Tyler Mahle may be winless in his last two starts, but if he keeps pitching at his current pace over the course of a long season, the Reds will gladly take it.

For the second start in a row, Mahle opened with four no-hit innings. But the Giants found a way to challenge Mahle in the fifth inning, scoring two runs to send the Reds to a 3-0 loss Wednesday at Oracle Park. Cincinnati dropped the last two games of its three-game series to finish its West Coast road trip with a 2-4 mark, but it remains atop the National League Central division with a 7-5 record, albeit tied with Milwaukee.

"Over the last month of last season, Spring Training and then his first three starts, I do think he’s really taken some big steps forward," Reds manager David Bell said. "He really believes he belongs here and can be a great pitcher here."

Mahle is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA in three starts while allowing seven hits and seven walks over 14 innings. He also has racked up 22 strikeouts. He allowed two runs (one earned) and three hits over five innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.

"I’m happy with where I’m at, but we’ve got to keep going," Mahle said.

With a powerful fastball and slider combo working, Mahle retired the first 10 batters in a row -- while throwing first-pitch strikes to eight of those batters -- before he walked Mike Yastrzemski with one out in the fourth inning. Mahle responded by getting Alex Dickerson on a 95.8 mph called third strike and striking out Brandon Belt swinging on a 96.3 mph fastball.

Misfortune came when the Giants' fifth opened with a fly ball to shallow right field by Donovan Solano. As second baseman Jonathan India ran back, right fielder Nick Castellanos charged in and India slowed. The ball landed between the two fielders to give San Francisco its first hit.

"It was the fifth inning, and at that point, I probably wasn’t going to go [for a complete game]," Mahle said. "A no-hitter is not even in the back of your head. It just [stinks], but when you’re rolling, you feel like you’re going to get out of it no matter what because you’ve been making pitches and everything. It doesn’t really deflate me, I don’t think so."

Mahle, who had 60 pitches through four innings, needed 29 to get through the fifth as Giants hitters challenged him.

There was one out when Austin Slater sent a double to the gap in right-center field that scored Brandon Crawford from first base. Slater went to third base on a passed ball to set up the next run. Curt Casali grounded to shortstop Eugenio Suárez, whose throw to the plate was not in time, allowing Slater to score.

"On another day, he might go seven, eight, nine innings there," Bell said. "A little bit of a stressful inning in the fifth and didn’t want to stress him this early in a down game, but he’ll get that opportunity."

Offense stymied again
During batting practice Wednesday, Reds coaches Alan Zinter and Rolando Valles mimicked the quirky delivery of Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto. The former Cincinnati ace often turns his back to the hitter during his delivery and occasionally pauses one or two times as well. The top scoring offense in baseball still had no answer for Cueto, who gave up three hits over 5 2/3 innings while throwing 68 pitches before he exited with lat tightness in his back.

Rookie catcher Tyler Stephenson notched a leadoff hit against Cueto in the third inning.

"It definitely helped," Stephenson said. "Obviously different movements and different timing, like quick pitch every once in a while. Just always be ready for it.”

The Giants' bullpen gave up one hit the rest of the game -- a two-out single by Joey Votto in the ninth inning against closer Jake McGee. It was the second time on the road trip that the Reds were shut out. But they still led the Major Leagues with 75 runs scored and are second with an .815 OPS at the conclusion of their game.

"I’m confident that we’re not going to have too many games like that with our offense," Bell said. "Sometimes you do have to give credit to not only Johnny, but the rest of the bullpen right there."