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It has reached a point where the Cincinnati Reds starting pitchers can sue the team’s offense for non-support and the case won’t be thrown out of court. The offense hit nadir Tuesday, Aug. 18, in Great American Ball park, a 3-0 shutout at the hands of five St. Louis Cardinals pitchers. The Reds offered up only three hits, all singles, and only one runner reached second base. How bad is it? In six of the Reds last 10 losses they’ve scored one or none. It was the 12th time this season the Reds have been shut out and their 14th one-run loss. “We ran up their pitcher’s pitch count (starter Kyle Leahy, 10-4) and had nothing to show for it,” Reds manager Tito Francona told reporters, talking about Leahy leaving after only five innings and 90 pitches. “They’ve done a really good job against us,” Francona continued. “You look up in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings and we’ve had a couple or three hits for three games in a row.” The man with no support this time was Andrew Abbott, who gave up two runs and four hits over 6⅓ innings and all it got him was his eighth loss of the season against six wins. All three singles came against St. Louis starter Kyle Leahy (10-4), then Ryne Stanek, Gordon Graceffo, George Soriano and Riley O’Brien each pitched a scoreless, hitless inning. Fifteen of the last 16 Reds made outs. Sal Stewart singled with one out in the first, then JJ Bleday and Eugenio Suarez struck out. Ke’Bryan Hayes singled with one out in the third, but Elly De La Cruz (0 for 4 with two strikeouts and an error) struck out and Stewart grounded out. Dane Myers led the fifth and became the Reds only runner to reach second when he tagged up on Matt McLain’s deeep fly to center. But Hector Rodriguez and Hayes both flied out with Hayes’ driving it to the warning track. Eugenio Suarez walked on a full count to open the seventh, but didn’t budge from first because Tyler Stephenson struck out for the third time, Myers hit into a fielder’s choice and McLain flied out to the warning track. And that was it. A whole bunch of nothing. Abbott opened the game by throwing 17 consecutive strikes and the Cardinals had only one hit with one out in the fifth inning. That hit belong to Masyn Winn, a second-inning double. He made it two hits by blasting a home run to make it 1-0. Winn, 0 for 15 when the series began, doubled down the left field line with one out in the seventh and scored on a double by Jose Fermin. “I though Abbott was really good,” said Francona. “He gave up the solo homer to Winn, but he was filling up the strike zone with all his pitches. He was on his game, which was great to see. “I thought he looked really good and we just have to find a way to score some runs for him.” And they need to find a way to score runs for Chase Burns, Brady Singer, Nick Lodolo, Rhett Lowder and every other member of the pitching staff. The last St. Louis run came against Zach ‘Big Sugar’ Maxwell, who pitched the final 2⅔ innings, his longest MLB appearance. He gave up a leadoff infield single to Jordan Walker to open the eighth and Alec Burleson doubled him to third. Rookie Joshua Baez, 0 for 17 since beginning his MLB career with three homers in his first three at bats, lobbed a medium depth fly ball to center. Walker tagged and bolted for home. Center fielder Dane Myers unleashed a throw clocked at 103 miles an hour and nearly erased Walker. But the throw was off line and Walker made it 3-0. Francona was impressed with Maxwell, just recalled from Triple-A Louisville. “That was a big step,” he said. “He threw a lot of pitches (38 in 2⅔ innings, 27 strikes). They did a good job at Triple-A getting him stretched out. “He gave up one, but he threw the ball over the plate and his ball had good finish to it,” he added. “He helped us get back to our bullpen where we don’t feel we’re overusing them.” With the loss and Pittsburgh’s 4-1 win over Detroit, the Reds plunged back into sole position of last place in the National League Central, mostly because they are 12-26 in games against NL Central teams. And they are a season’s worst 18 games behind division-leading Milwaukee, a 22-0 winner over Seattle Tuesday. Perhaps the Reds can borrow some of those runs from the Brewers.