The Cincinnati Reds completed a four-game sweep of the Washington Nationals on Thursday in Washington, D.C. The sweep marked their seventh straight road series victory and moves their road record to 25-18. Since the Reds’ horrid 1-9 start to the season on the road, they are a staggering 24-9.
The Washington Nationals are not a very good baseball team. They are 34-52, after Cincinnati ran through Nationals Park, and sit in last place in the NL East. Having said that, it is incredibly difficult to win four straight games against any professional baseball team, especially on the road.
Washington put up a good fight with two games decided by one run each. In the end, the buzzsaw that is the Cincinnati Reds proved to be too much for the rebuilding Nationals. The Reds took care of business and did exactly what a good team should do against an inferior opponent.
Elly De La Cruz is coming up on exactly one month since his MLB debut on June 6 against the Dodgers. Since his debut, the Reds’ identity has taken a leap and become easy to identify. They are going to beat almost anyone that stands in their way with offense.
The offense has come from the starting lineup and pinch-hitting heroes. It has come via the home run and bunting a man over. It has come from stolen bases and sac-flies, too. These Reds can — and will — beat any team in such a diverse set of ways. They did just that in this series against Washington.
They hit at least one home run in every game in the series, but they knocked three out of the park in Tuesday’s 8-4 victory. The Reds had at least one stolen base in each game, but they stole six bases on Tuesday and four more in Wednesday’s 9-2 win. Looking for a sac bunt to set up the game-tying run? TJ Friedl did that too in Thursday’s 5-4 victory.
The offense has been tremendous and is showing no signs of slowing down. Perhaps more importantly, the starting pitching was excellent against Washington.
Reds starters threw 19 innings and gave up seven runs in the series. While the innings number is a bit low, Brandon Williamson tossed three shutout innings in Thursday’s game which was rain delayed, limiting how deep he could go into the game. If Cincinnati can get a 3.32 ERA from its starters for the rest of the season, the Reds will likely coast to an NL Central crown.
That probably is not realistic, but with Graham Ashcraft rounding into his early-season form, Brandon Williamson continuing to improve and Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo coming off the injured list within the next month or so, this rotation should only improve through the rest of the season.
Every series is important when you are a contending team like the Reds. But the Reds’ next series might be their most important series in years. The Reds travel to Milwaukee for a three-game set against the Brewers, who are currently just 1.5 games behind the Reds in the NL Central.
The Brewers are the only legitimate threat to the Reds in the division. The Pirates, Cubs and Cardinals are each at least 7.5 games back and do not look to have a massive turnaround in the cards as currently constructed.
Cincinnati plays the Brewers nine times in July and then they will not see them again for the rest of the regular season. With two three-game series acting as bookends around the All-Star break, these next six games will have major implications on the NL Central race.
Lucky for the Reds, they are playing as good a brand of baseball as anyone in the league right now. Another break for the Reds, rookie sensation Andrew Abbott will get the start in game one of the series in Milwaukee. Also starting for Cincinnati are Luke Weaver and Ben Lively, respectively. The Reds are 6-0 in Weaver’s past six starts and he has pitched better lately.
Cincinnati has the opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the NL Central. Will they capitalize or will their hot streak hit a speed bump? No matter what, it should be fun to watch.
Stay tuned for more breaking MLB content, including trade deadline information, power rankings and more news from every team.
Featured image courtesy of Reds.com
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