Reds Complete Sweep, Crush Diamondbacks 10-3

The Reds continued to roll on the road last night, beating Arizona 10-3. That win completed the three-game series sweep. The Reds are now 13-5 on the road, a mark easily good enough for the best in baseball.

The Reds offense came up with 14 hits. Ryan Hanigan, Chris Dickerson, Jerry Hairston, and Brandon Phillips each had two knocks. Phillips has now hit in 11 games in a row. Willy Taveras extended his hitting streak to 13 games by collecting three hits.

As a team, the Reds scored 20 runs on 38 hits in the series against the Diamondbacks.

Johnny Cueto (4-1) was not at his best last night. However, when you are not at the top of your game and allowing three runs on four hits in seven innings, your team is going to win a lot of games. Daniel Ray Herrera pitched a scoreless eighth. Jared Burton did the same in the ninth.

The Reds are now 20-14. They are playing hard and having fun. I have been critical of Dusty Baker in the past, but he deserves a lot of credit. 

For the first time in a long time, the Reds have had to make some tough roster/playing time decisions because of a surplus of talent. Baker has balanced playing time and this team seems to have tremendous chemistry.

Baker seems to have the right attitude when it comes to addressing the early success of this young club as well.

“We’ve got to get as far away from .500 as we can and take our chances,” Baker said. “We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve looked pretty good but we have a long way to go.”

Indeed, there is a long way to go. The baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. 

The Reds are off today. The marathon continues in San Diego on Friday night.