By Hal McCoy
As Casey Stengel once put it when managing the 120-loss expansion New York Mets, “We were worse than we were bad.”
And so it was recently for the Cincinnati Reds during a nauseous eight-game losing streak that plunged them from first place in the National League Central to last place.
The most embarrassing thing for a team is to sink to using a position player to finish a game on the pitcher’s mound because the team is losing by eight or more runs.
In a span of 10 days, during the downward spiral, the red-faced Reds sent catcher Jose Trevino to the mound four times.
The last time was last Friday night when the Reds lost to the Houston Astros, 10-0, a loss that extended their losing streak to eight.
And then. . .
With some practically peerless starting pitching from Chase Burns and Andrew Abbott and the bullpen, the Reds ended the losing streak with two straight wins over the Astros, 3-1 and 5-0.
The Reds had fallen seven games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs, who were on a 10-game winning streak.
But the Cubs (27-14) lost two straight to the Texas Rangers and the Reds have crept back to within five games, although they remain tied for fourth and fifth place with Pittsburgh (22-19).
Amazingly, a large portion of the Reds early schedule has been against American League teams and they have MLB’s best interleague record at 15-6.
But they play in the National League, in the Central Divsion, and they are 1-9 in games against the NLC, 1-5 against Pittsburgh and 0-4 against Chicago.
So have the Reds forced their way out of the funk with two straight over the struggling Houston Astros (16-25), a team with 14 players on the injured list?
After Monday off, the answer should come the next three days when they host the Washington Nationals (19-22) at Great American Ball Park.
And they are facing a familiar face tonight when Washington sends Miles Mikolas (1-3, 7.44) to the mound.
Mikolas is in his first year with the Nationals after pitching seven years for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Reds nearly salivated when he pitched against them.
The 37-year-old right-hander started 23 games against the Reds and was 6-9 with a 5.75 earned run average.
But it isn’t much better the other way. Brady Singers starts for the Reds and he has faced the Nationals only twice and is 0-1 with an 11.05 ERA.
The Reds are still looking for hits, especially key hits. They are 30th and last in team batting average at .219, .003 behind the moribund New York Mets.
Elly De La Cruz, though has come alive with three straight multi-hit games against Houston and has lifted his batting average to .288.
During their April ride to the top of the standings, De La Cruz an rookie Sal Stewart hefted the team on their shoulders.
But Stewart is on the skids. On April 25 he was hitting .303, but has gone 8-for-52 and his average has dipped to .245.
On a more positive note, seven of the eight straight losses were on the road. GABP is more friendly to the home team.
The Reds have won four straight series at home and own a 12-8 record.
One of the team’s pleasant scenarios is the play of JJ Bleday, recently called up from Triple-A Louisville and is playing regularly in left field.
His two-run triple in the fourth inning Sunday gave the Reds a 2-0 lead to ignite the 5-0 win.
After winning the final two games to win the series, Bleday said, “Oh, man, that was great. This was a good team win yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday).
“We’re heading in the right direction again and we’re pumped,” he said. “Abbott did a great job (six innings, no runs, three hits), Chase Burns did a good job (Saturday). . .our starting pitching has been really good.”
Well, Abbott and Burns have been really good. The rest has been a flip of the coin.
Singer, tonight’s starter, has been up and down. But due to injuries, the rest is a flip of the coin.
Starters Hunter Greene, Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson are on the injured list, along with closer Emilio Pagan and relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson.
Nick Lodolo came off the injured list Friday to his first start of the season and was passable (5 1/3 innings, four runs, five hits), but took the loss in the 10-0 drubbing by the Astros.
And remember Eugenio Suarez? The man expected to provide middle-of-the-order punch remains on the injured list.
Lately, Spencer Steer has stepped up his production with hits in 10 of his last 11 games, including a home run Sunday.
The Reds began the season 12-0 in games decided by three or fewer runs and were 7-0 in one-run decisions.
They didn’t believe what former Baltimore Orioles manager Early Weaver said, “You play for one run, you lose by one run.”
The Reds didn’t play for one run, but it worked that way because they weren’t hitting. Then during the eight-game losing streak, they lost four straight one-run decisions, 1-0, in Pittsburgh, and three straight Cubs’ one-run walk-off wins.
As proved by the Reds, in baseball things tend to even out.