NL Worst of the Night: Drew Stubbs' 0-for-5, 3 Strikeouts Lead Reds' Bad Night

Highlighting a bad performance from the previous night in baseball might seem like a harsh way to start the morning, but look at it this way: If you had a rough night or bad day, here's someone who may have had it worse.

The Cincinnati Reds nominated several candidates for NL Worst of the Night honors in Tuesday's 8-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Homer Bailey lasted only 3.2 innings, his shortest outing of the season, giving up six runs on six hits and three walks.

Curiously, as MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports, Bailey had seven Brewers batters down two strikes with two outs in the inning, yet couldn't put them away. Milwaukee scored each of its six runs against Bailey (and eight overall) with two outs. 

Ryan Ludwick went 0-for-3. Rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco batted 0-for-4. 

We're going to single out Drew Stubbs, however, for his hitless effort Tuesday night. Stubbs went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, not exactly what the Reds are looking for from their No. 2 hitter.

To be fair, Stubbs has actually hit well recently, since Reds manager Dusty Baker put rookie Zack Cozart in the leadoff role and bumped Stubbs down a spot. In his previous four games, Stubbs was 7-for-16 (.438), pushing his OPS to a season-high .700.

He ran into a wall on Tuesday, however. Stubbs struck out in each of his three at-bats versus Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo. The 0-for-5 pushed his OPS back down to a not-so-good .669.

That performance likely isn't going to result in any chances with the Reds' lineup, though. As the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jon Fay writes, Cozart is getting comfortable in the leadoff spot, taking pitches and working counts like a hitter at the top of the order should.

Additionally, Stubbs is thriving in the No. 2 spot. Yes, 13 games and 60 plate appearances is a small sample size, but a .364/.407/.618 slash average with three homers, nine RBI and four stolen bases is some impressive production. 

He just had a bad night on Tuesday, one worth singling out here. Judging from his performance this season, Stubbs could follow this up with another hot streak. 

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