The Reds waste seven shutout innings from Hunter Greene in loss to the Tigers

This year, the Cincinnati Reds have proven that they have playoff caliber pitching. But the lineup hasn’t been deep enough or consistent enough to even keep the Reds above .500 throughout the first half of the season.

On Saturday, the struggling Detroit Tigers beat the Reds, 5-3, and claimed the series win at Great American Ball Park. Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene turned in another gem, pitching seven shutout innings. But for yet another time, the Reds weren’t able to capitalize on Greene’s performance.

Fernando Cruz, Sam Moll and Lucas Sims combined to allow five runs in the eighth inning, and the Reds’ lineup had another poor performance. The Reds struck out 13 times, including a whiff from Santiago Espinal that ended a Reds rally in the ninth inning. They had only four hits entering the ninth inning, when they brought the tying run to the plate but saw their rally fall short.

Greene hasn’t gotten much run support all season. The Reds have already lost eight different games where Greene has allowed three runs or fewer.

This year, the Reds haven't taken advantage of what they've gotten from the entire rotation.

"It doesn't go unnoticed," Reds manager David Bell said. "It's a real positive on our team when we're getting starting pitching like that. But yes, of course, you want to win every game. When your starting pitchers give you a great opportunity like that, you want to take advantage of it."

The Reds are in the middle of a pivotal stretch leading up to the All-Star break and the trade deadline. This 10-game homestand includes matchups against three teams that will be sellers at the deadline, and it gives the Reds a chance to get over .500 and back in the wild card race.

But the Reds' lack of consistency in 2024 continues to be an issue. Right after sweeping the Yankees, the Reds dropped two uninspiring games to the Tigers, who have the fifth-worst record in the American League.

Reds Tigers David Bell The contact play burns the Reds in the ninth inning as they lose to the Tigers

Reds player moves Jake Fraley Jake Fraley out for 3-to-7 days on the family medical emergency list

"It's frustrating," Sims said. "Just frustrating. That's the best way to put it."

The Reds dropped the first game of the series this weekend, and the offense looked lifeless at the start of Game 2. Facing Tigers relievers, the Reds only got one hit on 48 pitches through the first four innings. Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson gave the Reds a two-run lead with a double in the fifth, but then the offense shut back down.

Veteran Shelby Miller entered the game out of the Tigers bullpen in the seventh inning with a 6.41 ERA, but the Reds weren’t able to get anything going against him as Miller threw two crucial shutout innings.

"We're always looking to put our best lineup out there," Bell said. "The guys we're putting out there, we believe in. We just got off of the strong road trip where everyone contributed. The last couple of days haven't gone our way, for sure. We just came up short."

Between Greene, Nick Lodolo, Frankie Montas and Andrew Abbott, the Reds have four pitchers who have shown the potential to go stride-for-stride with a good lineup in a big game. The Reds’ rotation has stayed much healthier than their rivals this year, and the group has provided the type of consistency that the Reds got when they made the playoffs in 2012, 2013 and 2020.

Greene has been the headliner in 2024, and he overpowered the Tigers on Saturday. He got stronger as the game went on.

"I've been proud of the work I've put in," Greene said. "It started in the offseason. I took a lot of initiative to be able to get myself right and be a lot better than I was. I feel really good with where I'm at, but I've got to keep sticking to the process."

While the pitching has been strong, the Reds have a flawed and injury-riddled lineup.

The Reds are playing without Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand for most of the season, and TJ Friedl is on the injured list with a hamstring injury.

The Reds haven’t had the depth to make up for the losses of those players. Now, the Reds have regulars in roles that no one would have expected heading into the season.

Nick Martini, who was projected to start the year in Triple-A, has been an every day player for almost the entire season. He has been getting most of his starts as the designated hitter because he isn’t a standout defender. But because Jeimer Candelario is limited by hamstring tendon tendinitis and has had to make starts as the designated hitter, Martini is now playing left field.

Stuart Fairchild is hitting .130 with a terrible .430 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) against right-handed pitching. But he has been the every day center fielder regardless of the pitching matchup since Friedl went on the injured list.

Right fielder Will Benson has been in a bad slump, but the Reds have stuck with him because he has the most upside of the options available to them.

On the bench on Saturday, the Reds had Edwin Ríos (no big league at-bats in 2024), Santiago Espinal (the second-worst hitter in MLB vs. right-handed pitching in 2024), Blake Dunn (a rookie who hasn’t received much of a chance) and third-string catcher Austin Wynns.

The Reds could shake up their lineup by giving Ríos or Dunn a chance, but they don’t have any proven options available to them on the roster or any players in Triple-A who could realistically make an immediate impact.

"We need everybody," Bell said. "We need contributions from our entire lineup. We'll definitely be sticking with the guys we have out there, for sure."

If the Reds were in position to be buyers at the trade deadline, a right-handed power hitting outfielder would provide a much-needed boost. But the Reds need to play better to justify being buyers at the trade deadline. The clock is ticking for the Reds to figure out what they can realistically accomplish in 2024.

On Saturday, leading up to the top of the eighth inning, Bell pulled Greene at 104 pitches. The Reds had all of their best relievers available, and Cruz and Moll have been reliable late game relievers all season.

They all had poor timing for one of their worst performances of the season. Cruz allowed the game-tying homer when he left a cutter right over the heart of the plate. Moll allowed a walk, a double and an RBI groundout, and Sims surrendered an RBI double that put the game away.

"The best way to chalk it up is that over 162, sometimes this is going to happen," Sims said. "Hunter threw the ball probably the best all year. It stinks that we didn't come out on top."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Reds waste seven shutout innings from Hunter Greene in loss to the Tigers