The Reds broke open Wednesday’s game with four home runs and beat the Phillies 11-5, a result that tied the series at one game apiece. Sal Stewart drove the swing with two of those homers, giving Cincinnati the kind of burst it had been waiting for.
That win mattered because the Reds were still 3-7 in their last 10 games, even after putting up the runs that finally separated them from Philadelphia. Cincinnati had entered July hitting.236, better than its.220 mark in June but still sitting at.228 for the season, a number that explains why one big night has not erased the larger problem.
Brady Singer is the name driving the search because the pitching matchup remains part of the story around this series, and the listed probable starters point to two very different profiles. One pitcher has 82.1 IP, a 3-8 record, a 5.03 ERA, a 1.54 WHIP, 71 K and 30 BB in 2026. The other has 103.1 IP, a 7-4 record, a 3.75 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP, 125 K and 33 BB in 2026. The stat lines are not labeled in the prompt, but the better run prevention, lower WHIP and far stronger strikeout total belong to the 7-4 pitcher, while the 3-8 line matches the arm with the higher ERA and walks.
The Phillies still opened July 3-4 and carried a 6.75 ERA into the month, with opponents batting.307 against them. That is the wrinkle in the clean story of a Reds win: Cincinnati took control on Wednesday, yet it did so while still carrying a season batting average that ranks among the worst in the league and a month-to-month profile that has not yet looked fully repaired. The All-Star break could not come at a better time for the Reds, but they have to get through one more push first.
Next, Cincinnati hosts Chicago for three games to end the first half, while the Phillies move on to a three-game road trip to Detroit. For the Reds, the task is simple to state and hard to solve: make Wednesday look like a turn rather than a pause.
