The Reds have been stuck in that revolving door for over two weeks

An old Enquirer baseball writer used to refer to any split doubleheader as “a day of being stuck in baseball’s revolving door.”

The Reds have been stuck in that revolving door for over two weeks. They’ve failed to win two in a row over a 16-game span. For comparison, the longest they went last year was 10 games.

Their problem?

It’s hard to pinpoint. When you’re coming off a 1-0 and a 3-1 loss in the last three games, it’s easy to blame the offense. I think there’s something to that, although through 86 games this year’s team is averaging 4.70 runs a game. Last year’s team averaged 4.37 a game.

But, beyond the numbers, this team just doesn’t seem to have what last year’s team had, e.i., the ability to win close games and comeback.

The Reds are 12-18 in one-run games. They were 27-27 last year.

Last year, the relievers had a 34-27 record. This year, they are 10-16. And this year’s ERA is substantially better 3.22 to 3.97. That would seem to indicate the Reds aren’t closing the deal late.

They have 24 come-from-behind wins. But that’s skewed by the fact that they’ve given up a ton of runs in the first.

So what to do?

The Reds have really done nothing as far as position players. Juan Francisco became Jeremy Hermida who became Fred Lewis.

I’m surprised, bordering on stunned, the Reds haven’t called up one of the hots bats from Louisville.

Shortstop Zack Cozart has a .841 on-base plus slugging at Louisville. Edgar Renteria has come on a bit lately. But the Reds’ shortstops still rank 16th in the NL in OPS.

Catcher Devin Mesoraco is hitting .308/.385/.527. There’s got to be a trade market for Ramon Hernandez.

Yonder Alonso, Francisco, Todd Frazier and Hermida, Dave Sappelt are also hitting.

I’ve never been big on shakeups for the sake of the shakeup. But when you’re 43-43 after 86 games and looking up that Pirates, you have got to do something, right?