Those bats need to wake up!!!!!!!
Somebody mentioned to Reds manager Dusty Baker that the Reds haven’t been able to get a big hit with runners on base in this series against St. Louis.
“You get seven hits in two games, and you’re not getting big hits or little hits,” Baker said.
True, that.
The Reds managed only four hits Tuesday night in a 3-1 loss to the Cardinals before a crowd of 17,110 at Great American Ball Park. The weak effort came after the Reds produced one run on three hits in Monday’s 7-1 loss.
The Reds wrap up the series with a 12:35 p.m. game today. Johnny Cueto will pitch for the Reds, but he’s going to need a bit of offense to win.
“We’ve got some guys right now who are struggling at the plate,” Baker said. “We’ve just got relax and do what we’re capable of doing.”
The Reds are hitting .201 as a team. Throw out the numbers from Zack Cozart (.471) and Jay Bruce (.316), and the number is hitting .144.
“We didn’t swing that well in the spring either,” Baker said. “This team can hit. We’re going to hit … We know we’re going to hit.”
Starter Mike Leake pitched well for the most part. He went six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out four.
“I thought it was good and bad,” Leake said. “I did get out of a couple of jams. But I made three mistakes, three crucial mistakes. It’s the first outing. You learn from it.”
The Cardinals had Leake in deep trouble in the first. Carlos Beltran homered with one out. Matt Holliday singled, Lance Berkman was was hit by a pitch and David Freese walked to load the bases.
Yadier Molina followed with a softly hit grounder to third. Scott Rolen charged, scooped it, stepped on the bag and fired to first for the double play.
“We could have really been behind,” Baker said. “We did damage control and got out of there with one run.”
The Reds had a chance to tie it in the second. Bruce led off with double, but Chris Heisey grounded out to third forcing Bruce to hold. Then Drew Stubbs grounded to third as well. After the Cardinals intentionally walked Devin Mesoraco, Leake flied out to end it.
“We tried to move him,” Baker said. “We didn’t get him over. That’s something we practice all the time – get them over, get them in. … We’ve got to do the little things, especially when you’re struggling to score runs. You’ve got to scratch and claw to get that run in. Then you start rolling from there.”
Leake settled in and kept a 1-0 game until the sixth. Berkman led off with a triple to right. Two pitches later, Freese hit one out to right-center for his third of year and second of the series.
Former Red Kyle Lohse was rolling by then. He retired nine of 10 heading to the sixth.
Cozart ended Lohse’s string with a triple to right-center. Joey Votto drove him in with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. Bruce singled an out later, but that was the Reds’ last hit of the night.