PITTSBURGH – Just in time for their first extended stretch of games against division opponents, the Cincinnati Reds say they’re scoring runs more consistently and have actually played some of their cleanest baseball overall the past week.
Never mind that most of the run scoring during the four-game home winning streak they took to Pittsburgh was the result of five Will Benson home runs (the National League’s Player of the Week driving in 10 of the team’s 19 runs in those games). Or that they stubbed their hitting toe again Monday on the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates and Mitch Keller for most of a 7-1 win that was a shrugfest until five runs in the final two innings.
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Whatever anybody might think that says about the Reds and their chances to play in October, they’re about to find out a lot more in the next two weeks about where this team’s headed over the next four months.
“It’s an exciting time. We’re playing really good baseball right now,” said left fielder Austin Hays, who drove in a pair of runs during a three-hit performance Monday. “I think it’s a very good time for us to be playing in division. It’s probably the best time throughout the season that we could hit this stretch.”
Austin Hays after his RBI double in the first inning Monday.
The Reds won for the fifth straight game Monday after scoring five in the final two innings, matching their longest winning streak of the season, and pushed their record over .500 for the first time since May 4.
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But wait’ll they get through the next four series. That’s the tell.
Monday began a stretch of 12 of 15 games against National League Central opponents – including six of those against the first-place Chicago Cubs.
Considering the Reds have grinded and often struggled to stay at sea level to this point in the season, despite playing a less-than-formidable schedule, their best path to finding enough wins to reach the playoffs appears to be within the division. Especially considering the entire season series against the Cubs remains to be played, starting Friday at home.
“The only thing we can really control is playing good baseball,” said first baseman Spencer Steer, who has an eight-game hitting streak through Monday, adding.
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“The goal is to win the division,” he added. “That’s the goal of everyone in here: not just get in the playoffs; it’s to win the division. To win the division you’ve got to beat the guys in your division. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re playing the first-place team or the last-place team.”
It definitely doesn’t hurt to play the last-place team. The Reds improved to 4-0 against the Pirates, which was the reason they had a winning record in the division (7-5) after the first game in this two-week litmus test.
How they do against the Cubs figures to be a lot more telling, if not more important, as they try to make up the 3 1/2 games that separate them from the top of the division.
And especially critical considering where they’re not getting victories so far.
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For instance, they’re 9-9 against American League opponents thanks to that sweep of the Guardians over the weekend – on the heels of losing a series to the worst team in the American League, the White Sox.
They’re just 3-7 against the NL East, including a series loss to the last-place Marlins, and haven’t played the NL East frontrunners New York and Philadelphia yet. They’re 6-3 against the NL West with a season split against the Giants and a three-game sweep of the worst team in the majors, the Rockies.
The Cubs, on the other hand, have played the toughest schedule in baseball, on paper, in the early part of the season.
The Reds are putting their best foot – and arm – forward as they take on the Cubs for the first time this season. They have ace Hunter Greene (2.36 ERA) scheduled for Friday’s series opener at home in his return from a Grade 1 groin strain on his first eligible day to come back from the injured list.
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“It’s going to be huge when we get him back,” said Nick Lodolo (4-4), who lowered his ERA to 3.22 with six strong innings Monday. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the gam, if not the best.
“We’re playing good ball as a team, so when you add a guy like that back into it, it’s definitely not going to hurt.”
By the time they finish they finish the day on June 4, they will have played the Cubs six times and their white whale, Milwaukee, three times. They’ll be 63 games into the season. And have a pretty good idea whether they’ll be spending the rest of the summer playing from behind or jockeying near the of the division.
“It’s going to be a battle all the way to the end,” said starter Brady Singer, who might know better than anyone else in the clubhouse how important division play can be in the drive for October.
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His Kansas City Royals were one of three teams to reach the playoffs from the American League Central last season, largely on the strength of those teams dominating the 121-loss White Sox in the division.
Say hello to the Pirates.
The Royals were 33-19 in their division last year (12-1 vs. the White Sox) and 53-57 against everyone else. In the AL wild-card standings, they finished one game ahead in the Seattle Mariners, who missed the playoffs.
“That’s another huge thing with the NL. With the NL West, there’s some really good teams in there,” Singer said. “So the wild card’s a huge thing in the NL.
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“Obviously, all the games matter, but the in-division games are something you can look back on throughout the season (as decisive),” he said. “It’s going to be fun. And it’s obviously early in the season, but it all matters.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds playoff chances to be decided next 2 weeks after win over Pirates