Boxscore

All good things must come to an end, and that applied to the Cincinnati Reds’ winning streak yesterday. Despite sending out their best starter against a Colorado Rockies team that hasn’t been very good this year, the Reds lost, ending the streak at 6.

Johnny Cueto started and had his second bad start out of his last three. Hopefully it’s not a harbinger of things to come. Last night, he allowed 5 runs in 4 2/3 innings. There was nothing good about that.

The bullpen took over and were scoreless the rest of the game until the 9th, when Jose Arredondo coughed up a run. Other than that, J. J. Hoover and Alfredo Simon were very good. Simon, after a rough start to the season, has come on strong lately. His 2 innings of scoreless relief last night brought his ERA down to 2.04.

Despite the effectiveness of the bullpen, the 5 runs allowed by Cueto was too much for the offense. They scored just 3 runs, all in the 4th, which tied the game at 3. Unfortunately, Cueto gave up 2 more runs in the very next inning, and the Reds never touched home plate again.

The Reds’ 3 runs came from something the Reds haven’t done lately: stringing hits together. Joey Votto led off with a single–1 of his 4 hits on the day. Brandon Phillips singled before Chris Heisey made an out. Then Ryan Ludwick doubled off the right-field wall to score Votto. Then Todd Frazier tied it by driving in Phillips and Ludwick.

The Reds do keep their place in first for another day, despite the loss. The St. Louis Cardinals dropped one in extras to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Reds start their next winning streak tonight at 7:15pm EDT when the Rockies send out Jeremy Guthrie to face Mike Leake.