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The Cincinnati Reds arrived at their lowest point of the season Sunday after getting swept in St. Louis, and manager Terry Francona decided it was time to talk.
According to a report by Yahoo Sports, Francona held one of his rare unscheduled team meetings following the series finale, a loss that dropped Cincinnati two games below .500 for the first time this year. Francona, who admittedly dislikes holding many team meetings, kept this one brief.
"When it's the hardest to believe, you have to. And when there's doubt you've got to believe in each other and pick each other up," Francona told reporters after the game. "What I don't want is for this to be a morgue. That's not the way it's supposed to be."
The Reds finished April in first place in the NL Central. Since then, the bullpen has ranked among the worst in the majors. The team opened May with an eight-game losing streak. They are now 2-13 against division opponents, a stretch that has been a primary driver of their collapse in the standings.
Sunday's loss made it four consecutive defeats heading into a trip west for a series against the San Diego Padres. The Reds' bullpen gave up back-to-back losses in St. Louis final at-bats over the weekend, compounding what has become a prolonged stretch of late-game failures.
Francona was direct with his players about what the team needs going forward. "I told them, 'Run the bases with your pants on fire and don't leave anything on the field,' " he said. "That's not just the best way, it's the only way (if) we're going to get where we want to go."
Second baseman Matt McLain, who hit two home runs in the series finale and three over the final two games, echoed the manager's message. "It's about us," McLain said. "It wasn't a good series as a whole. So you know we've got to come together, play the game the right way and lean on each other. And keep playing hard."
Starter Rhett Lowder returned from the injured list Sunday, throwing three scoreless innings in heavy traffic. He offered a measured take on the team's situation. "We've just got to stick to it. There's a ton of games (left)," Lowder said. "There's gonna be highs. There's gonna be lows. As long as we stick together, and like Tito says, don't feel sorry for ourselves, we'll (get through it)."
Francona said he held maybe three or four unscheduled meetings all of last season. The final one came after Cincinnati got swept by the Athletics in West Sacramento and appeared to be out of playoff contention. The team responded by winning nine of their final 14 games and made the playoffs on the last day of the regular season.
The Reds now head to San Diego, where the Padres have been dealing with their own struggles.
