ST. LOUIS -- Reds center fielder Scott Schebler had a four-strikeout night on Tuesday vs. the Braves and has struggled mightily in many of his games. But manager David Bell is still behind Schebler and showed that confidence Friday by writing his name in the lineup again for the series opener vs. the Cardinals.

For the season, Schebler entered batting .145 with two home runs in 23 games after he opened the season 0-for-18.

“Obviously, it means the world to me to have the manager’s respect and know his willingness to keep putting me out there because he knows I am going to get out of it,” Schebler said. “He believes in me almost more than I believe in myself, which is a good thing.”

Bell noted he fully trusts Schebler and believes it’s only a matter of time before he finds his way back to hitting well.

“When you’re going through it, there is nothing fun about not getting hits or not contributing in a way that you know you can,” Bell said. “Usually, multiple good things come from it and you’re able to learn something that makes you better than before you went into something like this.

“I just give him credit for continuing to work at it. We’ve all seen him have success at this level. He will get out of this. There’s just no question there.”

During Spring Training, Schebler had a good camp and was able to beat out the organization’s No. 1 prospect, Nick Senzel, for the starting job in center field. But now that Senzel has fully recovered from a right ankle sprain he sustained March 22, after he was cut, the Senzel watch is on again. He made his season debut this week with Triple-A Louisville. That could make it tougher for the Reds to stick with Schebler if he’s not performing well and Senzel shows he’s ready for his first big league promotion.

Schebler, 28, slashed .255/.337/.439 with 17 home runs in 2018 and slugged 30 homers in 2017 for Cincinnati. According to Statcast this season, his expected slugging percentage is down to .250 and he has barreled only 4.8 percent of the balls he has made contact with. In his first 62 at-bats, he struck out 20 times.

“Obviously, you never want to be in a hole like this,” Schebler said. “There are two things -- experience has shown me that I will get out of this. I’ve done it before. Secondly, I’m just around the baseball right now. I’m not staying inside of it, at all. That’s where my focus is, I need to get inside the baseball. That’s the easiest way to simplify.

“Sometimes, you look at just results. The last week, I’ve been so result-oriented. If I don’t get it, you might as well take me out of the game because I’ve been so angry at not getting a hit. There’s so much more to this game than that.”

Bell also said the purely results-oriented approach can be self-defeating.

“When things aren’t going the way you want them to, you start really putting too much focus on the results -- what’s going to happen after I hit the ball? That’s natural,” Bell said. “That’s what makes guys good. At the same time, if you get back to focusing on just what you can control, that’s usually when the results will come.”

Bell also believes in Duke
On the pitching side, another Reds player having a tough season is lefty reliever Zach Duke. During a 4-2 win Thursday, Duke entered for the top of the eighth inning with a three-run lead to face lefty hitter Nick Markakis and two batters later, another lefty in Freddie Freeman. He retired Markakis but gave up Freeman’s first-pitch two-run homer to center field.

Duke, who was signed to a one-year, $2 million contract in the offseason, has an 11.05 ERA through 13 games. Freeman is now 6-for-8 against him with three homers.

“Certainly, head-to-head matchups are something we look at, something we’re aware of,” Bell said. “But they don’t always predict what’s going to happen, as we all know. They can be a short sample. They tell you a history, but they don’t tell what’s going to happen.

“In the end, it’s a factor. But we trust Zach in that situation to face two out of three left-handers. We trust him against the right-handers. He has shown signs of getting to where he wants to be. For him, it’s a matter of time. We’ve got to keep giving him opportunities. We’ll look for the next one.”

Bell fond of St. Louis
For the first time as a big league manager, Bell returned to a city he played in. From 1995-98, Bell was a Cardinals infielder. He also served on former manager Mike Matheny’s coaching staff from 2014-17.

“I’ve spent more years here by far than anywhere else, between playing and coaching,” Bell said. “[Playing here] seems like a long time ago, but the coaching part, I feel like I know a lot of people, a lot of good friends. Great organization. It will be fun to compete against them.”