Brandon Drury home run backs Lodolo’s strong outing as Reds beat Orioles 3-2

For the third time in four games, the Reds’ bullpen let a late lead slip away. This time, however, the Reds took care of business and pulled out the win. The Reds were locked in a pitchers’ duel between Nick Lodolo and Austin Voth, as things remained scoreless through the first 5 innings. Lodolo was fantastic again today, notching his second consecutive solid start since coming off the IL with a back injury. He threw 6-plus innings, allowing only a run on 4 hits with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He pitched into the 7th inning and allowed a lead-off walk before getting pulled, and that run would end up scoring. This outing was certainly a welcome sight after he struggled at the beginning of the season. Here’s to more like this.

The Reds were able to break through in the bottom of the 6th to give themselves a 2-0 lead. Jonathan India and Donovan Solano led off with walks off of Orioles reliever Bryan Baker, and India moved to 3rd on a line out by Tommy Pham. That brought up Joey Votto, who got to our old friend Cionel Perez by taking a pitch on the outside corner and beating the shift, grounding the ball right at the spot where the shortstop normally would have been playing. That brought in India to put the Reds up 1-0. After Brandon Drury would come in to pinch hit, he would walk to load the bases. Kyle Farmer would then smoke a liner to center for a sacrifice fly to bring in Solano.

Baltimore would unfortunately score runs in the 7th and 8th inning to tie things up. But Brandon Drury brought the heroics in the bottom of the 8th. After staying in the game to play 1st, Drury would come up with 2 outs and launch a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left to put the Reds up 3-2. Buck Farmer would come in and shut the door as the Reds took the win and the series.

The Reds will head down to Miami tonight to face off against the Marlins again. Hunter Greene (3-12, 5.59 ERA) will start for the Reds. The Marlins haven’t named a starter yet. First pitch is at 6:40 PM EDT. We are also slightly less than 48 hours from Tuesday’s trade deadline. I am sure there will be plenty of news on the Reds’ front as that deadline approaches. Stay tuned as we try to keep up with the flurry of rumors and deals over the next couple of days.