Williamson continues Reds' impressive pitching stretch

ST. LOUIS -- He didn’t factor into the decision, but Brandon Williamson kept one of the more impressive runs in recent memory by Reds starters going Wednesday night.

Williamson, making just his second start and third appearance this season, only allowed one run in five innings in the Reds’ 2-1 loss against the Cardinals.

The lefty continued a trend of different starters making big contributions to a staff decimated by injuries. Williamson joined Jakob Junis, Julian Aguiar, Nick Martinez and Rhett Lowder, who have all turned in strong outings during the most recent turn of the rotation.

“I think everybody's trying to do the best they can with whatever situation we're in,” Williamson said. “I think guys are owning it.”

Williamson struck out five, walked two and allowed three hits. He threw a season-high 82 pitches, 50 for strikes.

“He's doing it with his fastball, his cutter,” Reds manager David Bell said. “We know he's going to be good. He's getting an opportunity to show it. He did last year and it’s just great to have him back out on the mound.”

Nolan Arenado capitalized on Williamson's lone mistake, belting a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 4.

“The 2-0 was a bad pitch, I mean, obviously, he hit it out, but I’m more disappointed about the first two that get me behind,” Williamson said. “The 1-0, again, was not competitive, and forced my hand to kind of go to him.”

The homer snapped a scoreless streak of 24 2/3 innings by Reds starters and a 24-inning scoreless streak by Cincinnati pitchers as a whole. The starters' streak was the longest for the team since another 24 2/3 innings run from May 22-26, 1990, and the 24-inning streak was the longest by Cincinnati hurlers since a 28-inning stretch from August 11-15, 2012.

“Our starters have been outstanding,” Bell said. “And you know, when we were challenged a little bit more than typical, they've just done nothing but answer that, and want to be in the situation and do absolutely everything they can to help us win games and continue to pitch well. Tonight, we didn't come out on top, but the pitching was there.”

The streak almost survived the Arenado drive. A fan caught the liner with his glove at the top of the left-center-field wall, which initiated a crew chief review, but after a short delay the homer was confirmed.

Injured starter Hunter Greene has been impressed with the performances up and down the makeshift rotation.

“It's very promising and it's exciting, and it gives us another ounce of motivation moving forward,” Greene said before the game.

Paul Goldschmidt’s double off Buck Farmer (3-1) in the eighth scored Michael Siani to break a 1-all tie. Ryan Helsley pitched a perfect ninth to earn his Major League-leading 44th save as the Reds’ three-game winning streak came to an end.

Jake Fraley and Noelvi Marte led off the third with singles, but ended up getting stranded at second and third as Cardinals starter Lance Lynn struck out the next three batters.

“We've been seeing Lance do that for years,” Bell said. “He knows how to pitch. He knows when to make pitches, how to make pitches, he was ahead, it seemed, like all night, seemed like we were 0-2, get in big spots and he was able to add to his fastball and located up in the zone a lot.”

The Reds finally dented the scoreboard in the fourth due to Spencer Steer’s legs. Steer, who extended his on-base streak to 10 games, led off with a double and stole third, which allowed him to score easily on Santiago Espinal’s two-out single to make it 1-0.

While the outcome of the game was disappointing, the depth on the Reds pitching staff looks promising for the future.

“We had some injuries,” Bell said. “It's created some opportunities for young guys, created an opportunity for Brandon to come back off his injuries. So, we know, and we've seen this year how important depth can be. So yeah, I mean, for the rest of this year, thankfully, we have that depth, and then we'll think about next year at that time. But it's a good situation to be in.”