Reds visit the Rockies grasping for thin air

The numbers aren't pretty, Reds Country. After snapping an 11-game slide on Sunday, the Cincinnati Reds (3-16) find themselves mired in another losing streak following a three-game sweep at home courtesy of the San Diego Padres. Unfortunately, yesterday's defeat concluded a dismal 1-5 homestand.

Now the bad news. Cincinnati has dropped 14 of their last 15 contests and is winless against the National League West in 10 attempts. Nevertheless, the Redlegs take another crack at solving the NL West puzzle as they open a three-game series in Denver versus the Colorado Rockies.

Currently, the Reds are firmly entrenched in the NL Central basement trailing the fourth-place Pittsburgh Pirates by five games. It's almost unfathomable, but Cincinnati is 9.5 games out of first place just three weeks into the 2022 season.

The Reds visit the Rockies having lost 14 of their last 15 games.

Despite losing four consecutive games, the Colorado Rockies (10-9) are off to a solid start. To quote Morrissey, "stop me if you've heard this one before" but the Rockies are crushing the baseball.

Entering play yesterday, the Colorado offense leads the senior circuit with a .425 slugging rate and is second with a .263 batting average. Additionally, they place third in the league with 25 round-trippers.

First baseman C.J. Cron is having a phenomenal start to the 2022 campaign. The right-handed hitting slugger has already gone deep seven times and knocked in 18 runs. In addition, he's abused Reds' pitching throughout his career slashing .351/.442/.838 with five homers and 11 RBIs in 37 at-bats.

This does not bode well for a Cincinnati pitching staff that ranks last in ERA and WHIP while issuing the second most free passes as play began on Thursday. Nineteen games into the season and the Redlegs have yet to receive a quality start (six innings pitched allowing three runs or less) from their starters this season. Ouch.

Since entering the league in 1993, Coors Field has been a house of horrors for the Reds. Colorado owns a 65-44 advantage in Denver and has not lost a series at home to Cincinnati since the 2016 campaign.