In need of a spark, scuffling Reds facing schedule gauntlet

NEW YORK -- Injured Reds stars are getting closer to returning. Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene just began rehab assignments, while Emilio Pagán faced some hitters. But manager Terry Francona wasn't ready to talk about there perhaps being light at the end of the tunnel.

“I don’t know if we can get too caught up in the light, because if you look too much for the light, you miss the tunnel," Francona said.

For the returns of those players to have enough significance to help the club's chances to contend for a playoff berth, catching a spark now would really help the Reds. But it just so happens that they have just hit another gauntlet portion of their schedule.

It began Friday with the first of three games vs. the Yankees, who have the best record in the American League and had their best starting pitcher going in Cam Schlittler.

In a dominating performance, Schlittler struck out 13 with no walks and only four hits allowed over six innings as the Reds were blanked, 5-0, at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees right-hander has an AL-best 1.71 ERA.

“He kind of came as advertised," Francona said. "High 90s, and it's [a] fastball that is not straight. One’s cutting, one’s sinking and one’s above at the top of the zone. It’s pretty impressive. You don’t see that in today’s game very often."

Of the first 12 outs the Reds made in the game, 10 were via Schlittler strikeouts.

Reds starter Rhett Lowder pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs, six hits and three walks with five strikeouts. It all basically came down to one rough inning.

All of the runs against Lowder, including two homers, came during a 32-pitch bottom of the second inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. opened by hitting an 0-1 Lowder changeup into the right-field seats, which was followed by a pair of walks.

With two outs, Ben Rice crushed a 1-1 fastball to Monument Park in center field for a three-run homer.

“Really mainly, it was the two walks. I got to two strikes early and didn’t put them away and walked them. It came back to bite me," Lowder said. "The homers? Yeah, you don’t want to give up home runs, but it’s really the walks that you can’t do, especially when you get two strikes like that.”

As Schlittler continued to carve up their hitters, the Reds could not respond.

Cincinnati (35-39) has dropped 10 of its last 14 games and 14 of 20, and the team is back to a season-low four games below .500.

After playing the Yankees, the Reds go home and face the National League Central-leading Brewers for the first time this season in a three-game set before a seven-game road trip against the Pirates and the Brewers again.

Milwaukee has dominated the Reds in series going back to 2021, while Cincinnati has a 1-5 record this season vs. Pittsburgh.

That tunnel sure could use some light sooner than later.

"The pressure is out there already, so don’t put any extra pressure on us," said third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who hit a second-inning single and struck out three times. "We’ve got to believe in what we can do. We got to play our game and try to beat them, because they came in ready to beat us.

“We have to come with good energy, with good trust in each other and go outside and play baseball. The results are going to be there at some point. It’s been a tough stretch for us. We have a really good team. At some point, we are going to be where we want to be.”

While there is an entire second half of a season remaining, the Trade Deadline looms on Aug. 3, which is one more reason the Reds must gain some traction and begin stacking wins.

“We don’t have to think about the Deadline. It’s not our job," Suárez said. "We have to come in, play baseball and let the front office and GMs and them do their job. We don’t have to think about that. When you start to think about that, it’s more tough.”