Cole Irvin turned in his third straight scoreless performance. He held the Reds until the Baltimore Orioles rallied for three seventh inning runs to take the first game of the series, 3-0.
The Reds were shut out for the third time this season and second straight time at home. The Phillies shut out the Reds before they went on a six-game road trip.
"We've just got to keep working," David Bell said. "We have to continue the process and make adjustments. We have to work through it; continue to swing it. All the things we individually we know what we're capable of. There is no question we've faced good pitching and we're going to continue to face good pitching the rest of the year."
Irvin, and Hunter Greene posted zeroes for six innings.
Greene allowed two hits in the first inning but April's Player of the Month, Gunnar Henderson was thrown out by Jake Fraley trying to stretch his leadoff single into a double. Greene walked Adley Rutschman and Ryan O'Hearn hit an infield single but Greene escaped. He gave up two hits and two walks over the next four innings.
"I have to keep doing it. The game is hard. I can't take my foot off the gas," Greene said. "I'm just trying to get ahead. When I did that I was able to put them away. I have to continue to pound the zone and trust my stuff."
"I think we're competing well, considering we don't have a lot of our top guys and the guys we do have aren't having their best games. When everybody syncs up it is going to be really scary for the league."
Irvin allowed a single by Elly De La Cruz in the first inning then retired 17 Reds' batters in a row. De La Cruz hit a leadoff double in the seventh to break the streak. Irvin struck out Spencer Steer, then Yennier Cano took over to face Stephenson. Cano retired him and Christian Encarnacion-Strand on ground balls to preserve the lead.
"Irvin threw a lot of curve balls," Bell said. "He was able to keep us honest inside with his fastball cut inside to our right-handed hitters. Both starting pitchers today after a long rain delay was pretty much the story of the game. They came out on top."
Irvin left after 6 1/3 innings, allowing two hits, no walks with four strikeouts. He has a string of 20 2/3 innings of shut out baseball.
Ryan Mountcastle led off the sixth with a single. He walked Jordan Westburg with two outs. David Bell summoned Fernando Cruz who struck out Heston Kjerstad to end the inning.
Greene finished with 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five singles and four walks. He struck out five. Greene has not allowed a run in his last 15 2/3 innings, dropping his ERA to 3.12.
Emilio Pagan started the seventh for the Reds. Jorge Mateo singled to open the seventh. He stole second and advanced to third on a deep fly to center by Henderson. Rutschman doubled to bring in the first run of the game. O'Hearn hit his fifth home run of the season to give Baltimore a 3-0 lead.
Danny Coulombe and Craig Kimbrel closed out the Reds who dropped to 16-16 on the season. Kimbrel picked up his eighth save.
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