INSTANT REACTION: Reds Avoid Sweep to Stay Above .500 in 7-4 Win Over Cardinals

CINCINNATI -- The Reds avoided a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 7-4 win on Sunday.

At the time this story was published, the New York Mets were losing to the Miami Marlins. If that holds, the Reds would be 4.5 games back of the third National League Wild Card.

Let's look at the key takeaways from Sunday's 7-4 Reds win over the Cardinals.

Brady Singer Takes The Lead

Who would have thought heading into September that Brady Singer would lead all Reds pitchers with 12? Sure enough, that's the reality.

Singer pitched six strong innings Sunday afternoon, allowing just three earned runs on five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Of his 102 pitches, 68 were for strikes.

Offense Breaks Out

Six of the Reds starting hitters had at least one hit, and the Reds cashed in with runners in scoring position four times on Sunday.

TJ Friedl set the tone with three hits and two RBIs, while Austin Hays added two with a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The bottom four hitters in the Reds lineup added four hits and three RBIs.

Notes And Observations

• Matt McLain has hit home runs in consecutive games.
• Emilio Pagan picked up his 26th save of the season.

Scoring Summary

Top 1st
STL: Nolan Gorman RBI sacrafice fly (Cardinals lead 1-0)
STL: Thomas Saggese RBI single (Cardinals lead 2-0)

Bottom 2nd
CIN: Ke'Bryan Hayes RBI single (Cardinals lead 2-1_
CIN: TJ Friedl two-run single (Reds lead 3-2)

Top 3rd
STL: Iván Herrera RBI sacrafice fly (Tied 3-3)

Bottom 5th
CIN: Austin Hays two-run home run (12) (Reds lead 5-3)

Top 7th
STL: Jimmy Crooks solo home run (1) (Reds lead 5-4)

Bottom 7th
CIN: Ke'Bryan Hayes RBI single (Reds lead 6-4)

Bottom 8th
CIN: Matt McLain solo home run (13) (Reds lead 7-4)

On Deck

The Reds will host their final interleague series of the season this week when they host the Toronto Blue Jays. At the time this story was published, the Blue Jays are in first place by two games in the American League East.

Monday's game is at 1:10 E.T. on FanDuel Sports Network Cincinnati and 700 WLW, while Tuesday's and Wednesday's games are both at 6:40 E.T. on the same channel and station.

Hunter Greene (5-4, 2.81 ERA), Nick Lodolo (8-7, 3.22 ERA), Zack Littell (9-8, 3.63 ERA) will be the Reds starters in the series.