CINCINNATI -- Hunter Pence denied Cincinnati the chance to see Billy Hamilton sprint around the bases when he caught the Reds leadoff hitter's line drive into the gap in right field. Todd Frazier jogged around the bases after hitting the next pitch from San Francisco starter Madison Bumgarner into the stands in right field. Brandon Phillips followed with a single. Things were looking good for the Reds Thursday afternoon.
Oh, how looks can be deceiving.
The Reds' offense has gone into some slumbers this season but Bumgarner put them into full Lunesta mode Thursday as he retired the final 16 batters he faced in a 6-1 San Francisco win at Great American Ball Park. The Reds went hitless in their final 19 at-bats in total and their lone hit after the first inning was a single by Frazier in the third inning. Half of the 24 outs recorded by Bumgarner were groundouts. His outfielders might as well have been picking dandelions as much work as they had to do.
The Reds were feeling pretty good about themselves after an 8-3 win Monday night to open the series, a fourth consecutive win that got them back to within sniffing distance of .500 but losses the last two games have dropped them back to 27-31, searching for a foothold on their season. Again.
The Reds haven't been over .500 all season. They have twice been even with their record, at 1-1 and 11-11. For the past month they have fluctuated between two and six games under .500.
Treading water has been a theme to this season. The water is getting a little deeper now that it is June.
"I still feel like we have confidence even after losing these two games," said Hamilton, who had a six-game hitting streak snapped Thursday. "We were on the road before this happened but I feel like the guys are still up and that we still have that confidence that we can start winning some more games. The confidence is still there."
Reds starter Mike Leake gave up a season-high five runs in five innings but as all too often has been the case this season, the lack of offense was glaring. Thursday was second game in a row and the 17th time in 58 games this season the Reds have scored two runs or less. Not surprisingly, their record (4-13) isn't so good in those games.
"I hate talking about good starting pitching but the kid (Bumgarner) did a nice job," said Reds manager Bryan Price. "He's having a nice season. We seemed to have a nice approach that first inning but weren't able to maintain it. I don't know if he got better or if we lost the approach but we weren't able to string anything together against him."
Price has been a broken record when asked about the offense. Jay Bruce has struggled. Joey Votto hasn't been Joey Votto even before he went on the disabled list. There simply hasn't been much flash or substance to the lineup.
"I wish I was a visionary and could give a better answer but I've said it darn near all season, I like our lineup. I like what we're capable of doing," said Price. "Getting Joey back and putting him back in the lineup helps us because it makes us even better at the bottom part of the order, we get deeper. That being said, we have guys on this roster that have been productive players that can produce at a higher level than they've produced at this point.
"We're just waiting for that to kick in and be a more consistent part of our game day-to- day."
