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And just like that, another winning streak can begin.

Last night, the Cincinnati Reds bounced back a game after losing their 6-game winning streak and went on an offensive tear. The team hit 3 home runs. Chris Heisey, his second in as many games, hit a 3-run shot for the early lead in the first inning. Devin Mesoraco hit a solo shot in the 4th. And Ryan Ludwick contributed his own 3-run homer of the pinch-hit variety in the 7th.

The 7 runs provided by that barrage were more than enough to win the game, no thanks to another crappy starting performance by Mike Leake. Although in his last start, he was good, this time, not so much. Over 3 2/3 innings, Leake wasn’t fooling anyone. He allowed 3 runs on 9 hits.

Manager Dusty Baker had him on a short leash, though, removing him for J. J. Hoover in the 4th. That move worked, as the bullpen turned in another of its excellent outings. Hoover threw scoreless 1 1/3 innings for the win. He was followed with scoreless turns by Same LeCure, Logan Ondrusek, and Sean Marshall.

Thanks to a St. Louis Cardinals loss, the Reds picked added a game to their first place lead. I think the season can be called off now, right? It’s almost Memorial Day. No team has ever come back when not in first place by Memorial Day.

There is another game today, though. Mat Latos takes to the mound at 1:10pm EDT. The Rockies will counter with a player twice as old as Latos in Jamie Moyer. The Reds will be going for the series win.

Boxscore

All good things must come to an end, and that applied to the Cincinnati Reds’ winning streak yesterday. Despite sending out their best starter against a Colorado Rockies team that hasn’t been very good this year, the Reds lost, ending the streak at 6.

Johnny Cueto started and had his second bad start out of his last three. Hopefully it’s not a harbinger of things to come. Last night, he allowed 5 runs in 4 2/3 innings. There was nothing good about that.

The bullpen took over and were scoreless the rest of the game until the 9th, when Jose Arredondo coughed up a run. Other than that, J. J. Hoover and Alfredo Simon were very good. Simon, after a rough start to the season, has come on strong lately. His 2 innings of scoreless relief last night brought his ERA down to 2.04.

Despite the effectiveness of the bullpen, the 5 runs allowed by Cueto was too much for the offense. They scored just 3 runs, all in the 4th, which tied the game at 3. Unfortunately, Cueto gave up 2 more runs in the very next inning, and the Reds never touched home plate again.

The Reds’ 3 runs came from something the Reds haven’t done lately: stringing hits together. Joey Votto led off with a single–1 of his 4 hits on the day. Brandon Phillips singled before Chris Heisey made an out. Then Ryan Ludwick doubled off the right-field wall to score Votto. Then Todd Frazier tied it by driving in Phillips and Ludwick.

The Reds do keep their place in first for another day, despite the loss. The St. Louis Cardinals dropped one in extras to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Reds start their next winning streak tonight at 7:15pm EDT when the Rockies send out Jeremy Guthrie to face Mike Leake.

Boxscore

First place, bitches!

That’s right. The Cincinnati Reds won for the 6th time in a row last night, sweeping the four game series against the Atlanta Braves. And thanks to the St. Louis Cardinals losing 10-9 against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Reds moved into sole possession of first place by half a game.

Boy, this team is playing well right now. The pitching is awesome, the defense is awesome, and the hitting is…getting the job done.

Homer Bailey started and turned in a better-than-quality start. He pitched 6 innings of 2-run baseball, striking out 6 along the way.

The game was scoreless until the 4th when Todd Frazier doubled in Chris Heisey. But the very next inning, Bailey gave up the lead thanks to a 2-run shot from Michael Bourne. The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the 6th when rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit his first career grand slam home run. That gave the Reds a lead they wouldn’t give up, as well as Bailey’s 3rd win.

The bullpen trio of Sam LeCure, Sean Marshall, and Logan Ondrusek closed the game out. Ondrusek made it interesting in the 9th when he allowed 2 hits to bring former Red Juan Francisco to the plate as the potential tying run. But a sharp grounder to Joey Votto at first base lead to a nice double play to end the game.

The Reds continue their homestand when the Colorado Rockies come to town tonight. Johnny Cueto will go against Christian Friedrich at 7:10pm EDT.

The fine folks over at Chris Sabo’s Goggles have arranged for you to be the lucky recipient of one Team Latos shirt, if you can guess (in advance) the number of strike outs Latos will get in the month of June. From the blog post about the contest:

All you have to do is guess the number of strikeouts Latos will have in the month of June. This includes every start he makes between—and including—June 1 and June 30. The person closest to the actual total number of strikeouts wins the shirt.

I assume these are the strike outs Latos induces by way of pitching to batters, not the ones he personally commits at the plate. I mean, a contest that is apparently in honor of a guy probably does not really want to go out of its way to draw attention to his 12 strike outs in 18 plate appearances.

But that’s not for me to say. You’ll want to go over to Chris Sabo’s Goggles personally to argue semantics and then put in your guess. By Independence Day, you too could be a member of Team Latos.