Instant Reaction: Will Benson Hits Two Home Runs, Reds Beat Guardians 3-1

CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Reds completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians Sunday, winning 3-1 and earning their fourth straight win overall.

Most importantly, Sunday's win puts the Reds back at .500 on the season at 24-24.

Let's look at the ket takeaways from Sunday's 3-1 win for the Reds over the Guardians.

Will Benson Does It Again

Will Benson led the offense with two more home runs on Sunday. He has now hit four home runs in his last five games, becoming the first Reds player to do that since Joey Votto in 2021.

Benson has multiple hits in three of his last four games, including three on Sunday against Cleveland. Since being recalled from AAA, the Reds' 26-year-old is 8-22 at the plate.

Andrew Abbott's Impressive Outing

Even though he left after five innings, Abbott still pitched well on Sunday. In his five innings, the Reds left-hander struck out five Guardians hitters and kept them off the scoreboard. Of his 96 piches, 61 were for strikes. The Guardians, despite drawing three walks, could only muster four hits off Abbott, who got his first win in the month of May on Sunday.

Bullpen Comes Through Again

What an effort from not only the entire Reds bullpen Sunday, but, particularly, Tony Santillan and Emilio Pagan were stellar in the sweep-clinching game. With both of them pitching in their third straight ball games, the two right-handers combined to throw 42 pitches that included 31 strikes.

Pagan, in particular, had to battle hard in the top of the ninth against the top of the Guardians lineup. He threw 29 pitches, but he worked around a leadoff double and one-out, infield hit to strike out Carlos Santana and WIll Brennan to end the game.

Pagan, who now has 12 saves on the season, picked up saves in each of the three games this weekend. That's 25 percent of his total saves on the season, and the Reds closer was put into some high leverage situations this weekend. He pitched the ninth inning with the Reds up just 5-4 on Friday, and then came on in the ninth when the Reds had a 3-1 lead.

The Reds starting pitching is what will carry this team through 162 games. But the bullpen's ability to finish off games is what may be the difference maker this season.

Notes and Notes

The Guardians went just 3-21 with runners in scoring position in the three-game series.
The Reds bullpen allowed just three runs in the three games against Cleveland, and that's with a bullpen day in Saturday's game.
Cincinnati's three-game sweep over Cleveland is their first over the Guardians since 2012.

On Deck

The Reds will head to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates Monday-Wednesday. Cincinnati swept Pittsburgh back on April 11-13 in the Queen City. Nick Lodolo (Monday), Nick Martinez (Tuesday) and Brady Singer (Wednesday) will be on the mound for the Reds, making it a great opportunity to get multiple games over .500. Pittsburgh sits just 15-32 on the season, and they have changed manager since last playing the Reds.

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