Reds Offense Stalls in 6-1 Loss to Cubs

That’s painful. Only one run against the Cubs. The bats were alive over the past two games only to take a slumber on a cool afternoon at Wrigley. The 6-1 loss put a lock on a losing road trip. As much as went for the Reds yesterday, the opposite was the case on Saturday.

Starter Mike Leake went 5.2 innings only to suffer from the “one bad inning” syndrome. In his first outing of the season, Leake would surrender two runs in the 6th inning of a 3-1 loss to the Cards. Those two runs came courtesy of David Freese and a two-run homer. Leake took the loss in that game. One bad inning…not too bad though.

In his next outing, Leake would too 6.1 innings in a Reds 8-5 extra-inning win against the Nationals, but Leake would permit three runs in the Nats 4th, but in this game, the Reds already held a 5-0 lead at the time of the “bad inning”. Not as good as the last “bad inning”.

Today, the 2nd inning got him. Four Cubs would cross the plate in that inning. A trend?

The four runs were more than enough for Paul Maholm and the Cubs bullpen. And the Reds scored in the first inning for Leake…again.

Maholm? He did get the win and he settled down after the 1st. In the remaining five innings of his appearance, the Reds only managed one more threat. That came in the top of the 4th. The REds had runners on second and third with two outs after a Chrsi Heisey double. Maholm intentionally walked Devin Mesoraco and coaxed Leake into a fielder’s choice to thwart any other chances for the Reds to score.

Heading into the game, Malholm was 6-4 lifetime against the Reds and sported a 3.81 ERA and 1.346 WHIP. Not mind blowing.

Defense?

We know that one aspect that the Reds in which the Reds do hold pride is their defense. Not been the case in Chicago. Two errors yesterday and two more today. Mes also had a passed ball that led to one of those unearned runs to score. Three of the errors and the passed ball have accounted for four unearned runs in the first two games of the series.

When the Reds arrived in Chiacgo, the Reds had committed four errors. Two games at Wrigley have seen that number double.

How the…? What the…?

The Good Guys appeared to be getting back into the game in the top of the 7th. Todd Frazier, who was pinch-hitting for Logan Ondrusek, led off with a double. Zack Cozart followed with a double as well. Normally, Frazier should score, right? Not exactly.

Springboro native Tony Campana dove for the hit off Cozart’s bat and was unsuccessful in catching the ball. Although it appeared neither Campana nor David DeJesus would catch the ball, Frazier could not advance past third. Second and third and no out still seemed like something was rumbling.

Stubbs lined out to Starlin Castro. Joey Votto struck out swinging and Brandon Phillips‘ fly ball found the glove of DeJesus. Inning over. Threat halted.

Wind out of the sails.

Traitor?

Ohio’s Dan Patrick, accompanied by his Dan-ettes, threw out the first pitch. Patrick was adorned in Cubs gear. I’m guessing it didn’t sit too well with some Reds fans. Does this fall under the category “When in Rome…”?

I guess you can’t please everybody.

But then I got to thinking…

Do you remember this?

POTUS threw out the first pitch at Nationals Park wearing a Nats jacket, but prior to throwing the first pitch, he donned a White Sox cap? Sure, it created some boos, but…

DP attempted to make some form of amends during the WGN telecast…

We’ll see…

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