Reds starters monotonously bad

By HAL McCOY

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A Cincinnati Reds pitcher didn’t make it beyond 4 1/3 innings and the Reds lost. Add Tim Adleman to the list.

He pitched 4 1/3 innings Saturday night against the Miami Marlins and gave up six runs, six hits and the inevitable home run.

The Reds, of course, lost again, 7-3 — their sixth straight loss on this 10-game trip and their 14^th loss in 16 games since the All-Star break.

THEY’VE LOST THREE STRAIGHT in Miami and not one starting pitcher has survived beyond 4 1/3 innings.

During those three games, they’ve combined to pitch only 12 innings and given up nine earned run (11 overall), 12 hits and 17 walks.

—Robert Stephenson started the first game and gave up three runs, four hits and seven walks in 4 1/3 innings.

—Sal Romano started the second game and gave up no earned runs (two unearned on his own error), two hits and six walks in 3 1/3 innings.

—Adleman started the third game and gave up six run, six hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings.

For the mathematically challenged, that’s a 6.75 earned run average.

ADLEMAN HAS GIVEN UP THREE or more earned runs in eight straight starts and has given up at least one home run in 12 straight starts.

Joey Votto gave the Reds a 1-0 lead against left hander Adam Conley in the first inning with his 27^th home run, his first since the All-Star break. And it came on the first pitch, the ninth home run he has hit on the first pitch, tops in the majors.

The lead last until the third inning when the Marlins scored three times after they had two outs and nobody on base. Dee Gordon singled, Giancarlo Stanton walked on a full count and Christian Yelich crushed a 0-and-2 pitch for a three-run home run.

Adam Duvall cut the Marlins lead to 3-2 in the fourth with his 23^rd home run.

ONE OF THOSE INCESSANT WALKS that plague all Reds pitchers surfaced in the fifth when Adleman walked the opposing pitcher, Adam Conley, on a 3-and-2 pitch. Dee Gordon singled and Giancarlo Stanton doubled for two runs and a 5-2 lead. Marcell Ozuna doubled for a 6-2 advantage.

Zack Cozart was placed on the 10-day disabled list before the game, replaced on the 25-man roster by relief pitcher Kevin Shackelford. And the Marlins scored their seventh run off him in the seventh, again after they had two outs and nobody on. Marcell Ozuna doubled and J.T. Realmuto singled him home.

The Reds scored a meaningless run in the ninth on Patrick Kivlehan’s double and a couple of ground balls, but in the end it was Cincinnati’s eighth straight loss to the Marlins in Miami. Kivlehan’s hit was only th sixth for the Reds as the offense continues to operate on about 1 ½ cylinders.