MILWAUKEE – What do you call an unearned run in the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds these days?

An insurmountable lead.

If that sounds like a joke, the Reds’ lineup is the punchline.

The Reds on Thursday joined Gene Mauch’s woeful 1960 Philadelphia Phillies as the only team to lose three consecutive 1-0 games since MLB’s dead-ball era ended 105 years ago.

It’s the first time in the history of the oldest professional franchise in the sport that the Cincinnati team in any era has pulled off the dubious “feat.”

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The loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in the opener of a four-game series ran the Reds’ scoreless streak to 28 innings. They haven’t scored a run since Monday.

“Part of it’s baseball,” manager Terry Francona said. “Part of it’s not a whole lot of fun. You keep working. But you also don’t overwork the guys.”

And you don’t panic, he said. Especially this early in the season.

If anything, the fact they took the skid that began with two games at home against the Texas Rangers into their Milwaukee opener only rubs salt in the wound if recent history means anything.

The Brewers have won 10 straight series over the Reds and 14 of the last 16, dating to 2021.

The Brewers have won four of the past five meetings and eight of the last 10.

The Reds managed just two hits in this one, but one was a one-out double in the third by Jose Trevino, who eventually was stranded at third.

The only run of the game scored from third on a two-out single by Sal Frelick off Reds starter Nick Lodolo in the fourth.

It was an unearned run because of a Lodolo error on a one-out grounder to first, when he dropped Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s short toss at first.

Lodolo struck out four and didn’t walk a batter in 6 2/3 innings.