‘ Teeter-totter’ Reds close winless trip

SAN DIEGO — In his Petco Park office after a 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday, Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price couldn’t help but ponder the inconsistent nature of his team.

The Reds had lost six in a row, every game of this West Coast trip. Before leaving Cincinnati, they’d won four straight.

They were 10-21 on the road, but 19-15 at home. They were a team whose offense often could win games despite awful starting pitching.

On Wednesday, however, the Reds got six strong innings from rookie left-hander Amir Garrett, only to have their offense sputter.

“It’s like one step forward, one step back,” said Price. “We’re just a teetertotter team.”

Taking the step forward was Garrett, who had been Cincinnati’s best starter for the first month of the season and one of its more frustrating pitchers in the second.

Garrett kept the Padres off the board until the sixth, when Hunter Renfroe smashed a tying tworun homer.

“I feel like I was back to my normal self,” Garrett said. “I made a mistake to Renfroe in the sixth, but stuff like that happens. I feel like if I’m able to do what I did today and at the beginning of the season, I can pitch with the best of them.”

But others were out of sorts. The Reds got their runs on solo homers from Jose Peraza and Joey Votto, but were otherwise kept in check by right-hander Jhoulys Chacin (6-5). A chance for a big inning in the fourth was wiped out when Adam Duvall was thrown out trying to advance to third with one out on a deep fly ball to left. After that inning, the Reds sent only one more batter than the minimum to the plate.

The Padres scored twice in the seventh against Michael Lorenzen (3-2). The reliever started the inning with eight consecutive balls to put two batters on. The Padres took a 3-2 lead on a single by Franchy Cordero. Another run scored on a groundout that might have been an inning-ending double play if not for a deflection off Lorenzen's glove.