INSTANT REACTION: Reds Get Back to .500 With 6-2 Win Over Cardinals

CINCINNATI -- Have you ever watched the show "The Middle?" It was a sitcom on ABC that ran from the Fall of 2009 to May of 2018, chronicling the lives of a low-middle-class family in the fictional town of Orson, Indiana.

In the opening minutes of the pilot episode, one of the main characters, Frankie Heck (played by Patricia Heaton) says in the narration that the middle is somewhere you fly over when going from somewhere to somewhere.

That somewhere to somewhere perfectly encapsulates the Reds 2025 season. One somewhere is contention, while the other somewhere is irrelevancy.

The Reds are in the middle of those somewhere. One day, we think they're going to go on a run towards contention. The other day, we thought they're going into irrelevance.

Wednesday afternoon, the Reds won 6-2 at the St. Louis Cardinals. The win puts them at 76-76 with 10 games remaining in the regular season.

At the time this story was published, the Reds were 2.5 games back of the New York Mets for the third National League Wild Card. The San Francisco Giants were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks at the time this story was published.

So, here we are again. The Reds season appeared to be over Tuesday night after a 3-0 loss in St. Louis. But as they have done so many times, they bounced back and kept their season alive. Not only that, but they're back to .500.

This is who the Reds are. They're mid. Literally. They stay in the middle. They never shy too far from it either way.

Notes And Observations

• Brady Singer won his team-leading 14th game of the season.
• Gavin Lux and Spencer Steer each had three hits.
• Noelvi Marte added two hits.
• St. Louis went 0-8 with runners in scoring position.
• The Reds went 6-7 against the Cardinals this season.

Scoring Summary

Bottom 1st
STL: Alec Burleson solo home run (18) (Cardinals lead 1-0)

Top 4th
CIN: Spencer Steer three-run home-run (18) (Reds lead 3-1)

Bottom 6th
STL: Iván Herrera reaches on a fielders' choice (Reds lead 4-2)

Top 7th
CIN: Spencer Steer two-run single (Reds lead 6-2)

On Deck

The Reds return home for their final homestand of the season beginning Thursday against the Chicago Cubs.

Chicago is 88-64 coming into this series and 4.5 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.

Hunter Greene (6-4, 3.01 ERA), Nick Lodolo (8-8, 3.30 ERA), Zack Littell (9-8, 3.86 ERA) and Andrew Abbott (9-7, 2.88 ERA) will start for the Reds.

Thursday's game is a nationally televised game at 7:15 on FOX. Friday and Saturday both have start times at 6:40 E.T. with Sunday starting at 1:40 E.T..

Friday-Sunday will be on FanDuel Sports Network Cincinnati and 700WLW.