Braves Home Runs End Reds Winning Streak At 12 Games

The Reds streak came to an end with a barrage of home runs from the Atlanta Braves, 7-6. 

The Braves used home runs from Travis d'Arnaud, Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Marcel Ozuna to stave off another Reds' comeback.

d'Arnaud homered for the second straight day.

Graham Ashcraft came off the Injured List from a calf injury when he was hit by a batted ball in his last start.

Leading off the second inning, d'Arnaud lined Ashcraft's 1-0 pitch into the right field stands for his sixth home run of the season. Albies hit his 18th home run leading off the third inning. Atlanta scored again in the third on a double by Olson and single by Ozuna.

"It took Graham a little while to settle in. The good thing is he is healthy and back in our rotation," David Bell said.

The Reds fought back against Braves' left hander Jared Shuster. TJ Friedl bunted for a base hit and stole second. Matt McLain hit his fourth home run with two outs to make it a a 3-2 game.

Austin Riley followed Albies' two out single and stolen base with an RBI double in the fourth. Olson hit his NL leading 24th home run to put the Braves up 6-2.

"Physically, I felt the best since the beginning of the year," Ashcraft said. "Other than two pitches to Albies and d'Arnaud. The pitch to Olson was well executed it was down well below the zone he just put a good swing on it but I felt all my stuff was working. I was pounding the zone."

 Elly De la Cruz extended his hitting streak to seven games and Spencer Steer hit his team leading 11th home run of the year to bring the Reds within two runs again. 

"It is a resilient group of group," Steer said. "It is the story of our team, taking it to the last out and making it a one-run ballgame. I wish we won 100 in a row but we played some really good baseball the last to weeks. We created a culture and a bond in that clubhouse. We showed we can play with the heavyweights. We're going to keep building on it."

Ozuna hit his 15th home run of the season against Alex Young in the seventh.

Former Reds' closer Raisel Iglesias came on in the ninth. He gave up Jake Fraley's 11th home run. Will Benson followed with his third home run pinch hitting for Kevin Newman but he struck out McLain and Jonathan India to record his 11th save of the season.

The Reds last loss was a 7-4 verdict in St. Louis on June 9.

"It was quite a streak. We did get used to it. That's a good thing. We appreciate what we've been able to accomplish against good teams. As appreciative of the streak as we are, who we are in our clubhouse does not go away. As disappointing as it was today, what we accomplished does not go away," Bell said.

"Right up until the final out we all believed it was going to happen. We know down deep a streak like that is going to end but the work we've done goes forward."