ATLANTA -- Despite a strange four-run, third-inning outburst and a two-run homer from Jose Barrero, the Reds couldn’t hold on in a back-and-forth, 7-6 loss to the Braves at Truist Park on Tuesday. There was plenty of frustration in the defeat, but the game also featured some things to like. Here are four takeaways from the loss.

1. Spencer Steer showing he belongs
Sure, Steer’s two-run single in the third inning didn’t leave the dirt. The runs still count, and he complemented the infield knock with another single and a double. It was the first career three-hit game for the rookie infielder, who was acquired from the Twins in the Tyler Mahle deal last August.

Steer, who posted a .211/.306/.326 line in 28 games in ‘22, is benefiting from the comfort of a second time around. Tuesday marked his third multi-hit game on the young season, he has six extra-base hits in 10 games, and nearly as many walks (five) as strikeouts (seven).

“Having that experience last year, I kind of got the awe factor out of the way,” Steer said. “Now it’s just, this is my reality and I’ve got to come out here and perform. … Definitely, I think having that prior experience has helped me.”

2. Homers will hurt you
After allowing the second-most homers in the Majors in '22, the Reds entered Tuesday with only one game where they’d allowed multiple homers. By the fourth inning, that number was two. Matt Olson obliterated a solo shot in the first inning, but the really costly blow was a two-run homer from Ozzie Albies, which tied the game in the fourth.

Luis Cessa is a pitcher who has often been susceptible to the long ball in his career, allowing 63 homers in 404 1/3 innings entering Tuesday’s start. It’s a trend he’ll need to shake if he’s going to be an effective starter as Cincinnati envisions.

Sometimes you just have a rough night, and Cessa said afterward that he didn’t have much feel for his breaking ball. That’s a tough situation to be in against an offense like the Braves’ -- Atlanta made him pay for it.

“It’s a really good nine over there,” he said. “For sure, the second or third time they faced me, they had something on me. They made adjustments, so I need to make adjustments too.”

3. This team refuses to go away
It’s no fun to keep coming up short in close games, but it’s a lot of fun to play close games -- the Reds are doing quite a bit of sticking around. Tuesday marked the fourth consecutive game in which Cincinnati scored in the eighth inning or later, all of those in games that previously seemed out-of-reach.

“We’ve just got to keep playing like that,” said manager David Bell. “Sometimes it’s tougher when you fight back and you come up short. The season’s young but we’ve shown so far that we’re going to continue to do that. I have a ton of confidence in each guy that they’ll continue to do that.”

Although they let a 4-1 lead get away on Tuesday, the Reds rallied from down 7-4 to make the Braves sweat late. They scored two in the ninth to force extras on Monday. They scored four runs over the final two innings for a comeback win in Philadelphia on Sunday, and they put a run on the board in the ninth against the Phillies on Saturday before getting walked off.

4. They’ve got to get Wil Myers unstuck
Myers had two hits on Monday, and he entered Tuesday’s game with a respectable .351 on-base percentage. But he’s struggled with runners on base, and that was especially highlighted in the loss on Tuesday. He went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, leaving seven men on base. He was 0-for-3 with RISP on Tuesday, all of those strikeouts.

It’s not as though Myers isn’t going to hit. He has a long history as a producer, and sometimes good hitters slump. But the Reds lineup will look a lot different as soon as he finds his form with runners on.

“Wil’s been doing this for a long time,” Bell said. “He’s had a lot of success in those situations. A lot of times those things are really streaky. He’s competing the same whether there’s runners on or not. I know he wants to be up there with runners on. And that’s what it takes. … You’re not gonna get a hit every time.”