Sweep one series, get swept the next. That is how it has been this season for the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds took three straight games from the Arizona Diamond Backs May 11th through 13th, then proceeded to get swept by the Padres four days later on the 17th. Last week the Reds completed a three game sweep of the Houston Astros in Great American Ballpark on Wednesday only to get swept this past weekend in Milwaukee by the Brewers. How can a team go from playing well enough to sweep a team to playing poor enough to get swept? In the Reds case, it's all about run support. In those six games, three times the club did not manage to score more than 2 runs, and never did they score more than five. In the six games they won, the Reds lit up opponents pitching by scoring an average of nearly eight runs, and only once scored less than six.
For the most part, the pitching has been solid from front to back, starters and relievers, but if the Reds expect to compete for the Central, they will need to see more consistency from their hitters. Some may attribute these cold streaks to the fact that the team has not really had a consistent starting nine from game to game all season. This is in part due to injuries and missed time to such big names as Joey Votto, Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Gonzalez, and Brandon Phillips. Also because we have seen manager Dusty Baker run a platoon in Left Field between Lance Nix, Chris Dickerson and Johnny Gomes. If the team can get healthy, watch for bat production and run support to increase. Until then, the Reds will simply need a solid pitching performance every night to keep them in the game even if the bats are not working that night.
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