Three Big Things From Cincinnati Reds' 6-1 Loss to St. Louis Cardinals

The Reds struggled at the plate.

Sep 9, 2024; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44) bats against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Cincinnati Reds lost the rubber match with the St Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Thursday afternoon.

Here are three big things from the loss:

Sometimes You Only Got One Shot…

…And you can’t miss your chance to go. The Reds had bases loaded, in a tie game, and one out in the top of the sixth. Tyler Stephenson was coming to the plate with a shot to give the Reds a lead. He struck out. Then, two pitches later, TJ Friedl grounded out to end the inning. That was it for any sort of threat for the Reds. They haven’t had that consistent RBI guy in the middle of their lineup all year. It feels like if they had that, this season may be very different.

MORE POWER!

As Greg Kuffner pointed out after the loss, the Reds are 13-42 when they do not hit a home run. Coming into the season, it looked like the Reds had a shot of getting four or five hitters with at least 20 homers, and maybe two with 30-plus. As most of the batters have faced some regression, this disappeared. Power and consistency needs to be a focus in the offseason. Not only for development, but also for roster improvement for the front office.

Will Benson Can't Catch a Break

It has been a harrowing step back for Benson this year. He entered the season with designs on playing every day. He worked during the offseason to be able to hit better against left-handed pitching. Unfortunately, that hasn’t took. Now he's struggling to hit right-handed pitching. When you can’t hit lefties or righties—it isn't good.

Then you fast forward to Thursday and he gets hit square on the left hand as he is trying to lay down a bunt. Now, we can talk about his form another time, but it really seems like he’s now adding injury to insult.

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