Reds keep making the same mistakes Terry Francona was hired to fix

The Cincinnati Reds' losing skid reached five games on Monday night, with poor defense and substandard execution at the center of the team's 6-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.

Technically, the Reds were only charged with one error on the night, but the number of miscues during the seventh inning of Monday's debacle in San Diego were exactly the types of mistakes Terry Francona was hired to fix.

During the bottom of the seventh inning with the scored tied 2-2, a runner on second base, and no outs, Padres batter Jase Bowen — facing an obvious sacrifice situation — dropped down a bunt directly in front of home plate. Reliever Tejay Antone and first baseman Sal Stewart both went for the ball, and neither man got the throw to a covering Edwin Arroyo in time.

The Friars now had runners on the corners with nobody out. Antone's 3-1 offering saw San Diego outfielder Samad Taylor drop down another bunt. A charging Stewart attempted to barehand the ball and flip it home to Tyler Stephenson, but he lost the grip. The Padres plated the go-ahead run and had runners on first and second.

Finally, Padres catcher Freddy Fermin, noticing a pattern of futility, squared around to bunt as well. Antone charged, bobbled the ball, and for the third consecutive time, the Reds failed to record an out. San Diego tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, and won by the final score of 6-2.

Only Antone was charged with an error on the evening, but Stewart could have (and should have) easily been tagged with at least one miscue, if not two. It was like watching the Bad News Bears in real life. Wasn't this the type of stuff Francona was supposed to clean up?

Terry Francona's Reds are not playing 'clean baseball'

The biggest desire among the Reds' fanbase (and even the players) after David Bell's departure in 2024 was accountability. Former Rookie of the Year Jonathan India talked about it, and the Cincinnati faithful all but demanded that Bell's replacement hold players accountable for their mistakes.

Accountability can take on many different forms, and it doesn't always have to include a manager verbally berating a player or result in a benching. But given the current state of this Reds team, perhaps it's time for Francona to have some choice words inside the clubhouse and sit some players down for an extended period of time.

In terms of errors, the Reds rank 13 in Major League Baseball, with 32 on the year. Elly De La Cruz and P.J. Higgins are tied for the team-lead with four, but they are far from the only offenders.

Stewart was right in the middle of two of the three mistakes on Monday night, and Matt McLain botched a would-be double play during the previous series against the St. Louis Cardinals that would've prevented a run from scoring.

In terms of advanced metrics, Cincinnati ranks 27th in defensive runs saved with -11 DRS, but ninth in outs above average with 8 OAA.

Last season, De La Cruz drew the ire of the Reds fanbase while leading the league in errors. The superstar shortstop would oftentimes make the difficult plays look easy and the easy plays look difficult. De La Cruz, despite his team-leading four errors, has been much better defensively this season.

Spencer Steer, who was out of the starting lineup on Monday night, has been one of the biggest advocates for Francona's oft-used slogan of "playing clean baseball". The Reds, however, have done anything but that over the past several weeks, and it's reflected in the standings. After Monday's loss, Cincinnati has fallen to a season-worst three games below .500.

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