Reds still looking for answers as losing streak hits 5 in San Diego

SAN DIEGO – Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona had nowhere else to go, no inclination to sleep and nothing on his mind but trying to fix the growing number of Reds problems.

So he went to the ballpark more than eight hours before the first pitch of the Reds’ series against the San Diego Padres.

“Why was I here at 10:30 in the morning? I can’t (expletive) do anything,” Francona said. “I was miserable sitting in my room.”

It wasn’t long before misery got some company when general manager Brad Meador joined Francona to talk how to solve such problems as their injury-addled roster and most walk-prone bullpen in the majors.

The morning start to the game that night came less than 24 hours after Francona gathered the team for a rare meeting after a dispiriting sweep at the hands of the Cardinals over the weekend – a series that included blown leads all three games and that dropped the Reds record under .500 for the first time since March.

“I think they feel a lot like I do. They desperately want to win,” Francona said. “We’re kind of vastly different than we were even a couple weeks ago. And that’s not an excuse. We’re trying to figure things out as we go. And it’s been challenging. No getting around that.”

No Elly De La Cruz (hamstring). No Hunter Greene (elbow). And no relief in sight – with closer Emilio Pagán and setup men Graham Ashcraft and Pierce Johnson all on the injured list as well.

And then the Reds put the right guy on the mound in the right place at the right time – only to see another late lead go away in another loss in Monday night’s series opener.

Hot-pitching starter Andrew Abbott, who had a sub-1.00 career ERA against the Padres entering the game, took a 2-1 lead into the seventh before issuing back-to-back doubles and exiting.

What followed was the anything-that-can-go-wrong-will stuff of struggling teams.

Three consecutive bunts by the bottom of the Padres’ MLB-worst lineup led to three consecutive misplays by the Reds and two more runs in the Reds’ 6-2 loss at Petco Park.

It was the Reds fifth straight loss, fourth straight day they’ve held a lead only to lose the game, and dropped them to a season low-water mark of three games under .500.

One day after losing in St. Louis on back-to-back errors in the eighth inning, this is how the Reds lost when the Padres tried to bunt into outs in the seventh:

• Jase Bowen’s bunt with a runner at second died on the grass just to the left of the mound, where reliever Tejay Antone prepared to pick it up, just as first baseman Sal Stewart charged in to win the tussle for the ball – before throwing late to second baseman Edwin Arroyo covering first.
• Then with runners at the corners Samad Taylor bunted 20 feet toward first. Stewart charged and whiffed on the scoop attempt to get the runner at the plate as the go-ahead run scored.
• Then with runners at first and second and still nobody out, Freddy Fermin bunted toward the mound, and Antone lost the handle trying to pick up the ball. Bases loaded, nobody out.

“They say when it rains it pours,” Stewart said.

Antone eventually escaped without further damage on a shallow pop to right, chopper to third and sharp play at short by Matt McLain.

But the damage was done. And by the time the Padres scored three two-out runs of Zach McCambley in the seventh, the Reds had their ninth loss in 11 games – against a team that ranked last in the majors in scoring, hitting, slugging and on-base percentage.

In fact, the Padres were on their own 2-11 skid coming into the series.

No telling how early Francona arrives at the park for the next game.

“It’s hard. It’s a little challenging at times — (expletive), there’s no getting around that,” the manager said, praising the dedication of his coaches and the desire of his players. “We care about what we do.

“This is way more than a job. It’s your whole life.”

It’s starting to flash before their eyes, at least when it comes to where this season of high expectations might be headed.

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Reds’ Sal Stewart on fateful 7th-inning bunt plays in loss to Padres

The Padres bunted 3 straight times; the Reds failed to get an out on any of them as San Diego took the lead, eventually handing Reds 5th loss in row.

“When a guy pitches bad or not up to their standards, or they’re not hitting, that doesn’t mean they don’t care,” said Francona, who preached a similar message during tough stretches late last season before the Reds squeezed into the playoffs on the final day. 

“I think we’re in a society now where it’s too easy to just say people suck,” he added. “And it’s not just baseball. It’s society. I think it’s people have gotten way too comfortable saying stuff like that. We have a good group. I know that.”

Where do they go from here? With 98 games and a fork in the road staring them in the face.

“Frustration’s a big part of our game,” Francona said. “So how you handle that kind of can define your season. And you’ve just got to fight through it. Not fight each other. But you’ve got to fight through it.”

Asked about the message and intent behind his rare unscheduled meetings, Francona recalled the one he had late in September last year after the Reds got manhandled in a sweep by the Athletics in West Sacramento.

“I’m not big on looking backwards,” he said. “But when we left (Sacramento), we were (expletive) struggling. I remember telling them, ‘Hey, man, when it’s hard to believe, that’s when you gotta believe.’

“I said, ‘If we play the game the way we can, we’re gonna pop some champagne.’ And we did.”

This moment seems to carry more gravity than an early June stretch of adversity, given the strength of the league and the depth of the Reds’ injuries.

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Andrew Abbott on his start vs. Padres in 6-2 loss, state of Reds

Reds starter Andrew Abbott retired 12 of 13 to take a 2-1 lead to the 7th until back-to-back doubles leading off the inning ended his night.

“It feels like we’re treading in quicksand a little bit,” Stewart said. “We’re right there in games, but they’re not going our way. We just have to stay the course.”

Said Abbott: “We’re not panicking. Maybe we’re not playing our best baseball right now. But we know that it’s a long season. We were in the same spot or worse, or maybe a little bit better, last year. And then we turned it on. So it’s not unfamiliar territory.

“To know that we have 98 of them left, I think more often than not we’re going to come out and we’re goign to play really good, sound, fundamental baseball. And we’re going to come out on the right end of this.”