Reds Lose 2nd Straight To Cubs.

The dizzying high of taking back to back series from the Cardinals and Dodgers has quickly given way to a horror of losing back-to-back games and a series to the last-place Cubs. Tuesday was a blowout, as the Reds were handed to the Cubs  9-1 Tuesday night Great American Ball Park.

And then there was a injury all Reds fans didnt want to see, the return of back trouble for starting pitcher Tony Cingrani. The lefty exite thw game after only 1 2/3 innings with spasms. Reds fell to two games behind the second-place Pirates and three games behind the division-leading Cardinals, as both National League Central rivals won on Tuesday.

Cingrani gave up a lead off single and a walk in the first inning. But he escaped with Anthony Rizzo grounding into a double play and a strikeout.

Junior Lake started the second with a double. Two batters later, Castillo a two-run homer. Cingrani got a fly out, but he only made one pitch to Cubs starter Edwin Jackson before being visited at the mound by the trainer and pitching coach Bryan Price.

Cingrani, who just returned on Thursday from the disabled list with a lower back strain only missed two starts, was lifted for righty Greg Reynolds.

Reynolds, who also lasted only 1 2/3 innings, was not effected. With two outs in the third, He allowed  a two-run homer to left to Donnie Murphy. Lake followed with a single and went to second on a Jay Bruce‘s error. Next batter hit an RBI single via a unearned run. The Cubs added a run in the fourth inning.

Curtis Partch replaced Christiani and gave up a run in the sixth and a pair of homers in the seventh by Castillo and the pitcher Jackson. Partch lasted only 1 2/3 innings. Zach Duke and Logan Ondrusek followed with one and 1 1/3 innings. But Baker was able to keep other key members of the bullpen idle for Wednesday.

It was a cold night for the lineup, as the Reds went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. That made it 1-for-21 as they dropped consecutive games vs. the Cubs

Only threat the Reds seemingly knocked best was i the Reds’ fifth, when Ryan Hanigan and pinch-hitter Henry Rodriguez started the inning with back-to-back singles. But Choo grounded back to the mound, where Jackson began a double play and Phillips grounded out to first base.

The most notable change was Billy Hamilton replacing Choo in center field in his first game in a non-pinch-running situation. Hamilton went 0-for-2 with a line out and a ground out to end the game.

After Zack Cozart hit a one-out double to left field against Jackson in the bottom of seventh to extend his career-high hitting streak to 15 games, pinch-hitter Corky Miller hit a RBI double to left field for the Reds only run in the game. This afternoon series finale pitching match up will be Mike Leake and Jeff Samardzija. First pitch is at 12:35pm.