Astros Beat Reds 3-2

There were only four hits notched on Monday by Reds hitters in a 3-2 loss to the last-place Astros. That brought the grand total to eight hits over the last three games and the losing streak to four games coming off the weekend sweep by first-place Milwaukee.

"We made some mistakes," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We missed some signs. We missed a squeeze. We missed a 3-0 swing. We hit some balls into the ground for double plays at the wrong time...That's a game we should have won."

Now the owners of a 74-80 record, Cincinnati must go 8-0 to end the season with a winning record and 7-1 to finish .500.

For any kind of strong finish, the offense needs to emerge again. Top hitter Joey Votto, who is 0-for-11 in his last three games, had two strikeouts and hit into two of his team's three double plays. Jay Bruce is in a 0-for-19 funk.

Reds hitters struck out 11 times vs. Houston, including nine against starter J.A. Happ. That upped th total to 44 strikeouts over the last four games.

There was an optimistic start to the game in the bottom of the first when Brandon Phillips sent Happ's 1-1 pitch into the right field seats for his 17th homer of the season and second leadoff long ball in less than a week.

Click here to read more of this story.