Reds Fall In Oakland 7-3

Two days after avoiding a sweep in Arizona the Cincinnati Reds went into Oakland hoping that the little momentum they had leaving

Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona carried over. It did not as the Reds fell to the Athletics 7-3 falling further behind the Cardinals and the Pirates in the NL Central.

Bronson Arroyo was on the mound for the club Tuesday night to start a short two game series in Oakland. One noticeable change for the Reds on Tuesday was the fact that Brandon Phillips was not in the lineup or even in Oakland. Phillips was attending the birth of his fourth child, the Reds placed him on the MLB Paternity list.

Arroyo has been two faced this season when it come to performance. Cincinnati either gets a lights out pitcher or a struggling pitcher who gives up runs. The latter showed up Tuesday night. Arroyo was only able to go 4 innings giving up 7 hits and 7 earned runs. A less than stellar outing for the aging pitcher.

Not all the blame can fall on Bronson for the loss. The offense struggled just as bad leaving the bases loaded twice in the game as well as leaving 11 runners on base.

Derrick Robinson and Cesar Izturis had stellar nights in Oakland. Robinson recorded a career high 4 hits raising his average to .301. Izturis filling in for the absent Brandon Phillips was able to record 3 hits on 4 plate appearances.

The rest of the offense though struggled. Joey Votto did hit a home run his 14th of the season. From there it was pretty dead for the Reds. Shin Soo Choo hit a sac fly and Jay Bruce walked which resulted in a walked in run.

The offense struggled badly. The thing is they got to A’s starting pitcher Tommy Milone, the unfortunate thing is they were unable to capitalize on Milone’s struggle.

Cincinnati has now lost 5 of their last 7. Dusty Baker said before this west coast trip that this would be a telling point for their season. If this is a telling point we should all look forward to football season.

The Reds front office must look at making some moves. In the meantime though the Reds return to Oakland tomorrow at 3:35 as homer Bailey is on the mound.