Cincinnati Reds Pitching Gamble Falls Short in Tuesday's Loss to Pittsburgh Pirates

The Cincinnati Reds had a chance to have their ace Hunter Greene pitch twice before the season ends. Instead, they elected to give everyone an extra day of rest and stay on schedule, with Brady Singer starting on Tuesday.

Singer has been fantastic over his last 10 starts.

However, he struggled early in Tuesday's loss, and the Reds' offense mustered up just five hits against the Pirates on Tuesday night.

With the 7, 8, and 9 batters due up for the Pirates in the second inning, Singer got knocked around and gave up four runs in the inning.

"Haven't gone back and looked at it, but I think just a lot of bad pitches, a lot of pitches in the middle of the plate, and they put good swings on it," Singer said postgame.

The Reds will have their hands full on Wednesday with Paul Skenes scheduled to start for Pittsburgh. He will go against Hunter Greene.

Francona was asked after the game about dropping the first game of the series.

"That wasn't our goal today, but we will come back tomorrow," Francona said. "We are going to face a really good pitcher tomorrow so it'll be a really good challenge. We will be ready to go."

If the Reds make the postseason and Greene is set for game one, the gamble could be vindicated. For now, the verdict is still out.

You can listen to Francona and Singer's full postgame comments below: