Sean Doolittle’s search for a spring outing where everything came together in harmony -- including strong results -- ended at Scottsdale Stadium. The Reds reliever, who took his lumps in each of his previous four games, delivered a perfect second inning during Friday’s 6-2 victory over the Giants.

Doolittle carried a 24.75 ERA into the night with 11 runs, 10 hits, seven walks and four home runs allowed. Against San Francisco, he retired the side in order.

“It’s been a frustrating start to camp for me,” Doolittle said after the outing. “My body has felt great. It’s just taken a little bit more time for me to be able to implement these changes in a game setting when the energy level is a little higher. It felt a little bit like whack-a-mole there for a bit where we’d identify one thing, take care of it, and then something else would kind of pop up. There have been a lot of positives over the entire camp. Velo is creeping back up. The deception and spin rate and everything on my fastball has progressively improved as well.

“Then tonight, I felt like it was my most complete outing. I felt really in sync. I felt on time. I haven’t felt like that in a really long time, so I’m really stoked about that.”

Mauricio Dubón led off with a fly ball that was caught in right field. Second batter Joe McCarthy grounded out to first base and the inning ended when Chadwick Tromp flied out to center field.

In his previous outing vs. the Rockies on Tuesday, Doolittle issued three runs, three hits and two walks.

“I was trying to force the issue a little bit and I was really trying to make too many things happen with my delivery, with the velocity, and afterwards I was kicking myself because I felt so good, but I was going too fast,” Doolittle said. “I was too herky-jerky. But in a way, having those two outings, the outings between the A’s and the Rockies to compare, really allowed me to pinpoint what I needed to do. Tonight, we were able to sync it up. Much better rhythm. Much better tempo. Stayed within myself and executed really well.”

Doolittle, 34, signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Reds on Feb. 8. He came into camp expected to compete for the vacancy at the closer role with Amir Garrett and Lucas Sims. Because of injuries, Garrett will pitch his first Cactus League game on Saturday vs. the Brewers while Sims works in a "B" game.

Lodolo pleased

Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Reds’ No. 1 prospect, lefty pitcher Nick Lodolo started vs. the Giants and gave up one run and two hits with one strikeout.

Lodolo had two outs when he encountered trouble with Alex Dickerson's double to left field followed by Darin Ruf’s lined RBI single, also to left field.

“I felt really good, probably the best I’ve felt so far being out there,” Lodolo said. “Really felt like things are starting to come together as I get more and more innings out there. Pretty happy with how tonight went stuff wise.

“Just [my] timing was really good, was able to get on top of my stuff, which I had been fighting a little bit. That comes with getting out there more and more.”