SAN FRANCISCO -- Nick Lodolo felt like he was a pitch away from getting out of the first inning of Saturday's 5-1 loss to the Giants.

With two outs in the opening frame, the Reds southpaw had given up two singles and a walk to load the bases for Giants third baseman Matt Chapman, who has had a slow start at the plate early in the season but entered the game slugging .474 against left-handed pitching.

Lodolo went heavy on his fastball in the first inning, and he stuck with that approach against Chapman -- a decision he would go on to regret. After getting ahead, 1-2, Lodolo left a four-seamer over the heart of the plate that was crushed into the bleachers in left-center for a grand slam.

"I'll be honest, looking back on it, I definitely shouldn't have done that," Lodolo said. "Shoulda, woulda, coulda, obviously, the result. … It's the second start in a row that I've been a pitch away, and it's got me early."

Chapman's swing ensured right from the start that Saturday would at least match Lodolo's worst outing of the season in terms of runs allowed. The other came last Sunday against the Orioles, when he gave up four runs, all earned, in five innings.

But when Lodolo came back out for the second, he retired the side in order and seemed to get into a groove from there. The 26-year-old allowed only three baserunners across his final five innings, two on back-to-back singles in the fourth and the other on an Elly De La Cruz throwing error to open the sixth.

Lodolo struck out his final three batters that frame and had six punchouts in all.

"Maybe one fastball too many that inning," manager David Bell said of the first. "Other than that, for him to hold them right there -- over the course of the season, [if] he continues to do that … it's going to win us games."

Even after giving up eight runs in his last two starts after allowing just five runs in his first four, Lodolo has a 3.34 ERA in his first month back in the big leagues. Through Saturday's start, Lodolo has amassed 35 innings this season, already exceeding his mark from 2023, when a stress fracture in his left tibia limited him to just seven starts (34 1/3 innings).

Two-thirds of an inning may not be much, but every additional bit of game experience counts.

"We've seen him a lot, and we've seen him at his best and how good he can be," catcher Tyler Stephenson said. "It's just good to see him back healthy and just being able to be on the mound again."

Just like in Lodolo's previous start, four runs proved too large a deficit for the Reds' scuffling offense to overcome.

De La Cruz hit his ninth homer of the year to lead off the fourth, but that ended up being the only run on the board for Cincinnati as the team went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine. The Reds have been held to four runs or fewer in each of their last 10 games and have a 1-9 record in that span.

The benefits and drawbacks of the Reds' aggressiveness on the basepaths have been in sharp contrast over the past couple of games, as heads-up baserunning contributed to Friday's victory, while the team notably ran into outs on both Thursday and Saturday.

Cincinnati runners were thrown out three times at second base -- twice by Heliot Ramos and once by Mike Yastrzemski -- on Saturday while trying to hustle for doubles on base hits to right field. The trio of outfield assists for the Giants were their most in a single game since they also had three against the Pirates on May 5, 2021.

Bell, though, believed the plays had more to do with the Giants' outstanding outfield defense than his team's approach on the basepaths.

“Over the course of the year, we’re going to make baserunning mistakes," Bell said. "Today, I didn’t consider those mistakes. I mean, when the other team makes plays like that, makes perfect throws, you can’t wait around to find out.”