Brady Singer, Reds down Angels, cut wild-card deficit

Gavin Lux had a two-run homer among his two hits and Brady Singer allowed one run in six innings as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Los Angeles Angels 4-1 in Anaheim, Calif., on Monday.

Austin Hays went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI, Elly De La Cruz and Ke'Bryan Hayes each tripled and scored a run and Noelvi Marte had two hits for Cincinnati, which moved to within one game of the idle New York Mets for the final National League wild-card spot.

Singer (11-9), making his first career start at Anaheim Stadium, permitted six hits, walked one and struck out four. Scott Barlow fanned four in 1 1/3 shutout innings to pick up his first save of the season.

Taylor Ward had an RBI double and Nolan Schanuel added two hits for Los Angeles, which lost its ninth straight game to the Reds dating back to 2019. Victor Mederos (0-1), making his second major league start, permitted three runs on nine hits over five innings while striking out three and walking three.

By taking the opener of a three-game series, the Reds won for the fourth time in six games. The Angels took their third loss in four games.

Cincinnati jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when TJ Friedl led off with a single and scored on Lux's fifth home run, a 387-foot drive to right.

Los Angeles countered with a run in the bottom of the first. Schanuel singled with one out, advanced to second on a walk to Mike Trout and scored on an opposite-field double into the right field corner by Ward.

The Reds went ahead 3-1 in the fifth when De La Cruz led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hays.

Cincinnati added an insurance run in the eighth. Hays lined a triple over the head of center fielder Luis Rengifo to start the inning and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt McLain.