CINCINNATI -- Whether it was two strikes, two outs or both, Reds pitcher Jeff Hoffman did not possess the putaway pitch against the White Sox on Tuesday. 

While the Reds were flat overall in a 9-0 loss at Great American Ball Park, Hoffman had his first rough outing of season as he went only 2 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits.

"He was attacking. It just seemed like they battled us with two strikes and got a couple of big hits with two strikes that we normally would put guys away with," Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart said. "It was just one of those nights."  

White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease, on the other hand, had his way both on the mound and in the batter's box. Cease struck out 11 batters over six scoreless innings and went 3-for-3 as a hitter against three Cincinnati pitchers.

Barnhart accounted for both hits allowed by the White Sox, with a single to right field leading off the fourth inning and a double against José Ruiz in the seventh.

The loss marked just the second time since at least 1901 the Reds were shut out on two or fewer hits and 14 or more strikeouts. The other occasion was on Aug. 27, 1955, in Brooklyn, when they were blanked with two hits and 14 strikeouts by Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax.

Following a 66-minute rain delay before first pitch, Hoffman retired the side in order in the first inning. But the hard contact from all three batters -- including Yoán Moncada's flyout to the wall in center field with 102.2 mph exit velocity -- appeared to foreshadow the tough night ahead.

During a 36-pitch top of the second inning for Hoffman, José Abreu tattooed a 3-2 fastball to left-center field for a leadoff home run. The sequence began with a 1-2 count before the right-hander threw a pair of sliders that missed low and away.

"When guys are able to battle you with two strikes and get hits or draw walks, those are, in a way, backbreakers, man," Barnhart said. "It’s on me. It’s on all of us to figure out a way to maximize those counts in our favor and get the at-bat over with as quickly as we can."

A two-out walk to Yasmani Grandal opened the door to trouble. Leury García hit a single, and the bases were loaded when Cease reached on an infield single -- the first of three hits for the Chicago pitcher who had never had a professional plate appearance before.

Tim Anderson's two-run single to right-center field made it a 3-0 game.

"I just think we were in the zone too much," Hoffman said. "What me and [pitching coach Derek Johnson] briefly talked about was, we got to two strikes fine, but we didn’t do a great job of expanding once we got there. It’s good that I’m in the zone, but I also need to be out of the zone when I need to be as well. That’ll be something we get back to work on tomorrow."

Moncada opened the third inning with a double, and with one out, Adam Eaton was hit on the leg with a 2-2 curveball. That ended the evening early for Hoffman, who was charged a fourth run on Andrew Vaughn's sacrifice fly.

"Hoffy has pitched into trouble early in games, and then really stayed with it, got out of trouble and ended up going deep into games," Reds manager David Bell said. "I really didn’t give him that opportunity today. It was a decision I made. We had a fresh bullpen with two games sandwiched between off-days and had the ability to see if we could try to keep it right there. It wasn’t a great couple innings, but I knew by taking him out, I was eliminating the possibility that maybe he would have found it and gone deep into the game. Kind of a quick night for him, but it was just a chance we took to try to keep it right there."

José De León gave up three runs over 1 2/3 innings, and Sal Romano and Carson Fulmer each gave up one run in their two innings. For the second time in a week, Bell turned to utility player Alex Blandino for the ninth inning to finish the game.