Titanic Struggle Recap: Reds narrowly lose the Ohio Cup

The Good
–Zack Cozart went 2-3 with a double…and he actually drew a walk! He’s now hitting .328/.333/.520. #VoteZack

–Joey Votto hit a two-run homer — after a Billy Hamilton double — in the fourth that tied the game at 2-2 (for a minute or two anyway). It was Votto’s 198th career home run, which tied him with Barry Larkin for 11th on the Reds’ all-time list.

–Eugenio Suarez did not make an error.

The Bad
–The Reds surrendered 43 runs in these four games against Cleveland. That’s not good, friends and neighbors.

–With one out in the fourth inning, Tim Adleman was forced to leave a game with an apparent oblique injury.

This Reds team isn’t good. I know that. But they simply cannot catch a single break. And you really have to feel for Adleman, who has such a great story and was doing pretty darn well in what may be the only shot he will get at a major league career. I was rooting hard for Adleman to keep doing relatively well (his ERA, after giving up two in 3.1 innings tonight, was still 3.72). It was a fun footnote to a miserable season.

–Two more errors tonight, from unlikely sources: Zack Cozart and Brandon Phillips.

–Caleb Cotham:
(a) Allowed 4 runs in 1.2 innings;
(b) Took the loss to drop to 0-3 on the season;
(c) Has an ERA of 7.36;
(d) All of the above.

Not-So-Random Thoughts
–That’s four losses in a row for the ol’ Redlegs, seven of their last eight, and nine of their last eleven. This season ain’t goin’ so well.

–What do the Reds do if Adleman has to go on the disabled list? (And I can’t imagine he won’t go onto the DL. A strained oblique is not fun for a pitcher. Just ask Anthony DeSclafani.) At some point, they’re going to run out of starting pitchers in this organization.

–The Reds lost the Ohio Cup, if that matters to anyone at all.

–As Joel Luckhaupt noted, since 1910, only once since 1910 have the Reds allowed more runs in a four-game series. That was in 1961, when they gave up 46 to the Cubs.

–Aaah, whatever. Go Reds.