Boxscore

After losing a series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Cincinnati Reds as they opened a series with the Houston Astros yesterday. Especially with Mike Leake starting, who hasn’t been what you would call “good” this year.

Perhaps the offense was concerned, too, as they opened the top of the first inning with several strung together hits to give the Reds a 2-0 lead before Leake ever took the mound. Votto started things off with 2 outs in the first with a single. Brandon Phillips followed with a double that drove Votto home. And then Jay Bruce drove in Phillips. It’s awesome to see the heart of the lineup produce like that.

Then it was Leake’s turn to hold the lead, which he did over his 7 innings. He allowed just 1 run on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Leake has two good starts out of his last three now, which coincide perfectly with his two wins. Hopefully, we’ll see more of the outings like yesterday and not like the one before when he couldn’t make it out of the 4th.

After Leake, the bullpen held the lead. Logan Ondrusek pitched a scoreless 8th, and Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the 9th for his 4th save.

Thanks to the St. Louis Cardinals being no-hit by the New York Mets, the Reds now have a 2.5 game lead in first place. They’ll try to increase that even more today when Mat Latos starts against Wandy Rodriguez at 7:15pm EDT.