Even with two outs in the ninth in a hopeless cause, a few Reds fans kept waving the white towels they received when they entered the stadium. Those towels were meant to fuel rallies, but in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, they would have been better used as a form of surrender.

The Reds haven’t thrown in the towel, but after an 8-3 loss to the Giants at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday, they find themselves in a precarious position: needing to beat Giants ace Matt Cain to avoid becoming the first National League team to blow a 2-0 lead in the NLDS.

“You can’t press,” second baseman Brandon Phillips said. “We’ve been playing this game since we were little kids. All you can do is give it your all and not worry about it. Everybody knows you’re either going home, or you’re going to move on. Some people might bust like a pipe. Some people might rise to the occasion.”

The fifth and final game of the series begins at 1:07 p.m. today, unless the Tigers beat the A’s in the late game Wednesday, in which case the Reds will play at 2:07.

Mat Latos will start for the Reds. There was talk that he might get the ball in Game 4, but the Reds went with Mike Leake. They made room for Leake by taking the injured Johnny Cueto off the postseason roster, making him ineligible for the National League Championship Series if the Reds get that far.

In the first postseason appearance of his career, Leake gave up a home run to Angel Pagan on the second pitch of the game. In the second, Gregor Blanco blasted a two-run home run off Leake. In the fifth, Leake surrendered back-to-back doubles to start the inning, and the rout was on.

Leake’s final line: five earned runs on six hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings.

“He didn’t start off very well in the first couple of innings, and then he settled down,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “For a couple of innings, he threw the ball excellent. (In the fifth), it only took four pitches: double, hit, another double. So he wasn’t real sharp. He was getting the ball up in the middle of the plate.”

In the seventh, Marco Scutaro’s RBI double and Pablo Sandoval’s two-run home run gave the Giants an 8-3 lead.

The Reds, meanwhile, wasted numerous opportunities, leaving the bases loaded in the first and stranding 10 runners all together. Five Giants pitchers, including starter Barry Zito and starter-turned-reliever Tim Lincecum, combined to strike out 13.

“Ten guys is a lot of guys (to leave on base),” Reds third baseman Todd Frazier said. “We’ve got to keep fighting. Tomorrow’s a new day. It’s Game 5. You can’t look back. We’ve got Matty going, and we’re pretty excited about that. We think we’ve got a good shot.”