Reds complete three-game sweep of reeling Giants

CINCINNATI - It was the road trip that was supposed to bring the Giants together, the stretch of the season when San Francisco could beat up on lowly teams that have already packed it in and started thinking about next season.

But after four consecutive losses including Sunday’s 11-4 clunker in Cincinnati, the Giants’ front office may have to consider doing the same.

After opening a pivotal ?10-game trip with back-to-back late-inning wins against the Dodgers, the Giants believed they were poised to take off and climb back into a division race that remains unsettled. Instead, they lost their footing in a three-game sweep against the last-place Reds and find themselves clinging to the side of the mountain while trying to survive an avalanche.

“This time of the year we need to win as many games as possible,” second baseman Joe Panik said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re 0-100 or 100-0. It doesn’t matter, coming off a series win against the Dodgers you’re hoping for better results.”

Sunday’s blowout inspired manager Bruce Bochy to save his bullpen in the eighth inning as he made infielder Chase d’Arnaud the second Giants position player to pitch this season and the fifth in the San Francisco era. After Pablo Sandoval threw a perfect inning against the Dodgers earlier this year, d’Arnaud enjoyed more success than nearly every other Giants pitcher in the series by keeping the Reds scoreless in the eighth.

“A lot of the guys in the bullpen have come up and thanked me for saving their arms,” d’Arnaud said. “Because if it wasn’t me, it would have had to have been them.”

The Giants are still mathematically capable of making a run. In 2010, they lost a 12-11 game against the Reds to fall ?61/2 games out of first-place on Aug. 25 before ripping through an 18-win September to seize the National League West crown.

Those 2010 Giants, though, were 14 games above .500 after dropping that series finale to Cincinnati. A 2018 squad that once shared similarities is now three games under .500 and dealing with troubles at the plate, on the mound and in the field.

The Reds have now taken seven in a row from the Giants at Great American Ballpark dating to 2016, winning those games by a combined score of 58-15. This weekend, Cincinnati outscored San Francisco 20-6.