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Reds 3 Orioles 2
Brandon Drury's 8th inning solo homer extended his career high mark to 20 and sent the Reds past the Orioles 3-2 Sunday afternoon. The win secured a series win for the Reds, a winning homestand (6-4) and a winning month of July (14-12). Nick Lodolo was excellent over six plus innings. Alexi Diaz gave up a 2-1 lead on a game-tying homer in the 8th inning. But Buck Farmer became the 8th Reds pitcher to record a save this season, the first of his big league career in his 260th major league appearance.
Winning: The Reds are 4-1-1 in their last six series. 12-7 over their last 19 games.
Moving on up: The Reds are alone in 4th place. That's their highest since they were tied for 3rd place on April 12.
Reversal of fortunes: The Reds are 11-7 in interleague play, clinching a winning record in interleague play for the first time since 2013. They are 9-5 vs AL East this season with two games remaining against the Red Sox. The Reds entered this season with the worst record in MLB since interleague play began in 1997.
Nick Lodolo: 6 IN, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K. 90 pitches/58 strikes. ERA dips to 3.99. What a big time learning/confidence moment for Lodolo in the 6th inning.
After two straight two out hits in scoreless game, he went 1 & 2 in the count but missed with back -to-back breaking balls to go full count. He came back with heat. Strikeout. You could see what it meant to him. Had to make a pitch. Made a killer pitch. Those moments are what this season is about for the Reds. Those moments are becoming positive ones more and more for Lodolo, Greene and Ashcraft. Leading 2-0, David Bell sent Lodolo back out for a shot at the 7th inning. But he walked the leadoff batter after sitting during a long half inning by the Reds offense and his day was done.
20/20: Drury is one of nine MLB players with at least 20 HR and 20 doubles.
On the board: Scoreless in the 6th, Joey Votto flipped an RBI single the other way off former Reds reliever Cionel Perez to make it 1-0. Votto had a two hit day.
Add-on: The Reds loaded the bases with one out in the 6th and Kyle Farmer brought home another run on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Leading man: Jonathan India lead off the game with a hit for the third consecutive game and now 6 of his last 7. He later added a walk.