Reds Rapid Reactions From Another Lopsided Loss to the Brewers, 8-3

It wasn't the best showing of the old ballclub but the Cincinnati Reds were put in an early deficit and could not recover. The Reds' single-digit playoff odds continue to get smaller and smaller with each passing day. And facing the Brewers, a team that has had the Reds' number over the past few years, is not helping.

Now, the Reds are 2-5 against the Brewers and this was the second five-run loss on the year.

1. Spiers Struggles

Carson Spiers is not expected to be a top-end starter. Right now, the Reds are sort of going with a four-man rotation with the fifth night being a bullpen day. In all reality, Spiers just needs to eat innings and try to give his team a chance to win.

On Friday, he ate five innings but was knocked around early. Of his five innings, only the fourth was one-two-three. He allowed seven hits and all eight earned runs allowed were in the first three innings.

In the first, Spiers walked a pair of batters before giving up a 391-footer to infamous Reds killer, Willy Adames . It was his 15th career round-tripper, easily his most against a single team. In the second, he gave up a one-out single, RBI double, and two-run home run on back-to-back-to-back hitters to make it 6-0.

Spiers' first batter of the third reached on a single. Two batters later, he allowed an RBI triple and then an RBI infield single after that. Four of the Brewers' seven hits had exit velos over 100 MPH. Add in three more in-play outs and it's obvious when the Brewers were making contact, they were hitting it hard.

On the night, Spiers did strike out seven as well.

2. Baserunning Blunders

This season, the Reds have had a healthy handful of TOOTBLANs. In other words, Thrown Out On the Bases Like A Nincompoop. They had another one on Friday.

It was 8-1, the game was pretty much over, but obviously the Reds were going to try and chip away. Jeimer Candelario singled followed by a Ty France double. France found the gap and it took the Brewers' centerfielder a second to gather the ball. Third base coach J.R. House saw something he liked and sent Candelario, who it didn't seem was expecting it. As a result, he was gunned down at home for the first out of the inning.

Two pitches later, Stuart Fairchild ripped a 426-foot home run to cut the deficit to 8-3. Immediately after that, Noelvi Marte doubled, so it was looking like the Reds were about to get something going.

Down 8-1, unless it's one of your fastest players, just hold your runner at third. It's a baseball taboo to make the first and third out at third and home.

At least it wasn't another game of multiple singles-thrown-out-trying-to-stretch-to-two.

3. Have to Capitalize

Yesterday, the Brewers logged 20 hits. On Friday, they managed seven (shoutout to the bullpen; three innings, no hits, no walks, four strikeouts). The Reds out-hit the Brewers, nine-to-seven.

Spencer Steer , Jeimer Candelario, Ty France, and Noelvi Marte all logged two hits each. Steer even added a walk to his ledger.

The issue was the Reds, aside from the seventh, couldn't stack hits. They took six at-bats with runners in scoring position (compared to eight by the Brewers) and managed just one hit (Fairchild's home run).

Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in. The Reds want to be fundamentally sound while also being aggressive. However, if they can't stack the hits in multiple innings, it's not going to be easy.

Seven of the nine innings featured one or fewer baserunners. In the seventh, the Reds managed five hits for three runs. In the eighth, they added two runs but could not push across another run.

Are the Reds five runs worse than the Brewers? Well, they were on Friday.