The Reds most experienced starting pitcher, Tyler Mahle, was put in the role of stopper against the San Diego Padres, who had beaten the Reds in 11 of the last 12 meetings.
Mahle pitched five strong innings and left with a lead but Tony Santillan couldn't hold it. As another big inning sent the Reds to a 7-5 defeat and the Padres second three-game sweep over them in a week.
San Diego scored a run off Mahle in the first inning. Jake Cronenworth walked and came arouglend to score on singles by Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer. Mahle gave up two hits in the second but held the line. Mahle retired eight of the next nine batters and got a double play to hold on until the Reds could score off Nick Martinez.
Brandon Drury opened the bottom of the fifth with a double. Mike Moustakas, who returned from the injured list, plated Drury with the first of his two singles. Moustakas scored on Mark Kolozsvary's first major league hit, a double over left fielder Jurickson Profar's head.
The Padres answered with a big four-run inning, a common theme in their mastery over the Reds this year.
Manny Machado started the game hitting .366 and improved on that with his second hit of the game, a double to left center. One out later. Mahle walked Eric Hosmer.
"I made, not necessarily a bad pitch, but the wrong pitch to Machado and he doubled," Mahle said. "I fell behind Hosmer and I didn't feel the need to challenge him. He's been pretty hot lately. I felt good about my chances with the guys after him."
David Bell determined he was done at that point and called on Santillan, who promptly hit Matt Beaty with his first pitch to load the bases.
Jorge Alfaro scored Machado with a fly out to right. Santillan then nicked C.J. Abrams with a pitch. Ha-Seong Kim unloaded the bases with a double to left. Pham, who made two nice sliding catches, missed a diving catch of Kim's liner that went to the wall as three Padres raced home.
"From the dugout from pitch one, it looked like he was over throwing his slider a little bit," Bell said. "He's been so good for us. He's going to have days like that. He's still a young pitcher. We put a lot on him. You expect it to be great every time out. That's just not going to be the case. Today just wasn't his day."
The Red tried to mount a comeback off reliever Nabil Crismatt. Joey Votto walked for the second time in the game. Farmer, who had a single to give him five straight hits in his first at bat, handcuffed Abrams at short with a liner at the shortstop's feet. It was ruled an error but Drury hit into the third double play San Diego turned to end the threat.
Hunter Strickland surrendered Machado's third hit of the game and Hosmer's second in the sixth. He followed by issuing a pair of walks to force in a run.
The Reds fought back.
"Even when we get down, we're coming back," Bell said. "A lot of that gets lost when you lose games. A lot of good things are happening that gets lost. That's to be expected. We have a lot of good at bats, good pitching. We just haven't put it all together
Moustakas reached for the third time when he coaxed a walk from lefty Tim Hill. Pinch hitter Matt Reynolds singled through the big hole in the shift into right. Kolozsvary lined to Hill on the mound, who tried to double Reynolds off but Hosmer was no where near the bag. Both runners moved up. Jonathan India, getting the day off pinch hit and delivered an RBI single. Tyler Naquin out ran another potential DP grounder to score Reynolds with the fourth run.
Machado struck again with his fourth hit of the game in the eighth to score Kim with two outs. He hit a flair that Naquin couldn't reach. Kim lead off with his third hit and second double off Dauri Moreta. Whether he hit them hard or hardly hit them, the ball fell for Machado all series.
Farmer reached base again on Abram's second error, then rode a pair of wild pitches to third before scoring on Drury's groundout to Abrams.
The Reds brought the tying run to the plate on Aramis Garcia's pinch single but Nick Senzel flied out to the warning track in center against Taylor Rogers for his eighth save.
The Reds are now 3-16, the worst record in the MLB. Every other team has at least six wins. The Reds have been swept in four series, in two games by Cleveland, in four games by Los Angeles and three games by San Diego, twice.
Tyler Mahle said it, "Losing sucks whether it is one game or a lot of games."
The headline was stolen from Jeff Wallner of the Associated Press.
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