MIAMI -- Cody Reed is making up for lost time. The Reds' left-handed starter turned in his second consecutive scoreless outing on Thursday night, and Scooter Gennett continued his quest for the National League batting crown with a homer, a double and four RBIs in Cincinnati's 4-2 win over the Marlins in the first of a four-game set at Marlins Park.
Building on a five-inning, two-hit scoreless stint on Saturday against the Cubs, which included a career-high 10 strikeouts, Reed earned his first win of the season (1-2) and continued to make his case for a spot in the 2019 Reds rotation. The 25-year-old, in his third Major League season, gave up five hits while striking out six in a season-high six innings of work. He did not issue a walk, but did hit a batter.
Reed threw 51 strikes in an outstanding 71-pitch performance.
"I was just throwing the ball over the plate and I got a couple of quick outs, and they were swinging at the first pitch," Reed said. "Getting those quick outs and getting the team off the field to swing the sticks, it was good."
His slider was extremely effective, throwing it 31 times (22 for strikes), while his two-seam fastball was just as nasty -- 21 of 29 went for strikes.
"The slider has always been the pitch," said catcher Tucker Barnhart. "I think his changeup, we don't talk about enough. I think his changeup is equally as good as his slider, especially when he's aggressive on the plate with his fastball. The arm speed of his fastball and his changeup are pretty much identical. And as a hitter, that's a tough thing to defend."
Starting for only the sixth time this season, Reed has rallied in his third stint this season with the Reds. He started one game for the Reds on April 9, and was then sent to the bullpen. He didn't make his second start until Aug. 30, and after a second stint in the Minors, was a September callup. He has made four starts since Sept. 4 and is improving with each outing.
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"Team got the win, obviously that's the most important thing," said Reed, who was particularly happy with his changeup. "I think I struck a guy out on a changeup, that might be the first time my Major League career I've struck a guy out on a changeup. So, Tucker trusted me with it, and I got to execute it and it was fun."
After drawing a base on balls in his first at-bat, Gennett clubbed a two-out, two-run double in the third to give the Reds a 2-0 lead. It was his 20th go-ahead RBI of the season and 30th double of the season -- one shy of his career-high of 31 (2014).

He made it 4-0 in the seventh inning, smashing his 23rd home run of the season, a two-run blast into the upper deck in right field.
"I knew I got that one," Gennett said of the "no-doubter."

He went 2-for-3 and finished the night with a .318 batting average -- one point behind NL-leading Christian Yelich (.319), who was off.
The Marlins scratched across two runs in the eighth, but Raisel Iglesias closed it out with 1 1/3 innings of relief for his 29th save of the season. But not before Gennett made the defensive play of the game, sprawling out to snag a hard grounder off the bat of Miguel Rojas with the tying runners on base to seal the victory.

"I was playing more straight up rather than pull," Gennett said of the crucial situation. "I was able to get a good jump on it, dove and the ball went in my glove. Things happen pretty fast out there, I don't try to dive and slam my head on the ground unless I feel like I have a chance at getting it."
He did, and the Reds took the first game of the final road series in the 2018 season.
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Reed sailed along until giving up back-to-back singles to start the sixth inning. But the Reds got out of trouble when Reed got Marlins cleanup hitter Peter O'Brien to ground into a 5-4-3 double play.

"I got behind on that at-bat, and it was right after the mound visit, so that was perfect execution of the game plan and it turned out good," Reed said of his ability to refocus and get back on track.
SOUND SMART
Eugenio Suarez snapped an 0-for-14 skid with two hits. A third-inning single gave him 141 hits, a single-season career high.
HE SAID IT
"That play by Scooter was amazing. That ball's a hit on most days. Scooter made a great play." -- Interim manager Jim Riggleman, on Gennett's diving stop to end the game

UP NEXT
The Reds will send out former Marlins prospect Luis Castillo at 7:10 p.m. ET Friday in the second game of this four-game set at Marlins Park. The 25-year-old will be making his 31st start of the season. He came to the Reds in the Dan Straily trade in January 2017. Against his former team, Castillo is 1-0 lifetime with a 1.13 ERA. He gave up just one run on three hits over eight innings in a July 30, 2017, start. The Marlins will counter with lefty Wei-Yin Chen. The Reds had success against Chen in his only appearance against Cincinnati, as he allowed four runs on five hits, including two homers, over four innings.