Reds win 6-0, salvage series split with Marlins

It was bad, but it could have been much, much worse.

Things weren’t bleak bleak on Tuesday night. We’ve all witnessed the Cincinnati Reds lose a hundred games, rebuild thrice, and do everything in their power to underperform for the better part of our lives, after all.

Things were not 2022 bleak, nor were they 2015 bleak. They were, however, frustratingly bleak given the expectations placed on this year’s club, what with Terry Francona trotted in and Elly De La Cruz officially ascending into superstardom.

They’d just gotten smothered by the lowly, rebuilding Miami Marlins by the tune of 12-2, and had it done to them in their home stadium, no less. They’d lost each of the first two games of the series on a homestand that featured two of the worst clubs in the game, and they’d officially fallen all the way back to level-par - a literal .500 club.

Playing .500 ball through ~90 games would have felt like a godsend in some of those aforementioned seasons. Good lord, we have seen some shit around these parts. But for a team like this, that finally had expectations, to have slumped that low just a week or two after they’d finally played well enough to make us believe?

It really does make you weight whether it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

Anyway, these Reds have picked themselves up off the mat from Tuesday’s woes. They blasted the Marlins last night 7-2 and again this afternoon 6-0, following the lead of Nick Lodolo (6.0 scoreless IP) and Spencer Steer (dinger!) to sneak back up to 48-46 and halve the series.

On top of that, they’ve got the lowly Colorado Rockies coming to town for a three-game set this weekend, precisely the club who’s going to threaten to lose more games than any team ever has in a single season this season.

It would be preferred if things never proceeded as if they were on a roller coaster, but that’s just not the way the Baseball Gods prefer it. They’re going to reel you in, give you your lungs back, and do it all over time and time again. From Tuesday’s glumness to today’s high, it’s now feasible these Reds could enter the All-Star break five games over .500 and right back in this thing.

(If, of course, they don’t botch the series against the Rockies the way they botched the one against the Marlins.)

We’ve got a weekend of baseball left before the real baseball begins. Here’s hoping the Reds haven’t already looked too far ahead and can take care of business to - yes - send us into the break (and trade season) with more hope than we’ve had around here in years.