Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds finished their sweep of the Astros last night, behind a solid effort from Bronson Arroyo.

Arroyo pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs, both earned. He picked up his first win of the year, joining fellow starters Mike Leake and Aaron Harang with victories. At this rate, the entire starting rotation will have victories in a week’s time!

The scoring came from home runs from Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. Bruce has been on a nice little tear lately, and Joey Votto is Joey Votto. Vottomatic, I believe, is the term we’re looking for.

This win gets the Reds to .500. Plus, it marks the second time in history that the Reds have tagged Roy Oswalt with a loss. The only other Reds pitcher to do that? How could you forget the Pickle, Brandon Claussen?

The team is 3-0 since manager Dusty Baker reorganized the lineup into a form much closer to the ideal. It’s probably not just the lineup changes, though, as much as I may want moving shortstop Orlando Cabrera out of the 2-hole to be the sole reason for their success. No, this streak coincided with finally getting good starting pitching and playing the terrible, terrible Houston Astros.

Still, this should give the team confidence as they head to Missouri to face the St. Louis Cardinals. A sweep of them, and the Reds would not only be over .500, but 1 game behind the Cardinals in the standings!