For those still smarting from the Reds’ offensive woes of 2020, Sunday's series finale vs. the D-backs carried a familiar, not-so-fun feeling. But the ‘21 edition of the club was firm in its belief that last year is long gone, despite a rough weekend.

There were loads of hard-hit outs, but outs nonetheless as Luke Weaver carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning to hand Cincinnati a 7-0 loss Sunday at Chase Field. After a 6-1 start to their season, the Reds dropped back-to-back games to Arizona to lose their first series. Weaver was perfect through 5 2/3 innings until he hit Alex Blandino with a first-pitch fastball.

"Our lineup is still solid. I’d put our lineup against anybody, any day of the week," said Kyle Farmer, who started at second base Sunday. "We just have to keep coming back and keep fighting. Our locker room is very loose. It’s awesome; it’s a great group of guys and they don’t take one loss to heart at all. We have great leaders on this team. As long as they keep up the positive attitude that we have right now, we’ll be good."

The Reds had reasons to feel optimistic as they flew to San Francisco for three more games on the road trip.

• At 6-3, they still have a one-game lead over the Brewers and Cardinals for first place in the National League Central race. Their +20 run differential is fourth-best in the Major Leagues.

• The lineup will get left fielder Jesse Winker back -- likely on Monday -- after he missed most of the past week with a stomach bug and calf cramps. Winker grounded out to end Sunday's game in a pinch-hitting appearance.

• By week's end, Sonny Gray could be activated from the injured list after checking all of the boxes as he works to get beyond a back injury.

• Despite a quiet two days, the Reds still lead the Majors with 66 runs, a .289 average, an .882 OPS and are tied for first with 16 home runs.

“We’ve all been through this so many times. We have a long way to go," Reds manager David Bell said. "We like where we are, we like our team. We love our team. You just keep playing. Looking forward to going to San Francisco tomorrow and starting a new series. That’s the way it is. That’s the great thing about the game.”

Once again, there were some scorched balls despite how well Weaver pitched. Statcast data showed that Joey Votto had the hardest-hit ball of the game with a fourth-inning lineout to the shortstop at 108.4 mph. Votto has 10 balls struck with an exit velocity of 98 mph or higher this season, but only two of those have produced hits.

Leading off the sixth inning, Farmer smoked a 106.3 mph ball against Weaver that also went for a lineout to the shortstop.

"It’s funny, when you hit a ball hard and you line out, you get [mad]. But when you get a little broken-bat dumper … they fall in, you’re happy. I was talking to my dad today; it’s tough not getting hits, but he said, ‘Just hit the ball hard. That’s all you can worry about. The only thing in your control is swinging at a good pitch and hitting the ball hard. Everything else will take care of itself.'

"Joey knows that and everybody knows that. You’ve just got to hit the ball hard and see where it takes you. Baseball is a funny game; it’s a grind and it’ll wear you down, but as long as you just keep fighting, keep going, keep going, keep going, then stuff will pan out."

In the top of the seventh, Votto drew a four-pitch walk with one out before Eugenio Suárez came through with a broken-bat grounder into center field for a single. Weaver finished with one hit, one walk and one hit batter over seven innings.

Reds starting pitcher José De León had a highly inconsistent line with nine strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings, but he also surrendered six runs, eight hits, three walks and two home runs.

Arizona hitters waited out De León to get their pitches in the strike zone and pummeled him. In the third inning with one out, David Peralta slugged a three-run home run into the pool behind the right-center-field fence. De León worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning but in the bottom of the fifth, he opened with a Peralta double followed by Eduardo Escobar slugging a 2-0 pitch to right field for a two-run homer.

"When you shut them out, you've done something pretty special," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "So we've done a really good job over the past couple of days of attacking game plans and getting the job done."