Manager Dale Sveum considered giving Anthony Rizzo a day off Saturday. The Cubs first baseman entered the game 0-for-22 in his last five games.

“Not yet,” Sveum said. “Obviously, it’s a thought but I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”

Rizzo showed his frustration in the seventh Friday after he flew out to right to end the inning and stranded a runner at first. He slammed his helmet to the ground.

“It’s frustrating because it was a 3-0 pitch, and I felt they were good takes and I felt good in the box, and I get that 3-0 pitch and I hit it off the end of the bat,” Rizzo said. “That was the frustrating part — 3-0, I want to barrel that up. Whether I hit it out or not, I want to barrel it up.”

Sveum doesn’t think the problem is pitchers adjusting to Rizzo.

“I think it’s too much of [him] adjusting to the pitchers instead of just getting a good pitch to hit and being ready to hit it all the time,” Sveum said. “Sometimes we get scouting reports, and [you think], ‘I know what this guy is going to try to do’ and sometimes you get caught worrying about it and the next organization is pitching you completely different. The bottom line is dictating the at-bat yourself.”

Sveum mentioned Rizzo’s swing had too much movement lately.

“Everything spirals when you try to do too much,” Rizzo said. “That’s what I always say is try not to do too much, which is hard to do. It’s part of a season. This is one of the worst [streaks] I’ve ever gone through. You have to keep working and keep battling.

“It’s the beauty of this game,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do except keep going.”

So far, Rizzo has appeared to be a streaky hitter.

“I think young guys will be that way, especially someone with his personality who thinks himself out of so many at-bats,” Sveum said. “You watch the consistent, really good hitters, and they’re not letting the pitcher dictate the at-bat. That comes with some maturity, too.”

Rizzo was batting .143 since signing a seven-year, $41 million contract extension. Is that the problem?

“You think this game would be a lot easier when you get that financial security but your instincts stay the same and you still get mad when you get outs because everyone in here is a competitor, whether you’re making $10 an hour or $5 an hour,” Rizzo said. “You get mad when you lose, you get mad when you fail.”

If Rizzo did sit, who would bat third for the Cubs?

“[Scott] Feldman,” Sveum said laughing.

– Carrie Muskat

Scott Feldman hit his first career home run, a two-run shot, but he also served up a pair of homers as the Reds posted a 7-4 victory Friday night over the Cubs, who lost their fifth in a row. Joey Votto hit a solo home run with one out in a five-run fourth, which included a three-run homer by Ryan Hanigan on a pitch Feldman would like to have back.

The Reds trailed 3-0 heading into the fourth when Votto, a more experienced home run hitter than Feldman, collected his eighth of the season. Brandon Phillips then singled, and moved up on a wild pitch and errant throw by Dioner Navarro. Todd Frazier walked, although Feldman thought he had struck him out on a 3-2 pitch, and Xavier Paul followed with a RBI single. Hanigan then hit a three-run home run to go ahead, 5-3.

“[Feldman] was one pitch away from another good outing,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “A 3-2 hanging curveball [to Hanigan] — that seems to be our motto lately is one hanging off-speed pitch in situations where we can do anything with a baseball with the pitcher coming up. We’re making bad mistakes at the wrong time in situations where we don’t have to even throw a strike.”

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo followed Hanigan in the lineup, and Feldman got him to fly out to right but the damage was done.

“It really was a bone-head pitch there,” Feldman said of the curve to Hanigan. “We had the pitcher on deck and the one thing that could hurt us right there was giving up a home run. That one stings a little bit. It did come down to that one pitch, and I wish I had it back.”

Anthony Rizzo went 0-for-5, and now is 0-for-22 in his last five games. Since he signed the seven-year, $41 million contract extension on May 13, Rizzo was batting .143 (6-for-42) with one home run and three RBIs.

“I guess you can call it different things,” Sveum said of Rizzo’s funk, “but he’s not taking his walks, he’s just kind of swinging, guessing. There’s a lot more movement than he normally has at the plate.”

Could Rizzo benefit from a day off?

“I guess a lot of people could do that right now,” Sveum said.

The Cubs have had their patience tested. They’ve had 41 of their 47 contests decided by four runs or less.

– Carrie Muskat