SEATTLE -- If the Trade Deadline sale light wasn't already on for the Reds yet, it definitely should be burning bright after Monday's 8-0 loss to the Mariners.
However, two relievers who could become rentals -- Pierce Johnson and Caleb Ferguson -- endured a disastrous seventh inning as Seattle scored six runs, with Cal Raleigh's grand slam blowing it open.
Losses on the heels of wins have become a familiar -- and frustrating -- trend for the Reds, who claimed a 9-6 win on Sunday to take their series at Colorado. They haven't won back-to-back games since June 26-27 at Pittsburgh.
Cincinnati (45-54) dropped back to a season-high-tying nine games under .500 to leave little doubt what the club might do ahead of the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline.
Trades and Transactions presented by CohnReznick
• 2026 Trade Deadline: Aug. 3, 6 p.m. ET
• Latest trade buzz and rumors
• Tracking every trade
Here are three things to know:
Misfortune foils Abbott's quality start
Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott came away deserving better than he got. Over six innings, Abbott allowed one unearned run with four hits, two walks and six strikeouts while throwing 100 pitches in his quality start.
“I thought it was a really good start for the first one out of the half," Abbott said.
Defensive mistakes foiled the Reds multiple times, and two of them burned Abbott in the fifth inning amid a scoreless tie.
Victor Robles led off with a single into center field. After Abbott made two pickoff attempts to first base, Robles stole second base, with catcher Tyler Stephenson's wild throw into center field putting him on third.
A two-out walk to Randy Arozarena extended the threat and led to the next batter, Julio Rodríguez, hitting a chopper to shortstop. Elly De La Cruz briefly bobbled the ball, and his errant on-the-run throw hit Rodríguez in the leg as Robles scored. Rodríguez was credited with a hit.
"I don’t play defense. I don’t know how hard that stuff is," Abbott said. "They’ve had my back the entire year. No question from me. You just got to step up and make some other pitches.”
Arroyo nailed at the plate
After a pair of singles to open the top of the third inning, there was one out when Sal Stewart hit a fly ball to shallow right-center field. Edwin Arroyo tagged up at third base and was sent home by third-base coach Willie Harris. Robles made a perfect one-hop throw to nail Arroyo at the plate standing up.
"It’s two outs and if he makes a good throw, he’s out," manager Terry Francona said. "I think Willie knows that if it’s offline, maybe we score. That inning, it was a big turning point. We have first and second and a 3-0 count on Elly -- and look up about five pitches later and the inning is over.”
The big, bad bottom of the seventh
Johnson gave up two singles to open the seventh, including Robles' leadoff soft hit into right field, which led to a Colt Emerson sacrifice fly. Two more hits followed including an RBI double by Weston Wilson. With lefty hitter Dominic Canzone coming up, Francona went to the left-handed Ferguson, but intentionally walked Canzone to load the bases for Raleigh.
Ferguson hung a first-pitch slurve over the plate. Raleigh crushed it to left field for a grand slam. Raleigh hit 60 homers last season but has struggled all season.
“It’s not a comfortable situation either way," Francona said. "Saying that, I’d do that every time. We have to try to keep them from scoring more. Second and third, guy [Canzone] with a .990 OPS against lefties, we’re going to have to play the infield in. I know what Raleigh’s hitting and he still worries me, but I thought it was our best chance to have them not score. We could play the infield at double-play depth. And the worst possible outcome happened.”
The inning extended when Josh Naylor reached on a comebacker off of Ferguson for a single. A potential double play grounder by Cole Young to Arroyo wasn't turned to keep the inning going. It was one of three missed double plays for the middle infield in the game.
“It didn’t help," Francona said. "Elly’s had a couple of balls where he's had a tough time transferring it. And Arroyo, but that was late. For us to play the baseball we want, we've got to not just not make errors but we’ve got to finish plays.”