Cincinnati Reds: Three takeaways from rain-shortened series vs Cubs

3. Is that you, Reds offense?

The Reds offense has been schizophrenic at best this season. On Opening Day, the bats came alive, knocking in seven runs and giving fans in Reds Country reason for hope and optimism. Then, the offense went into hibernation, scoring only 18 total runs during their four-game losing streak.

The lack of runs coincided with Mike Moustakas going on the injured list, Nick Senzel missing three games and Eugenio Suárez going hitless until the fourth game of the season. Coincidence? Maybe, but not an excuse.

That all changed on Wednesday, when the offense exploded. Moustakas and Senzel rejoined the team, both hitting home runs. Suárez knocked in his first two runs of the season, his second straight game with a hit.

Nick Castellanos continued his hot hitting and got revenge on his former team with a towering grand slam. When the smoke cleared from the GABP smokestacks, Cincinnati had scored 12 runs, the most of the young season and defeated the Cubs by a score of 12-7.

Hopefully, this is the kickstart the Reds offense needs to storm through the rest of the season. As long as Cincinnati can stay healthy, which isn’t a guarantee during the age of the coronavirus pandemic, the offense has the potential to be explosive.

Once the Cincinnati offense gets going, it is hard to slow down. Unfortunately, through six games, the consistency isn’t there. Aside from Moustakas and Castellanos, the only other Reds hitter batting over .300 is Joey Votto. That has to change if this team is going to have success putting runs on the board.

The rainout puts a temporary halt to the momentum, but familiarity with the Tigers should help get things going again. It’s important that the offense picks up where they left off on Wednesday so the Reds can make up ground as they push through the rest of the shortened 2020 season.