CLEVELAND – Think it’s been a rough month of May for the Cincinnati Reds?
Wait till they get a load of what’s coming the rest of the month, starting with the steamrolling Philadelphia Phillies, who can’t seem to lose since firing manager Rob Thomson last month and replacing him with Don Mattingly.
When the Reds lost the last two games in Cleveland over the weekend, it sent them to their fourth series loss in five series this month – dropping them from first place to last in the National League Central.
They skid into Philadelphia with a 4-13 record this month after Sunday’s 10-3 loss in Cleveland in which the Guardians slugged a season-high six home runs – twice as many as their previous high.
“It’s baseball. It’ll punch you right in the gut more times than not,” Reds starter Brady Singer said. “It’s obviously tough. But there’s a lot of season left, and we obviously trust these guys a lot. We’re not changing how we’r acting or anything like that.”
As for the Phillies, they’ve got that guy Kyle Schwarber, who not only was the free agent target who got away from the Reds over the winter but who also is now leading the league in home runs.
The Phillies are 15-4 since Mattingly took over and just swept the Pirates, including a Sunday beat-down of Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes, the reigning NL Cy Young award. They were 9-19 before that.
In other words, it doesn’t get any easier for the Reds, whose playoff vibes were flying October high in April.
The good news in the short term for the Reds is that they’ll have their two best-performing starters going in the Phillies series: Chase Burns on Tuesday and Andrew Abbott on Wednesday.
And they won’t see the Phillies’ best two starters, Christopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler.
But matchups are the least of concerns for the Reds, whose bullpen has been the league’s worst in May, whose rotation has been so bedeviled by injuries that Chris Paddack was signed after being released by the Marlins with a 7.63 ERA, and whose lineup remains inconsistent at best with slumping bats up and down the order.
“The big thing is you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” said Spencer Steer, who’s been one of the team’s best hitters in recent weeks, including a multi-hit game Sunday. “No one’s going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to keep showing up and competing our butts off.”
The experience of taking that approach in the second half last season all the way to a final-day playoff berth helps in these moments, Steer said.
“I feel like were pronounced dead about 15 times last year,” he said. “So there’s a lot of season left. That’s the beauty of baseball. You’ve got an opportunity every day to come out and right the ship.”
That looks like an especially heavy lift with a schedule the rest of the month that includes the surprisingly strong Cardinals right behind the Phillies, followed by the $350 million Mets on the road and then the best team in baseball, the Braves to open the following homestand.
On Sunday in Cleveland, veteran starter Brady Singer lasted just four innings in his first start since suffering a badly bruised right foot when struck just below the ankle with a line drive. He gave up five runs and three of the Guardians’ home runs in the 86-pitch start.
The beleaguered bullpen gave up three more home runs – each reliever surrendering one – to turn it into a rout.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Struggling Reds trounced in Cleveland, face red-hot Phillies next
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
