Christian Encarnacion-Strand had three hits and Elly De La Cruz delivered his seventh home run to send the Reds to a 8-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
CES came into the game hitting .190 but he drove in the Reds first two runs.
"It is a long season," Encarnacion-Strand said. "You just keep your approach and keep working. I try to just take every at bat, not the same but the same approach at least. I try to get my best swing off."
Clutch pitching Fernando Cruz preserved the lead, getting the Phillies two hottest hitters out with the bases loaded.
The Phillies opened the scoring against Andrew Abbott in the first inning. With two outs J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm hit back-to-back doubles.
The Reds fought back with an unearned run against Christopher Sanchez. Stuart Fairchild reached base on Edmundo Sosa's error at third base. Spencer Steer forced Fairchild at second. One out later Jeimer Candelario drew a walk. Encarnacion-Strand doubled down the right field line to tie the game.
The Reds parlayed three singles and a couple of walks combined with some throwing errors to put four runs on the scoreboard in the third.
Tyler Stephenson walked and went to second on a wild pitch. Encarnacion-Strand picked up his second hit and RBI with a single through the shortstop hole. Christian Pache's throw got past Realmuto and CES went to third. De La Cruz walked and stole second. Both scored when Nick Martini had an infield hit that scored CES and De La Cruz when Whit Merrifield's throw went out of play. Santiago Espinal's second hit of the game delivered Martini to put the Reds in charge, 5-1.
The home run added to the lead but the larger impact was a double play De La Cruz started in the sixth inning. With two on and one out, he got to a ball in the hole and made a quick throw to second that Espinal turned it to end the inning. The next inning, with the leadoff man on. De La Cruz tracked down a fly ball down the line in medium left field to retire Johan Rojas.
"It is amazing what Elly did when you stop and think about it," Bell said. "He went a long way for it. The speed obviously, but it was the desire to make the play. He wants to do everything he can to get his hands on the ball. That was a great play but maybe a more impressive play was the double play ball. That he charged and Espy did a nice job of turning it. Defense is so important."
Abbott walked the bottom three batters in the fifth to stare the inning. He struck out Kyle Schwarber looking. David Bell brought in Cruz to face Trea Turner. Cruz struck out Turner. Realmuto lined out to center field and the Phillies came up empty.
Abbott was cruising until the fifth and a win got away from him.
"Cruz has had an opportunity to get into the game and have a big impact," Bell said. "It was great pitching. He keeps getting better and better. It's fun to watch to make 10 pitches and have such an impact on the game."
Abbott finished with 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits but he walked four and struck out three.
"I think I started to nibble too much instead of just throwing the ball. With a good hitting lineup you can't be afraid to throw the ball over the plate. I just started trying to hit the corners," Abbott said.
CES opened the bottom of the fifth with his third hit. De La Cruz hit his seventh home run of the season to left center. The victim, Yunior Marte, came into the game with a 0.87 ERA.
Buck Farmer pitched two scoreless innings. Emilio Pagan held the Phillies for an inning.
Espinal hit a home run off Ricardo Pinto. It was his first of the season and his third hit of the game.
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