Last year the first 12 games saw the Reds at 4-8, having lost two series to St.Louis and one to Washington. In that period, the Reds scored only 33 runs and giving up 39. This year, the Reds have scored over 60 runs in 12 games, but have given up 59--that's the difference. It's mostly been over the last 5 games. The bullpen in 15 innings in this last 6 games (counting the win against StL in the first game) have given up 21 hits and 14 runs.
The starters haven't been sterling either, starting with Homer and Leake. In the last 34 innings (less than 6 innings per start), they've given up 39 hits and 24 runs. Take Cueto out of that number and the ERA goes from 5.56 to almost 7! Last April we didn't hit and this April we scored runs, but the pitching is horrible. Surely this will pass.