CHICAGO -- The 31,946 fans at Wrigley Field let out a loud cheer as Christopher Morel lined a single into center field to lead off the eighth inning Friday.

Morel’s hit, the Cubs’ first of the afternoon, was one of the few moments for fans to celebrate in a 9-0 series-opening loss to Cincinnati.

“You don’t want to get no-hit,” manager David Ross said of ending the Reds’ combined bid, “but it doesn’t matter. An ‘L’ is an ‘L.’ It doesn’t feel good.”

Everything seemed off for the Cubs in this one. They were outhit 19-2, committed a pair of errors to the Reds’ zero and saw Justin Steele -- who had pitched like an All-Star the first two months of this season and at the end of 2022 -- roughed up in his shortest outing of ‘23.

“It didn't feel like his day today,” Ross said of Steele.

Steele tossed 3 2/3 innings and was charged with 10 hits and six runs (five earned). It marked his shortest outing since July 28 of last season, when he also pitched 3 2/3 innings against the Giants. It was his first time not going at least five innings since Aug. 5, 2022, when he tossed 4 2/3 innings against the Marlins while striking out 10 batters.

The 10 hits tied Steele's career high (Sept. 21, 2021, vs. the Giants), and the six runs allowed are his most since June 23 of last season, against Pittsburgh.

“I don’t know that it ever felt like [the Reds] took any bad swings,” Ross said. “I thought their swings were pretty aggressive, even the ones they fouled off or swung and missed. They were pretty aggressive swings on him, and when they're like that, you’ve got to get under the barrel. The slider is usually the one that's getting under there for him. It just didn't look sharp to me today.”

Indeed, Steele’s slider, along with his four-seam fastball, are his bread-and-butter pitches. He entered the day with a 31.4 percent whiff rate on the former and 22.2 percent on the latter.

On Friday, Steele got five whiffs on 33 swings against his four-seamer (15 percent). He got one whiff on nine swings against his slider (11 percent).

“The fastball and the breaking ball to me just didn't have the finish that they have had in the majority, if not all, of his outings this year,” catcher Tucker Barnhart said. “Just a little blip on the radar. I'm sure he'll be back to what he has been this year next time out.”

“In the bullpen, leading into the game and even throughout the game,” Steele said, “I felt like I had my stuff, felt like I was executing pitches, doing different things. Similar to outings prior to this, I felt like I was commanding my four-seam and making pitches. I just felt like the other team was doing a good job of fouling stuff off, the swing and miss pitches fouling them off.”

The Reds led 6-0 when Steele exited, with the Cubs’ lineup quiet against Cincinnati starter Hunter Greene. The Reds' right-hander struck out 11 of the 20 batters he faced and walked two in six no-hit innings.

Eight of his strikeouts came on the four-seam fastball, which averaged 98.3 mph on the afternoon and topped out at 100.5 mph. The Cubs forced him to throw 110 pitches in those six innings but did not break through.

“We got to some really deep counts consistently, and then he just blew some doors,” Ross said. “That ride, 99 [mph] up, fastball was tough to get on top of. Guys worked the count, I thought, pretty well early on, got his pitch count up. Just weren't able to capitalize and win the at-bat.”

Said Barnhart: “When you throw that hard and you're throwing your fastball in the zone and throwing your secondary pitches in the zone, it makes it difficult. He was able to command the top part of the zone with velo like that. It makes it difficult for sure.”