3 individuals who'll be blamed for the Reds' gut-wrenching loss, but don't deserve most of it

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Well, that was easily the worst loss of the entire 2023 season. And it comes on the heels of two other games this week in which the Cincinnati Reds had wins within reach only to give them away.

The Reds are big trouble as it relates to their postseason aspirations. With only six games left in the regular season, Cincinnati is 2.5 games back in chase for the NL Wild Card. The Redlegs need some help, but on Saturday night, they failed to help themselves.

There's a lot of blame that will be thrown around, and probably should be after giving up a 9-0 lead to the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, the amount of blame that some will receive following Saturday's game is unwarranted.

1. Reds manager David Bell will receive a lot of blame following the loss, but doesn't deserve most of it.

Given the way the game of baseball is played in 2023, the manager's job is much less significant when it comes to in-game decision-making. Does that mean that the manager has zero impact on the game? Absolutely not.

But with analytics having run amuck, a manager's job has become more about his relationships with the players than actual in-game decisions. That said, there were two puzzling moves that Bell made on Saturday night that can certainly be called into question.

First is going to Alex Young over Sam Moll in the sixth inning. Moll has been lights out for the Reds since his arrival from Oakland, while Young has been struggling to the tune of of 10.00 ERA and 8.93 FIP since the start of August.

The second odd decision on the part of Bell was sticking with Nick Senzel in the bottom of the sixth inning with a right-handed pitcher on the mound after the Pirates had rallied to within three runs. That was not the time to give Senzel a vote of confidence.

But quite frankly, outside of that, I don't really have much criticism for how David Bell handled last night's game in particular. It was odd that Bell turned to Joey Votto in the bottom of the ninth to hit for Noelvi Marte, but it worked.

Bell is a punching bag for the Cincinnati faithful when things go wrong, but is rarely given credit when things go right. Such is the life of a major league manager, I guess. Bell's not immune to criticism, but he was not the sole reason that Cincinnati lost last night's game.

2. The Reds bullpen will receive a lot of blame following the loss, but doesn't deserve most of it.

Instead of blaming one individual reliever over another, we're going to lump the entire Cincinnati Reds bullpen together. Saturday night's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates may have been the relief corp's worst performance of the season, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

The box score will show that Connor Phillips allowed three earned runs, and technically that's true. But only one run crossed the plate when Phillips was on the mound. The rookie left the hill with a 9-1 in the top of the sixth inning and his book was still open after allowing back-to-back singles.

Collectively, the Reds bullpen allowed 12 runs to dent the plate over four innings with 10 of them being earned. Alex Young surrendered three, as did Fernando Cruz. Alexis Diaz was called upon in the eighth inning to get a stop, and failed to do so. The Reds closer was tagged with four earned runs.

Lucas Sims was put in a near impossible situation in the seventh inning. After Cruz had loaded the bases with no outs, David Bell called upon the veteran reliever to stop the bleeding. Instead, Sims allowed a bases-clearing double that knotted the score at nine runs apiece.

The only reliever who was able to get the job done was Ian Gibaut. After struggling in Friday's game having allowed two runs on three hits, the right-hander returned in the ninth inning to shut the Pirates' bats down.

So while many fans will want to blame the bullpen for Saturday's loss, let's not forget how many times the Reds relievers have bailed out struggling starters or a scuffling offense this season. If you want the truth, these last three losses have proven one thing - the Reds bullpen is flat-out exhausted.

That's not an excuse, but it's the facts. Cincinnati's bullpen has logged 622 innings this season. That's the sixth-most in the majors. Furthermore, the Reds have three pitchers among the Top 10 in the league in terms of appearances.

The Cincinnati Reds bullpen deserves to take some heat for Saturday's loss - you can't give up 10 runs in four innings and walk away blameless. But Alexis Diaz, Buck Farmer, Ian Gibaut, and Lucas Sims have not landed on the IL once this season and all four have hit a career-high in appearances and innings pitched.

3. Reds GM Nick Krall will receive a lot of blame following the loss, but doesn't deserve most of it.

All of those Reds fans who said the front office needed to get more pitching at the trade deadline will point to this one game and say, "I told you so." And to a certain extent, they're right. The Cincinnati Reds made one addition at the trade deadline, and that was reliever Sam Moll.

What fans saw from the Reds bullpen on Saturday night, and for the better part of a week, has been a direct result of overuse throughout the season. Now, some fans will want to point the finger at David Bell for that, and he's mildly culpable.

However, it's hard to blame the manager for trying to preserve the arms of his young starting pitchers while at the same time attempt to win ballgames. Bell has gone to his bullpen early and often this season, and more times than not, it's worked. But those guys are running on fumes.

Which brings us back to Reds GM Nick Krall and the Cincinnati front office. The Reds did not add a starter at the trade deadline despite pitchers like Lucas Giolito, Jordan Montgomery, and Jack Flaherty finding new teams this summer.

As most fans have seen, those trades don't always work out. Giolito was waived by the Los Angeles Angels, former Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen is now in the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen, and Lance Lynn has given up 42 home runs on the season.

Could the Reds have added an extra pitcher or two at the trade deadline? Sure, but the price tag in terms of prospect capital was extremely high. Would you have given up a player like Connor Phillips, Sal Stewart, or Christian Encarnacion-Strand in order to add a mediocre arm for the stretch run?

If so, then I'm glad you're not the GM. Nick Krall is playing the long game with his sights set on 2024, 2025, and beyond. The Reds are looking to build sustainability for the future and not lose a potential key piece in exchange for a one-off year in which they've exceeded expectations.

So while Krall's lack of action at the trade deadline may have contributed to the fact that Cincinnati's bullpen was absolutely gassed on Saturday, I'm sure he'll happily take that criticism knowing that the Reds have a boatload of young talent ready to make a run at the playoffs for the next five years.

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