WEST SACRAMENTO -- They are all must-win games for the Reds at this point of the season, but facing the non-contending Athletics for three games this weekend provided them with a should-win series.
Instead, it's gone all wrong. Hunter Greene endured his worst start of the season and Cincinnati dropped back-to-back games – and the series – to the A's with an 11-5 loss at Sutter Health Park on Saturday.
“I think it’s kind of clear as day … that every game counts," said Greene, who pitched a career-short 2 1/3 innings. "So it’s just being able to execute. Every hitter has seen a lot of good pitches. They’ve seen a lot of pitches over the year, so executing is that much more important.”
Wiped out with the losses was another chance for the Reds to improve their position in the National League Wild Card race. An eighth consecutive loss by the Mets, plus a loss by the Giants, meant no ground was gained again. Cincinnati (74-74) is 1 1/2 games behind New York and one game behind San Francisco.
Only 14 games remain in the regular season. Numerous times this season – even this month – the Reds' playoff hopes have looked bleak only to achieve a recovery and stay in the race.
“Obviously, guys have been in tune with what other teams are doing," Greene said. "However, we have to take care of our business. We can’t be hopeful for other teams to slip in order for us to have success. Other teams have slipped. That doesn’t mean we just ride off on their coattails. We have to handle our business and have success as well.”
Greene was ineffective while allowing five earned runs, four hits and four walks with three strikeouts while using 84 pitches.
“He just looked uncomfortable right from the get-go," manager Terry Francona said. "Any time he’s 84 pitches in 2 1/3, that means something’s not going really well."
A 36-pitch second inning for Greene included a pair of A's home runs. The second long ball, by Carlos Cortes to right field, came at the end of a 12-pitch duel to put the Reds down, 3-2.
The A's added two more runs in the third inning off Greene, who had one run score on his wild pitch. The other came after Jacob Wilson hit a comebacker off Greene's leg and into right field for an RBI double. Greene was looked over by the trainer and Francona and exited the game. He said he was not injured from the play.
“Execution wasn’t as strong today. They did a very good job of not chasing as much. But these guys are aggressive," said Greene, who recorded his 600th career strikeout in the outing. He had notched a season-high tying 12 strikeouts in his previous start.
Cincinnati was able to pick up Greene in the fourth inning when Tyler Stephenson hit an opposite-field three-run homer to right field off Luis Severino to make it a 5-5 game.
"We’re like, ‘OK, we’re in this now.’ We just had too many walks and it came back to bite us really hard," Francona said.
Nick Martinez, who replaced Connor Phillips in the fourth inning with two outs and two on, retired seven of his first eight batters but opened the fateful seventh inning with Shea Langeliers hitting a double, followed by a one-out walk to Brent Rooker to set up the go-ahead run.
Graham Ashcraft replaced Martinez and gave up Wilson's RBI double to the gap in right-center field for the go-ahead run. The A's added on with a five-run eighth inning that included a booming grand slam over the center-field batter's eye by Nick Kurtz against Scott Barlow.
Now the Reds can only hope to avoid a series sweep on Sunday afternoon in the finale. The last-place A's have the worst home ERA (5.03) in the American League but still were able to shut out Cincinnati, 3-0, in the series opener.
Despite coming into the series winners in five of six games, the Reds have struggled mightily down the stretch. Since they were a season-high seven games over .500 on Aug. 19, they have a 7-14 record with only two other clubs having worse records in that span.
Francona did not believe his players were pressing during these must-win games.
“I think they’re smart enough to know we need to take advantage of what’s going on," he said. "Sometimes, the game is hard. Harder than you want it to be. And sometimes winning is harder than you want it to be. I don’t think you just point to, ‘Oh, they’re nervous.’ This is baseball. Sometimes the other team plays better than you.”