The boos rang down on the hometown Cincinnati Reds after another lopsided loss on Friday, but manager Terry Francona isn’t giving up on his embattled team.
Cincinnati has lost eight straight games heading into Saturday afternoon’s matchup against the Houston Astros, who opened the three-game series with a 10-0 victory on Friday.
Zach Cole, Zach Dezenzo, Yordan Alvarez and Christian Vazquez homered for Houston, which recorded its third shutout of the season.
The Reds were outhit 13-5 and blanked for the fourth time this season. Cincinnati has lost nine of its past 10 games to fall into last place in the National League Central, seven games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs.
On May 1, the Reds and Cubs were tied for first in the division. Chicago has won 10 games in a row.
“It’s going to take everyone in this clubhouse to get out of this,” Cincinnati third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “We’ve just got to keep working hard. We’ve just got to be better. If we don’t want to hear boos, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to win games.”
The Reds have been outscored 60-23 during their losing streak and drew the loudest boos from the home crowd on Friday during a five-run Houston ninth inning. Francona pushed back against the notion that his team had lost its competitive fire.
“I don’t ever think our guys don’t compete,” Francona said. “I never feel that way. It’s not going the way we want to right now, that’s for sure. But this is when me and the coaches have to be there for them. We’re going to go through this with them.”
Saturday’s pitching matchup will feature a pair of right-handers as Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti (4-0, 1.96 ERA) faces Cincinnati’s Chase Burns (3-1, 2.20).
Arrighetti allowed one run over five innings in a 6-3 road win over the Boston Red last Saturday. He remained unbeaten in his first four starts while depending on his sinker.
“That’s a pitch I haven’t really thrown a ton in the big leagues so far, and I was able to throw it really effectively today and I was really happy about that,” Arrighetti said after the game. “I didn’t really have the changeup; the curveball was spotty at best. I feel like I had to find other ways, and I was able to make it happen.”
The Reds’ JJ Bleday is 6-for-10 with three doubles against Arrighetti, who will make his second career start vs. Cincinnati. He recorded just two outs, allowed nine runs (three earned) and walked three in a 12-5 loss to the Reds on Sept. 4, 2024.
Cincinnati will counter with Burns, who struck out seven and allowed three hits over seven scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Sunday. The Reds lost 1-0.
Burns owns a 46-to-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his first seven starts covering 41 innings. He will face Houston for the first time.
The Astros received a spark on Friday from Dezenzo, whose two-run shot in the second inning was his first homer of the season.
Vazquez is set to receive regular playing time at catcher after Yainer Diaz landed on the injured list with a left oblique strain on Tuesday.
“Vazquez is a veteran guy who’s having a really good year, so we’re very comfortable with him,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said. “We’ll see how it plays out.”
–Field Level Media
