CINCINNATI >> Whether Noah Syndergaard has made his final start in a Dodgers uniform is unclear, but 12 starts into the season the results have been consistently poor and Wednesday night was no different.

Syndergaard allowed six runs (all earned) on seven hits in three innings in an 8-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds that was decided when Will Benson hit a walk-off home run in the ninth. The blast extended the Dodgers’ losing streak to a season-high four games, their longest skid since May 2022. They have not lost five in a row since April 2019.

The clock has been ticking on Syndergaard’s window to prove himself for some time now, and with Julio Urias expected to rejoin the rotation on Sunday and young arms Bobby Miller and Michael Grove proving to be viable options, his time certainly might have run out.

“He’s going through it. He’s been going through it all year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s not from lack of effort, preparation, care ... but it’s just not working. There’s things with that blister. There was a fingernail break tonight. He’s not going to make excuses. He understands it’s about performance.”

Syndergaard allowed two home runs Wednesday, including a 458-foot first-inning rocket to Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz that left his bat at 114.8 miles per hour and landed into the last rows of the right field stands at Great American Ball Park to tie the score at 2-2.

“The first thing I thought was that ball’s gone,” De la Cruz said through a translator. “I didn’t know where it landed. I was looking at my teammates. They told me it almost left the building.”

Syndergaard and one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in MLB was always a recipe for trouble. The Dodgers have scored five runs or more in eight of his starts, but he has just one win to show for it because of a 7.16 ERA. He has given up five runs or more in three straight starts.

“We’re going to sit down with him and try to figure out. Obviously, we can’t continue at this pace of performance,” Roberts said of Syndergaard, an All-Star early in his career with the New York Mets who is 1-4 since signing a one-year, $13 million contract with the Dodgers. “There might be an opportunity to give him a reset to get this taken care of.”