After he lost his footing and fell on the mound while delivering a first-inning pitch, Reds pitcher Sonny Gray had himself a laugh once he got up. But two starts into his return from a back injury, the right-hander still hasn’t found stability and consistency. 

Gray was roughed up for a four-run rally in the third inning and was chased by the fourth by the Cardinals during Friday night's 5-4 loss at Busch Stadium. Cincinnati, which nearly battled back to win in the ninth inning, endured its season-high fifth consecutive loss and dipped below .500 at 9-10.

While throwing 86 pitches in just 3 2/3 innings, Gray gave up five earned runs, six hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He opened the season on the injured list and returned on April 17 with 4 1/3 innings vs. Cleveland.

“My fastball is just not there. The curveball is just OK. Talking about just stuff, pitching, what I have, it’s just not very crisp, not very sharp,” Gray said. “Personally, I’ve just got to stay there, keep continuing to put it in and just know that it will click for me and my body will feel better. I will continue to get up and just get better, to get stronger.”

Four of Gray's strikeouts came in the first two innings, while the only hit he allowed was Yadier Molina’s one-out solo home run to left field in the second. But the wheels came off in the third inning as Gray gave up four straight one-out hits starting with Dylan Carlson’s bloop single into center field. 

Gray hung a 1-1 curveball to Paul Goldschmidt, who hit a two-run double to left field, Nolan Arenado followed with an RBI single off a fastball and Molina returned to hit a first-pitch curveball over the plate for an RBI double to make it a 5-0 game.

“My body feels OK right now,” Gray said. “I hope I wake up and feel good to get in some work this week. I’ve just got to keep getting the repetition and just going out there and getting innings and just keep going.”

Between consecutive two-out walks to Tommy Edman and Carlson, trainer Tomas Vera and manager David Bell wondered if Gray was favoring his back and paid a mound visit. Following the walk to Carlson, Bell took the ball from Gray.

“I felt like I was seeing he couldn’t get comfortable out there,” Bell said. “He reassured both Tomas and I that he was fine. In my mind, with what he went through in Spring Training and a back injury, I just wanted to be sure. He reassured us both. He was toward the end of his night there, but it was good that he continued on and showed that he was fine.”

Through two starts, Gray is 0-1 with a 7.88 ERA.

An early night for the starting pitcher wasn’t what the Reds bullpen needed after three straight rough games for its relievers. However, the bullpen retired its final 13 batters in a row, including a perfect sixth inning with two strikeouts from Ryan Hendrix, the team's No. 21 prospect, making his big league debut. Struggling lefty Amir Garrett followed Hendrix with a perfect bottom of the eighth inning.

“Our bullpen was really good. They were important outings, maybe beyond what it did for us tonight,” Bell said.

On the other side, Cardinals lefty starter Kwang Hyun Kim was smooth again vs. the Reds. Dating back to last season, Kim took a streak of 16 scoreless innings vs. Cincinnati into the sixth inning. That ended when Nick Castellanos hit a 2-2 pitch to center field for a solo homer.

It was career hit No. 1,000 for Castellanos, who was booed by Cardinals fans as he rounded the bases.

On Thursday, he returned from a two-game suspension stemming from his part in a bench-clearing incident vs. St. Louis on April 3. 

“That’s the one thing about the group of guys that we got. We’re not going to quit,” Castellanos said. “We’re not going to sulk or we’re not going to just count the outs and wait until the game is over.”

Cincinnati trailed 5-1 heading into the ninth inning, when the Cardinals bullpen nearly gave away the game with four walks and Jonathan India’s RBI triple that fell between two outfielders.

The tying run was 90 feet away when Eugenio Suárez was called out on strikes to end the game.

“Ultimately, we just came up a little short. We’re going through a moment,” Gray said. “We’ve just got to keep going and keep continuing to put in the time, put in the work and get through it.”