Price had to have been glad to escape his home state — he was born in San Francisco — after six straight losses in Los Angeles and San Diego. The Reds are 1-9 in the Golden State this season and 28-27 everywhere else.
“I don’t know if it’s the youth perspective and the younger guys pitching on the road,” Price said. “I don’t think there’s a huge deficit as far as output offensively. I think we still tend to score on the road. I don’t know. It’s funny we would pitch as well as we did here against the Cardinals at home and then go on the road and put up the numbers we did in two pretty good pitcher parks in L.A. and San Diego.”
Reds pitchers had a 7.21 ERA in the six games against the Dodgers and Padres. Reds batters hit .236 and averaged 3.3 runs per game.
The Reds (29-36) returned home in last place in the National League Central Division, a season-high 5½ games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.
“I think we’ve just got to continue to play a well-rounded game,” Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart said. “It seemed like a couple times on the road trip we would have a good start by a starter and then the bullpen would struggle a little bit. Then we would get good starting pitching and the bullpen was good, and the offense would struggle a little bit.”
The Reds are 10-21 on the road. They have lost eight straight road games. After this brief homestand, they go on the road for six games against the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals and then play a makeup game against the Cardinals in St. Louis on June 26.
Home has been kind to the Reds, however. They’re 19-15 in Cincinnati and swept the Cardinals in their last series at Great American Ball Park.
“I think we were all happy to get home,” Barnhart said. “The off day here was definitely much needed. To sleep in your own bed is always good. Coming into a short homestand, it is nice to get home for a little bit and hopefully get a few wins.”
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