoun lined a two-run single to left field.

But Ashcraft calmed down from there, hitting a batter and walking two but not allowing another knock until the fifth. A brief rally in the seventh plated another Guardians run, but Ashcraft retired his final two batters to cap seven strong frames.

“[If] the ball doesn't get lost in the sun in the first inning, it could have been a shutout, really,” Bell said.

Despite the mostly positive results, Ashcraft didn’t feel good about his start. He had trouble placing his pitches where he wanted, causing him to shift from his usual strategy. Ashcraft's slider had more ride than its usual horizontal profile, causing him to fall back on his cutter for 66 of his 102 pitches (65 percent), even though he usually throws it about half the time.

“It makes it to where it blends in with my [cutter], and that's something I don't want,” Ashcraft said. “I'd rather have more horizontal movement and less vertical movement, so that way it just deceives the hitter, it's just going to drop off the table. Get more chase on it.”

Though he had to make do with a different pitch mix, Ashcraft still saw positives in what he produced on the mound in the series opener.

“I felt really good mechanically,” Ashcraft said. “I felt like it's a right step where we've been going with the things we've been working on.”

For the second time in Ashcraft’s past seven outings, the Reds didn’t score. They had multiple runners on in two innings, including once with no outs, but they couldn’t turn those into runs.

Matt McLain led off the sixth inning with a walk, and Elly De La Cruz followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Steer launched a ball to right field, and both runners tagged up when Will Brennan caught it just in front of the warning track near the right-field corner. Brennan made the throw to second, where De La Cruz was tagged out as he dove toward the bag. Henry Ramos struck out to end what proved to be the Reds’ best scoring threat of the night.

“If you read that it’s not a home run, we really encourage guys to break back, tag up,” Bell said. “You can score a lot of runs that way, you can win games that way. I thought the thought process Elly had there was perfect. May have been just a hair late getting back, got just a little bit of a late start, but the idea is right.”

After averaging nearly five runs per game in the first half, Cincinnati (62-59) is averaging just 4.23 since the All-Star break. The club has been shut out four times in that span, including Tuesday, and has fallen one game back of Miami (65-38) for the final National League Wild Card spot. But as the Reds continue down one of the most important stretches of the season, Ashcraft has confidence the bats will start producing results.

“It's only a matter of time. Guys are still hitting balls really hard,” Ashcraft said. “I'd rather see our guys go up and down the lineup just hitting missiles at guys rather than hitting roller ground balls. I'd rather see that for them, just because that lets us know, ‘Hey, these guys are ready. They're on it.’ ... Once we get things rolling, once those guys get back hot, we'll be back where we need to be.”