Santiago Espinal’s well-placed bloop single drove in two runs in the fifth inning, and the Cincinnati Reds beat Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros 5-3 on Monday.
Ty France had four hits as Cincinnati stopped Houston’s five-game win streak.
Carson Spiers (5-5), the third of five Cincinnati pitchers, worked 2 1/3 innings for the win.
Before the back to back wins Sunday and yesterday, the Reds had lost 8 of 10 including 3 in a row.
The Reds are now 66-73, 15.5 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central and 9 games back in the NL Wild Card race.
The Reds are off today and will wrap up the Astros series and the 10 game homestead with a Wednesday game at 6:40pm and a 1:10 game on Thursday.
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