Photo of Stuart Fairchild by the Cincinnati Reds on X
by Chris Ball
Loveland, Ohio – For the Reds the All-Star break was supposed to be a time to regroup, recharge, and focus on making a run at contention. They have several injured players hoping to make a comeback but who need time to recover. An opening series against the Washington Nationals seemed like an excellent opportunity to start the second half of the season on a positive note.
Those hopes all fell apart in the nation’s capital this past weekend as the Washington Nationals swept Cincinnati in three games.
In the first matchup of the series, Frankie Montas struggled mightily, giving up 7 earned runs on 6 hits in just 4.2 innings. The Reds could only muster a single run on 3 hits against Patrick Corbin, whose ERA over his last 20 starts is 5.35. Cincinnati attempted to rally and scored 4 runs in the top of the ninth, but the rally ultimately fell short. In the second and third games the Reds had razor thin leads but in game 2 Fernando Cruz blew a lead by surrendering a double to Lane Thomas before Justin Wilson allowed the game winning run via a single to Jacob Young. The bullpen again fell apart for Cincinnati in game 3 when, in a tied 2-2 in the 8th inning, Lucas Sims allowed 2 hits (one a bunt single) before being replaced by Justin Wilson once again. Wilson promptly served up a belt-high fastball that James Wood launched for a 404 foot 3-run home run that put the game out of reach.
james wood 😤 sweep-clinching 😤 home run pic.twitter.com/HA9WL41BRF
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 21, 2024
It was an ugly sweep that has become a hallmark of a Reds team that has lost ugly games it needed to win, against teams that were (on paper at least) statistically less talented. The usual suspects struggled once again this series. Frankie Montas is 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA in his last 7 starts and is trending in the wrong direction in almost every statistical category. He is a lock for the number 4 position in this rotation for this team and he is not going anywhere as of yet, but he is below the league average in several important categories including ERA, FIP, and WHIP. Fernando Cruz, once known as a high-level stopper who could be dropped into crucial situations to defuse them, has now lost 7 games on the year. Over his last 9 innings pitched he has allowed 10 hits and given up 8 earned runs.
This was a series that the Reds could ill afford to lose. But to be swept, and to play so poorly at a point in the season when they had a real chance to make up ground in their attempt to get back to .500 is yet another frustrating episode in a season full of them. The Reds are not mathematically eliminated and there are still games to play, but it’s understandable to question whether Cincinnati has the players, the focus, and the drive to make a real push towards postseason relevance in 2024. An upcoming series in Atlanta against the Braves, who currently stand at 54-44 and have the best pitching staff in all of baseball, is hardly an environment conducive to getting back on track. Although the Reds play up to the toughest competition in the league, it’s not a recipe for sustained success. The last thing this team can withstand is a losing streak of any length, and if they leave Atlanta losers of 5 out of their first 6, or heaven forbid 6 straight games to start the second half of the year it might be a hole that is simply too deep to climb out of.
Following the loss and the sweep to the Nationals, David Bell talks errors made and how they can pick themselves up and move on to the next series. #Reds pic.twitter.com/gjqBsaeEij
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) July 21, 2024
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Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
