Reds

Reds Avoid Sweep: The Reds avoided an embarrassing sweep to the Pirates Wednesday afternoon. The Reds ace, Johnny Cueto, gave up one run and the offense. after being shut out in the previous two games, was finally able to muster up some run support in the win. The Reds are still falling back in the NL Central race and either need to find their mojo or find someone before the trade deadline who well help them find it.

The Reds first two runs came off of sacrifice flies from Joey Votto and Miguel Cairo to bring them to a 2-0 lead. The Pirates Andrew McCutchen then brought in Neil Walker on a double to bring it to a one run game. Edgar Renteria then brought Johnny Cueto in at the top of the 5th to help give the Reds a 3-1 win.

The Reds will face NL Wild Card leaders, Atlanta Braves, at Great American Ball Park for the upcoming series. If the Reds can come away with two wins vs one of the best teams in the MLB I hope this can shift their momentum to the future.

Red's Trade Needs: The aging Scott Rolen is not able to play every day and at the most plays 4-5 times a week. The Reds would like a consistent third baseman that can play defense and offense and that will play while Rolen rests.

They also may need a starter to spark the pitching. The Reds rotation has been struggling all year, with the exception of Johnny Cueto, and another solid pitcher in the rotation should defiantly create some much needed help in their race to become back to back NL Central Champs.

The Reds may also need a quality starter in left field who can also bat lead off. Gomes has struggled the first half of the season and Dusty doesn't seem like he wants Fred Lewis and Chris Heisey to be playing out there.

Red's shutout by Pirates, again: The Reds lost Monday night 2-0 and failed to score again tonight in a 1-0 loss in Pittsburgh as they continue to fall deeper and deeper into a funk. James McDonald pitched 6 innings and got his 6th win of the year for the Pirates.

The Reds managed to out hit the Pirates 6-4, yet were unable to bring in runners that were in scoring position. Mike Leake pitched  innings, giving up only two hits and one run but it wasn't enough for the win as his record

Rookie Cozart carries Reds to Win: Cozart hit his first major league homer in the 8th inning and also came home in the 6th inning thanks to a wild pitch from Jaime Garcia. This win put the Reds one game off from .500 (47-48) and puts them a game closer to the NL Central lead. Homer Bailey pitched 7 1/3 innings of one run baseball while Cordero finished it off an got his 18th save of the season.

Lance Berkman started the scoring off with a solo home run to center in the second but Homer Bailey shut down the rest of the line-up. The momentum shifted in the 6th when Cardinals shortstop Ryan Theriot got ejected from the game when he felt like the ump had a bad call. The reply clearly showed that Cozart was safe at second. After that play the Reds scored three unanswered runs.

They will take on the second place Pirates at PNC park tomorrow in hope to climb above .500 by the end of the series.

Pujols' homer ties up series: Albert Pujols blasted a three run homer over the left field wall in the top of the 5th to give the Cardinals the lead the they never looked back. Chris Carpenter pitched 8 inning one run baseball and Skip Schumaker scored off of a John Jay single in the 7th to give the Cardinals a 4-1 win over the Reds and tie up the rivalry series at 1-1.

Joey Votto brought in the first run with a single to left in the third inning but it was all Cards from there Bronson Arroyo didn't do a bad job on the mound but he got no support on the offensive side of things to get him the win as he falls to 7-8 on the year. The two will face off tomorrow down at Great American at 1:10 for the rubber match 

Phillips Walk off carries Reds to 6-5 win over rivals: Joey Votto hits a ground rule double in the 7th to put the Reds up 4-3 with 2 innings to play and the bases are loaded with one on and one out. aging Scott Rolen steps up to the plate and grounds out to short and Zach Cozart is caught at the plate. Next inning Albert Pujols steps up with Colby Rasmus on first and blasts one over the left field wall and the Cards take the 5-4 and the crowd has been silenced.

The bottom of the ninth comes around and this looks to be another close game that the Reds are gonna lose. Zach Cozart singles to center and Brandon Phillips steps up to the plate with one on and two out. The Reds last hope belts his 9th homer of the season over the left center field wall as the sold out Great American Ball Park erupts and the fireworks go off.

For a Reds fan you couldn't have wished for a better beginning to the second half of the season for the Reds and hopefully they can carry this momentum into the next 68 games.