By Hal McCoy
If you don’t want to read about one of the ugliest among many ugly games played by the Cincinnati Reds this season, click on over to the classifieds.
And you might find an ad placed there by the Reds: “Wanted: Pitchers who can throw strikes.”
The St. Louis Cardinals hung a 10-3 stinker on the Reds Friday night in Busch Stadium.
And the negatives the Reds piled up are Negatives with a capital N.
First of all, the Reds fell to an even .500 (31-31) On April 30, they were 20-11 and leading the National League Central by a game.
Since then they’ve flip-flopped, going 11-20 to fall into the cellar, 7 1/2 games out of first place by losing for the sixth time in their last eight games.
And they are now 2-11 against fellow members of the National League Central.
The seven-run loss was their 17th loss this season by five or more runs, the most in MLB.
The pitching staff issued nine walks and hit two batters. And they made three errors.
The Reds actually took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first when St. Louis right fielder Jordan Walker misplayed Sal Stewart’s line drive into a two-run double.
Then the Reds played a messy bottom of the first behing struggling starter and loser Brady Singer (2-6).
Singer didn’t help himself by throwing ball one to seven straight batters.
It began with St. Louis leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar hitting a grounder to Edwin Arroyo, playing his first game at shortstop.
He had trouble extracting the ball from his glove and threw the ball into the Reds’ dugout, putting Nootbaar on second.
After Arroyo alertly threw Nootbar out at third on a ground ball, Alec Burleson singled, putting runners on third and first.
With two outs, Bryan Torres grounded to second and Spencer Steer threw him out.
Inning over? Nope. Umpire Ben May ruled that first baseman Sal Stewart didn’t have his foot on first base. Stewart insisted he did and the Reds challenged.
The call stood and the runner from third scored.
Protesting replay/review challenges is forbidden, but Reds manager Tito Francona left the dugout to argue, an automatic ejection.
Said Francona, “While we waited (for the decision) I was getting madder and madder. That’s not something I set out to do.
“I still think he was out,” he added. “I have a picture that shows he (Stewart) was on the bag. It cost us two runs in the first, for sure.”
That’s because after the play Singer threw a wild pitch and the second run scored.
The Cardinals tied it, 3-3, in the thired when Burleson hit Singer’s first pitch of the inning over the wall, the seventh straight game that Singer has given up a home run — 12 over his last 26 innngs.
Singer left after four innings and one hitter when it was 3-3, and all three of the runs were unearned. And the Reds were still in it.
Not for long.
In came the bullpen and the Cardinals piled on.
Another error, this one a wild pickoff throw by Brock Burke in the fifth, put a runner on second and he scored on a double by Jordan Walker off Burke to make it 4-3.
The Cardinls scored six runs in the sixth when among many awful things, Luis Mey issued two bases-loaded walks and hit a better with the bases loaded.
Reds pitchers have issued 19 walks this season with the bases loaded.
Twelve Cardinals batted in the six-run sixth, a half-inning that took 30 minutes.
Reds pitchers (Singer, Burke, Zach Maxwell, Mey and Zack McCambry) issued nine walks and hit two batters.
“We made errors, we didn’t throw strikes and we paid for it,” said Francona. “None of our pitchers tonight threw strikes and (catcher Tyler) Stephenson was like a goalie and that’s a hard way to be successful.”
After the Reds scored three in the first, St. Louis scored 10 unanswered runs. After the first, the Reds had six hits, all singles, over the final eight innings.
And the Cardinals had something the Reds didn’t have — a solid relief pitcher.
Starter Kyle Leahy left after four innings and relief pitcher Hunter Dobbins pitched the last five innings and held the Reds to no runs, four hits, two walks and struck out six.
Looking for positives? They were few and far, far, far between.
Arroyo, batting ninth was on base his first three appearances with a single and two walks.
Spencer Steer extended his on-base streak to 23 straight games with a walk in the first inning.
Zach McCambrey, acquired from the Miami Marlins in exchange for Rece Hinds, made his second Reds appearance and finished the game with 2 1/3 scoreless innings.