Aaron Boone flips his bat in disgust after striking out and stranding two runners in the first inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        SAN FRANCISCO — The Reds' hitting slump, funk, skid — whatever you want to call it — went from bad to worse Saturday.

        The Reds managed only two hits in their 3-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants before a sellout crowd of 40,959 on a sunny afternoon by the bay.

        The Reds probably didn't notice the scenery. They have scored one run in their last 25 innings, and they did not have a hit Saturday until Jason LaRue led off the eighth inning with a sharp single to left.

        “When you don't hit, you don't win a lot,” Reds manager Bob Boone said. “We've got to keep grinding.”

        The loss was the third straight for the Reds.

        The slump goes back a ways. The Reds are hitting .218 over their past 13 games. But it has gotten worse on the West Coast. Over the first five games of the road swing, the Reds are hitting .167 overall. With runners in scoring position, it's much, much worse: The Reds were 0-for-4 Saturday. On the trip, they are hitting .057 with runners in scoring position.

        “There are several reasons for it,” Boone said. “We've had some tough travel. We had that 14-inning game (Thursday) and the late flight. And hitting or not hitting is contagious. You start thinking about mechanics. You start pressing.”

San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Ryan Jensen tips his cap as he is taken out of the game in the eighth inning. Jensen and starting pitcher Jason Schmidt pitched seven hitless innings. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Said Aaron Boone: “Everyone, myself included, is fouling off pitches that are right there. It's just embarrassing.”

        Coming into Saturday, the Reds had two hot hitters in the lineup — Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns. Dunn went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts; Kearns went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

        Saturday looked like a day to break out of the funk. Giant starter Jason Schmidt stayed around only long enough to get into a first-inning jam. He walked Todd Walker to start the game. With the offense in its super funk, manager Boone had Juan Encarnacion bunt Walker to second. Schmidt then walked Sean Casey but got Dunn to fly out to right.

        That was the end of Schmidt's day. Schmidt, who missed the first three weeks of the season with a bad shoulder, was unable to get loose.

        Ryan Jensen, a 26-year-old right-hander, was brought in. Jensen is the same pitcher the Reds lit up for eight runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings a week ago.

        But he pitched differently Saturday.

        He ended the first by striking out Aaron Boone. It was the start of a streak in which Jensen would retire 19 of 20 Reds.

        “He was mixing it up, going in and out,” Kearns said. “He was hitting his spots and getting ahead.”

        Reds starter Jimmy Haynes kept it a 1-0 game through five innings. The one run came on Barry Bonds' homer in the first. It was Bonds' ninth of the year but first in 12 games.

        “It was a first-pitch fastball,” Haynes said. “I tried to throw it in. But it ran over the plate. He got enough of it.”

        The ball barely made the seats in right field.

        The two other runs were unearned. Haynes walked Bonds to start the sixth (Bonds is 1-for-2 with six walks in the series). Jeff Kent hit a ball to left center that went off center fielder Encarnacion's glove for a two-base error. The Reds walked J.T. Snow to get to former Red Reggie Sanders.

        Sanders got home a run with an infield single. That was it for Haynes. Scott Sullivan came in and escaped the bases-loaded, no-out situation unscathed.

        The third run scored in the seventh, thanks largely to Sullivan's error. He fielded a bunt by Marvin Benard and threw wildly to first. Benard ended up at third and eventually scored on Kent's groundout.

Reds second baseman Todd Walker throws to first on a double play after forcing out the Giants Jeff Kent. (AP photo) | ZOOM | | DESKTOP WALLPAPER | Click to load, right-click to 'Set As Background'

        LaRue's hit in the eighth was the beginning of the Reds' only threat of the day. Felix Rodriguez replaced Jensen after the hit. He got the next two batters, but Walker singled and Encarnacion walked.

        That brought up Casey. The last time Casey and Rodriguez met, Rodriguez hit him with a pitch. That cleared the benches and started a he-said-he-said deal between the Reds and the Giants.

        Casey almost got major payback. He hit a liner to left, but Bonds ran it down. It was one of four nice defensive plays by the Giants.

        The karma, so good for the Reds while they were winning nine of 10, suddenly has gone bad.

        “We've been scuffling lately,” Kearns said. “Sometimes it goes that way.”

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