The Reds' long relief flaw

While the beauty of baseball is that each of the 162 games count the same, sometimes a loss has weight that goes beyond a given day. Saturday was one of those days.

As the Reds walked seven straight hitters in the second inning of a blowout loss to the Pirates, the Reds became the first team since 1994 to allow at least five runs in an inning without giving up a hit. There’s never good timing to have consecutive starts that are your shortest of the entire season, but that’s what’s happened this weekend in Pittsburgh after Brady Singer went 3 ⅓ innings in a blowout loss on Friday and then Rhett Lowder only recorded four outs the following day.

To make the situation worse, the Reds don’t have a fifth starter right now after Brandon Williamson landed on the injured list. Nick Lodolo’s upcoming return from the IL can fill that spot in the near future, but the Reds have to get through the week first.

Who are the Reds going to start against the Cubs on Monday? Last year, the Reds faced turns through the rotation where they didn’t have a starter a couple of times. More often than not, they’d have a long relief option (someone like Chase Petty) for an emergency situation or to pitch the final innings of a game the Reds were trailing, but Plan A in those games was a true bullpen game.

Last year showed that Terry Francona values the ability to roll through a big game like that with nine innings of work from established big league relievers. The Reds may not have that luxury on Monday because of how this weekend has gone.

A part of why they’re here is because Singer was struggling to finish with two strikes and left pitches in big spots right down the middle on Friday and because Lowder just looked off on Saturday. But starts like this happen to every team, every season. Starts like this are what you have long relievers for.

The 2026 Reds are a good team. But they do have a long relief problem.

The Reds have been terrific in close games this year, but nine of their 13 losses are by five runs or more. That’s not a fluke. When the Reds are down in a game and they need a low-leverage reliever to chew up innings so the bullpen can live to fight another day, the bullpen hasn’t been able to get that job done.

Otherwise, the bullpen has been great. But when it’s had to be in long relief mode, it’s flopped.

That’s mostly been a personnel issue. The way that they’ve used Jose Franco so far is far from ideal. It’s not great asking one of your best starting pitching prospects to be your long reliever, but that’s what he’s done during his stints in the big leagues this year. He has been inconsistent of late, allowing multiple runs in each of his three most recent appearances leading up to Saturday.

While he could have been an option to start or provide long relief on Monday, Franco was needed out of the bullpen on Saturday. Pitching for the third time this week, Franco threw a scoreless inning.

The other relievers who the Reds have asked to pitch in long-relief situations have struggled throwing strikes.

On Friday, when the Reds were down by four runs in the fourth inning, Zach Maxwell was called on to follow Singer. Maxwell allowed three hits, two walks, four runs and only pitched one inning. Later on, Luis Mey needed 27 pitches to complete an inning.

On Saturday, Connor Phillips followed Lowder with the Reds looking for some length. Phillips walked four, didn’t record an out and was pulled. While Phillips has flashed with some strikeout ability in higher-leverage situations, he hasn’t been at his best when needed to eat innings.

The same can be said for Sam Moll, who is best used as a situational lefty. He has a poor walk rate, which keeps him from giving the Reds much length even though they’ve asked for that from him a few times. On Saturday, Moll threw 40 pitches and just 23 strikes.

The problem here is that Maxwell, Mey, Phillips and Moll are four of the pitchers who have been lower-leverage guys this season, and none of them have reliable strike throwing ability on a game-to-game basis. Kyle Nicolas also got a chance in this role, and he had the worst command of this group.

Because of how recently they’ve been optioned, Nicolas and Maxwell are ineligible to be called back up to MLB right now unless they’re an injury. The Reds do have some flexibility on the 40-man roster to add a player like Lyon Richardson or Tejay Antone.

While Brock Burke is the best longman on paper, he’s one of the Reds’ top relievers and should be saved for bigger moments.

Over the next couple of days, even though Petty has been inconsistent and is holding a 4.38 ERA in Triple-A this year, he can help. Francona could just give Petty a traditional start on Monday, and Francona could also use a traditional opener ahead of Petty against the Cubs. Because of how much the bullpen has been asked to pitch recently, it feels like Petty should be used at some point soon. Petty was pulled from his most recent Triple-A start despite being healthy.

Going forward, the Reds need to make a trade for a classic veteran longman.

Usually, it’s extremely unrealistic to call for a trade in May. Deals don’t happen until the deadline. But right now, could you overpay a bit for a pitcher who still probably wouldn’t cost a ton in a trade anyway?

I’d try to trade for Brent Suter.

You may have to give up a bit more now than you’d have to in July because the Angels would have all of the leverage now, but long relievers historically don’t cost a ton in a trade.

Some other interesting names on a quick search: Brad Lord (WAS), JT Brubaker (SF), Jovani Moran (BOS), Lake Bachar (MIA), Tanner Gordon (COL). They’re all on rebuilding teams and shouldn’t be too unattainable. It could be this year’s version of the Santiago Espinal trade, or the Connor Joe trade, except it would be for a pitcher.

Because of the command issues of the low-leverage relievers in the Reds’ bullpen and the limited experience of Franco, any of these relievers on other teams would give the Reds something that they’re missing. You can’t keep letting these low-leverage games get off of the rails. You can’t keep killing your bullpen and burning through relievers at this pace.

But first, you have to get through Monday.