CINCINNATI — By the end of the fourth inning Saturday, even Cubs reliever Pedro Strop could be forgiven if he longed for the days of seeing Yasiel Puig in a Reds uniform.
By most measures, this looked like just another day on the road for the National League Central-leading Cubs: another rough pitching performance, another loss, another non-winning series.
But little was familiar or routine about this one — or the loss the night before, for that matter — even against the nemesis Reds.
‘‘Is that him or is that [1980s Reds star] Eric Davis?’’ manager Joe Maddon said of rookie outfielder Aristides Aquino, who went historic in the Reds’ 10-1 rout that assured the Cubs of their fourth winless series against them in four tries this season.
Aquino hit his third, fourth and fifth home runs of the series in consecutive innings Saturday to back six innings of scoreless two-hit pitching by right-hander Sonny Gray.
‘‘Pretty impressive,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘[Aquino] didn’t miss anything. He hasn’t missed anything this whole series.’’
Aquino, who took over in right field after the Reds shipped Puig to the Indians to acquire right-hander Trevor Bauer at the trade deadline July 31, has hit seven homers in his 10 games since then, tying Rockies shortstop Trevor Story’s 2016 record.
His homers in the second, third and fourth tied another record for homers in consecutive innings, most recently accomplished by the Cubs’ Kris Bryant in May in Washington.
As for Davis, he’s the only other Reds rookie to homer in four consecutive games, as Aquino now has done. Davis did it in 1984.
‘‘He can swing it, for sure,’’ said Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks (8-9), who gave up two of Aquino’s homers in a 67-pitch start that lasted just two outs into the third. ‘‘The first one, it was a good pitch, and he just put a good swing on it. The second one was a terrible pitch. That was just kind of the story of the night.’’
If not the story of the most dramatic home/road win/loss splits in the majors.
A Cubs team with the second-best home record in the NL and a 1½-game lead in the Central saw its streak of non-winning road series reach 11 with its 24th loss in its last 34 games away from Wrigley Field.
Inexplicably, the home-white jerseys the Cubs brought on the road to hang at their lockers for home-cooking mojo still hung at the lockers after the game. But they might be burned by Sunday morning.
‘‘They served a purpose for one night,’’ Maddon said of the Cubs’ 12-5 victory Thursday. ‘‘If we could bookend [victories in the series], I’ll take that.”
Easier said than done, given that the Cubs will face Reds ace Luis Castillo in the series finale Sunday.
The Reds already had the Cubs’ attention after beating them in the first three series they played this season, including one in Cincinnati at the end of June in which Puig ignited a benches-clearing incident by reacting poorly when he was hit by a pitch that clearly was unintentional.
‘‘It’s not a secret he’s stupid,’’ Strop said then. ‘‘He’s stupid as f---.’’
Puig since has been replaced by Aquino’s stupid power.
Aquino, who showed early-career power and hitting skill in the minors, stalled enough the last two seasons that the Reds non-tendered him off the 40-man roster in the winter and signed him back a day later to a minor-league deal.
A couple of adjustments to his stance and his attitude later, Twitter had elevated him next to Tom Ricketts and Betsy DeVos among Cubs owners as the game played out.
The Cubs only have to face the Reds four more times this season. But the Reds might not be going away in a division race that tightened to two games separating the top three teams and six separating the top four.
‘‘They’re a nice team,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘They’ve done a nice job of building that rotation.’’
