CINCINNATI -- In June and early July, the Reds had one of the most potent offenses in baseball. After a 3-0 loss to the Brewers on Saturday night at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati’s third straight shutout loss at the hands of Milwaukee, the Reds find themselves in second place for the first time since June 26.

The offense only mustered one hit off the Brewers’ combination of Freddy Peralta, Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps and Devin Williams -- a fourth-inning single by Jake Fraley. Will Benson and Joey Votto also reached via walk as the only other Reds to get on base.

“[The Brewers’ starters] get deep into the game, the three guys they're running out there at the end of the game are really, really good,” manager David Bell said. “They're just really executing pitches, getting ahead. … I mean, we're not getting a lot of pitches to hit. But at the same time, we're focused on our guys, our hitters and doing what we need to do to be successful, and we'll continue to do that. … We'll find a way to break through.”

An offensive decline is, in some ways, expected. In the first half, the Reds had the largest positive gap in baseball between their expected batting average (xBA) and actual batting average (.015). While it’s possible to overperform expected stats, as the season progresses, teams more often than not move toward the expected number, which is calculated based on quality of contact on batted balls.

For example, three of the Reds’ 13 hits in last Saturday’s 8-5 win over the Brewers had an xBA, or hit probability, below .250. Some of that can be attributed to Elly De La Cruz’s otherworldly ability to beat out infield singles, but there’s a bit of luck involved.

Ironically, the Reds experienced the opposite phenomenon on Saturday. In the second inning, De La Cruz, Jonathan India and Votto all sharply lined out to infielders. Those lineouts had xBAs of .630, .600 and .500, respectively. If all three of those outs landed for hits, De La Cruz probably would have scored and broken the shutout.

“There's no question we'll break through,” Bell said. “You really have to look at what we've been up against the last couple nights, too. These guys, they're executing their pitches, there's no doubt. So just keep working at it, keep competing, keep battling and we know we'll break through.”

None of that is to say that the Reds’ offense is doomed. In fact, they are still near the top of MLB’s leaderboards in several offensive categories. They are seventh in runs scored (454), third in OBP (.334) and 11th in OPS (.744). After Benson’s third-inning stolen base, they lead the Majors in that category, too (113).

“Our guys are putting in the work,” Reds starter Andrew Abbott said. “They're taking BP, doing everything they can, and sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't. But they're gonna figure it out.”

As the offense stumbles, the starting pitching has taken a step forward to keep games close. Over the three shutouts, Ben Lively, Graham Ashcraft and Abbott have all pitched at least 5 2/3 innings and allowed two or fewer runs, though all three took the loss in their start.

On Saturday, Abbott allowed a home run to Christian Yelich on the first pitch of the game. He then allowed a single and retired the next seven batters before allowing a leadoff homer to William Contreras in the fourth inning. Abbott successfully limited the damage to those three hits and two runs after allowing six runs in 4 1/3 innings last time out against the Brewers.

“Andrew, I thought did a nice job. I think early, they were able to get to his fastball, maybe not his best fastball, but that's what pitching is all about,” Bell said. “He was able to go to his slider, go to his breaking ball, and I think he relied pretty heavily on that tonight. For a night that he didn't have his best fastball against that team, it was a pretty good start.”