The Reds know they’ve wandered into a barren offensive wilderness from which it’s getting tougher to emerge. Perhaps after the team meeting that was held in response to the season’s rock bottom performance, they can finally find their way out.
A lineup that beat Clayton Kershaw a night earlier and left Los Angeles euphoric was neutralized by the D-backs’ Josh Collmenter. The right-hander faced the minimum 27 batters and allowed three hits in a 4-0 Reds loss on Thursday night at Chase Field. Cincinnati has dropped five of its last six and is 1-3 on the road trip.
During all six of those games, the Reds have been held to three runs or less. Thursday marked the sixth shutout of the season.
“It’s one of those games that you’re simply embarrassed, basically,” Reds third baseman Todd Frazier said. “That’s all you can say. Everybody, from top to bottom, we’re not playing well, even though we got the win yesterday. We should have been rolling into this next game.”
The last time the Reds were held to three runs or less for six straight games were the final six games of the 2013 season, when they went 0-6 and limped to the National League Wild Card Game. This season, the club is ranked 29th out of 30 Major League teams in runs scored.
Manager Bryan Price has seen enough and indicated changes were coming.
“What you start to do is start to give more people opportunities,” Price said. “We have a five-man bench and we will utilize it as you’ll see [Friday] and over the course of this series and moving forward. You can’t keep trying the same things and expect a different result.
“We know these guys are grinding and it’s frustrating. Everyone is frustrated. There is not a lack of effort by any means. There is a lack of results.”
All three of the Reds’ hits were leadoff knocks — including two by Brayan Pena — and all three baserunners were erased by double plays. In the third, Pena doubled, but he aggressively attempted to advance to third base on a Zack Cozart flyout to center field and was nailed by a perfect throw from A.J. Pollock.
Following Pena’s single in the sixth, Zack Cozart grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Although there were a couple of sharp grounders, Collmenter retired the final 11 batters in a row for the first complete game of his career.
“They’re a very aggressive team, especially off fastballs, and there are times you make a good first pitch and you could get some weak pop-ups and you could tell some frustrated swings and stuff like that,” Collmenter said. “You never know if they’re missing them or just frustrated with what they’re swinging at.”
The last pitcher in the Majors to face the minimum 27 batters in a nine-inning game and allow three or more hits was Roy Oswalt for the Astros on Sept. 11, 2008. The 27 batter, three-or-more hit game happened only 13 times in Major League history since 1914.
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