MILWAUKEE -- If you're thinking you've never seen the Reds give up so many runs in consecutive games, your instincts are rock solid. What hasn't been remotely close to rock solid of late is Cincinnati's pitching.
Saturday's 13-9 defeat to the Brewers at American Family Field meant a new entry for the franchise record book for a dubious reason. It was the first time since at least 1900 that Reds pitchers have given up 13 or more runs in three consecutive games.
The Reds have been outscored 47-10 in those contests. The last time the club gave up that many runs over three games was all the way back in 1901, when they gave up 50 from Sept. 23-25 (and 51 from Sept. 22-24).
“It’s all kind of on top of us right now, it’s snowballing and stuff like that," starting pitcher Brady Singer said. "It’s baseball. It’s an extremely tough game that we play. Some days are obviously better than the others. Just keep pushing. Obviously, not where we want to be with the results, but we’re going to keep working and keep trying to come to the field [and] giving it everything we’ve got.”
Singer was banged up for eight runs and eight hits over four innings while throwing 95 pitches. He allowed five walks while striking out five.
Milwaukee attacked quickly as Singer gave up a pair of two-run homers in the first inning to Brice Turang and Garrett Mitchell to give the Brewers a 4-0 lead.
But unlike the 14-1 loss to the Dodgers on Wednesday or Friday's 20-0 defeat in the series opener vs. the Brewers, the Reds' offense did respond Saturday to make the Brewers less comfortable.
It began with a solo home run from Eugenio Suárez in the second inning and an RBI double by Elly De La Cruz in the third inning. It was a 5-2 deficit in the fourth inning before JJ Bleday hit an RBI double and Juan Brito delivered a game-tying two-run homer to left-center field that made it a 5-5 game.
Before the Reds could enjoy their hard-fought reset, Singer ran into two-out trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning. Following a walk and a single, William Contreras slugged a first-pitch sweeper to left field for a three-run homer.
“I think the thing I'm probably most mad at is that the bullpen was taxed yesterday [and] I’m not getting deep in that game, but I gave it everything I had," Singer said. "I almost get through the inning, and then I walk a guy and then the inning unfolds, which is obviously frustrating. I’m just getting kicked in the teeth recently, and just trying to figure out ways during the week to get stuff figured out. Keep trying again this week.”
Over his last nine starts, Singer is 1-5 with a 7.23 ERA.
“It’s a lot of traffic," manager Terry Francona said of Singer. "But I’ll tell you what, though, he competes his [butt] off. He was pleading with me to go back out, and on a night when things aren’t looking very good, it kind of gives you some hope."
Things got worse when Graham Ashcraft took over for the fifth inning. Ashcraft threw 34 pitches to eight batters, but retired just one while giving up five runs and six hits. That included a bases-loaded, two-run double to right field by Mitchell, his final batter.
The Brewers' 33 runs over the past two games against the Reds set a franchise record for Milwaukee.
Those add-on runs made another comeback nearly impossible, although the Cincinnati lineup gave it another shot with six consecutive hits and four runs to open the top of the eighth inning.
The Reds (69-79) are now a season-high 10 games under .500 after dropping the first five games of this six-game road trip through Los Angeles and Milwaukee.