A 6-2 victory over the D-backs on Wednesday iced a three-game series sweep and improved the Reds to a Major League-best 80-52. It is the quickest to 80 wins for the club since the 1976 team won No. 80 in its 125th game. This also marked the first time since ’76 that a Reds team won 80 games before the end of August.
In 1976, the Big Red Machine won 102 games and went on to sweep the Yankees for a second straight World Series title.
“We felt that in Spring Training that we’re a special team,” manager Dusty Baker said. “It’s a good year to be a special team, for everybody. Our guys keep plugging along, winning ballgames any way we can win them.”
Last season, the Reds finished with 79 wins. There are still 30 games remaining in this season. If it ended now, they would have home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.
Things have been loose and relaxed inside the Reds’ clubhouse of late, for good reason. In the second half, almost entirely without Joey Votto, they are 33-14, also the best in baseball. They are 10-2-2 in 14 second-half series.
“We’re just having fun,” said second baseman Brandon Phillips, not long after getting a playful kiss on the cheek from teammate Todd Frazier. “Everybody is joking around with people. Everybody is getting clutch hits when we need them.”
Even winning can be taxing, though. Playing their 34th game in 34 days before finally getting a break with Thursday’s off-day in Houston, the Reds looked every bit of a team running on fumes for the first two-thirds of Wednesday’s game.
Arizona lefty Patrick Corbin retired seven of his first eight batters, and 16 of 18. Through the first six innings, the Reds trailed, 2-0, and their only hits were a third-inning single from pitcher Mat Latos and a Zack Cozart infield single in the sixth that snapped a 0-for-20 skid.
There turned out to be reserves left in the tank that would boost the Reds.
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