Reds complete sweep of Dodgers, poised to maybe move up into lower-twenties of power rankings

Success!

The Cincinnati Reds leaned hard on their bullpen on Sunday in a ‘bullpen game’ that would suggest that was the intent from the start. Nick Martinez, swingman extraordinaire, took over for Brent Suter with a pair of outs in the Top of the 1st and eventually cruised through 4.1 IP of scoreless, 1-hit ball, anchoring a true team effort as the Reds won 4-1 and completed the series sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was a three-game series that truly featured a plus game from all three major aspects of the Cincinnati roster. Friday’s 9-6 thumping showed what the offense can do when (finally, mercifully) dialed in. Yesterday saw starter Hunter Greene throw fire and brilliance as an example of what their rotation can be when their young arms are pumping heat. And today, of course, the bullpen proved clutch alongside a string of timely 3rd inning hitting in which the Reds scored all 4 runs for the day.

The victory moved the Reds to 23-30 overall on the season and it brought them out of the cellar in the [/taps earpiece] it did not bring them out of the cellar in the National League Central. They still sit 1.5 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and 7.5 games behind Milwaukee in 1st place. They have, however, gone 5-5 over their last 10 games, a monumental improvement upon the awful play they’d put forth in the stretch prior.

Next up is a true litmus test for them in the form of a 3-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals in GABP. Are they really moving past an inflection point with this series in the bag? Can they take it to their division rivals who went about their offseason in polar opposite fashion to how the Reds did? Can they finally, finally string together some offense as the calendar shows Memorial Day and the weather begins to turn warm?

The Quest to Not Be Last in the Central continues tomorrow at 4:10 PM ET, when the Reds will have Nick Lodolo on the bump and will attempt to make Lance Lynn’s 2024 numbers start looking more like his 2023 numbers.

Go Reds!