Cincinnati Reds Suffer Fifth Straight Loss, Fall to Royals 7-1

May 20, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Cincinnati Reds manager

Bryan Price

(center) takes pitcher

Jason Marquis

(31) out of the game against the Kansas City Royals during the fourth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

1. 61. 7. 7.

W: Guthrie (4-2, 4.75)

L: Marquis (3-4, 6.91)

You can’t say the Cincinnati Reds didn’t hit tonight, because they collected nine hits, only one less than the Kansas City Royals, which is quite different from last night when they only managed four hits in the entire game. But tonight the bigger story is the number of runners the Reds left on base against the Royals. The Reds stranded 10 while the Royals brought in all but 4. If the Reds have any hope of turning this season around, they have to find a way to not strand so many runners, because right now, neither the starting rotation nor the bullpen is enough to get the Reds by.

Jason Marquis took the mound tonight for the Reds and pitched well in the first three innings, only giving up one hit and one run. But Marquis got into trouble in the fourth inning when he struggled to find the strike zone and gave up back-to-back hits with no outs, then threw a wild pitch to put both Kansas City runners into scoring position. Eric Hosmer batted next, grounding out right to Brandon Phillips, but Phillips made a questionable throw home in an unsuccessful attempt to throw out the runner allowing Kansas City to get another run without giving up an out. The Royals tacked on two more runs in the inning, after which Bryan Price had seen enough, and pulled Marquis and went to Ryan Mattheus to end the inning.

Mattheus did little better following Marquis’ exit, hitting the first batter in the fifth inning, then giving up two hits and another run.

In the seventh inning, Phillips was finally able to drive in the first Reds’ run of the series when he doubled and drove in Zack Cozart giving the Reds their only run of the series.

The Royals drove in two more runs in the eighth inning, sweeping the Reds and winning 7-1.

Other Notes:

Phillips had a great offensive night, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Burke Badenhop and Michael Lorenzen pitched well out of the bullpen and both pitched a scoreless inning.
Billy Hamilton showed great speed tonight, reaching first base on a bunt single.

Up Next: The Reds will have Thursday off but will look to bounce back and break a five-game losing streak as they take on the Cleveland Indians on Friday at 7:10 p.m. Mike Leake (3-3, 3.62 ERA) will start for the Reds and face off against Carlos Carrasco (4-4, 4.98 ERA).

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