John Means showed that he was fully recovered from elbow surgery with seven scoreless innings, lifting the Baltimore Orioles to a 2-1 win.
The Reds had last scored 26 innings ago at home with a run in the eighth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 24. The Reds last scored in the fifth inning at San Diego on Wednesday a span of 22 innings before Spencer Steer drove in Jake Fraley in the ninth inning.
"We talked all day," David Bell said. "There wasn't a team meeting or anything. We talk all the time. We had good at bats at the end. We've been struggling to score runs. It going to turn. We know that. It doesn't make it any easier to go through. We have good players. We have to fight through it,"
Jorge Mateo broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with his second home run of the season. Andrew Abbot survived consecutive singles twice, once to open the game and another with two outs in the third.
The Reds' starter struck out eight along the way.
John Means made his first start of the season for the Orioles. Means has been dealing with elbow problems since 2022.
He allowed a single to Christian Encarnacion-Strand blooped a single to right in the second inning. Jonathan India doubled with two outs in the third.
Adley Rutschman's third hit of the game was his fifth home run to send the Orioles up, 2-0. It extended Baltimore's major league leading home run total to 51.
The lineup for Cincinnati is mired in an extended slump. Only Elly De La Cruz started the game with a decent batting average at .288. The rest were under .250 with four batters under .200.
Nick Martinez relieved Abbott in the sixth.
Abbott pitched well enough to win, logging five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, no walks and eight strikeouts.
"It was two pitches, two good swings. You'd like for it not to happen, being able to limit them to give our team a chance, I thought was good. There are a lot of," Abbott said.
The Reds starters have been good lately with no good results.
"We're not playing how we'd like to," Abbott said. "It'll come around eventually. We have to stay true to the process. The results will come. Stay true to yourself, stay true to what you can do. Eventually, it will turn the corner and we will be on a nice win streak and we'll be looking back and say hey, it's all part of the process. I think it is important for each an every guy whether you're a pitcher or a hitter, just try to do your best, do your job and live with the results at the end of the day. We know we can be better and we will be better.""
The Reds' bullpen, Nick Martinez, Lucas Sims and Sam Moll did their part holding the powerful Orioles for the last four frames, retiring 12 of the 13 batters they faced.
Cionel Perez, a former Red, pitched a scoreless eighth.
Closer Craig Kimbrel came on for his ninth save of the season. allowed a single to Fraley and walked India. Bubba Thompson ran for India. Elly De La Cruz struck out looking. Steer singled to right to send Thompson to third with the tying run.
Yennier Cano took over for Kimbrell. Steer stole second as the count went full to Stephenson, who took ball four to load the bases with one out. Encarnacion-Strand and his .194 average came to the plate. CES struck out swinging. Jeimer Candleario stepped in at .192. He flied to left to end the game.
"We've been battling," Steer said. "It seems we just can't buy one at the moment. I think or last inning was great to see, man. Guys were battling, having real good at bats. We fell short. It is promising to see fight like that."
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