Reds momentum? What Reds momentum?
The Reds were feeling very much back in the National League Wild Card race after completing a three-game sweep of the Cardinals on Wednesday. Then, the Royals came to town.
Sunday afternoon's 8-1 loss to Kansas City at Great American Ball Park completed a three-game series sweep where Cincinnati was outscored, 28-3.
"The way I look at it is we got some pretty good feedback from a good team on where we stood in terms of executing what we needed to do," catcher Luke Maile said.
"We’re going to kind of have to take that information that the Royals just gave us and do something about it. Because if we don’t, we’re going to keep on spinning our wheels kind of where we are. We know that. It’s a challenge for us."
Against St. Louis, the Reds' offense compiled 19 runs, including 10 home runs, as the team reached one game below .500 for the first time since June.
But the Reds have often followed good series with rough ones. After sweeping the Dodgers at home in late May, they dropped the next series to the Cardinals. After sweeping the Yankees in New York in early July, the Reds were swept at home by the Tigers.
“The record reflects that. We just haven’t executed at a high enough level," Maile said. "Really what we’re talking about is consistency. We just haven’t executed at a high enough level consistently enough, and that’s where we find ourselves now.”
Where do the Reds need better execution?
“Defense would probably be No. 1. If you just play sound defense, you’re always going to be in the fight, it seems like," Maile said of his club that made three errors on Saturday and one Friday.
"From an offensive standpoint when we don’t play good, we just chase out of the zone a lot. There’s really nothing else to say other than that. We don’t swing at enough strikes, and we swing at too many balls.”
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by membengal
