CINCINNATI -- As the Reds endured a four-game losing streak last week where they were outscored by 22 runs and got especially pummeled by the Indians, it appeared that playing without key offensive players like the injured Scott Schebler and Jesse Winker, and the traded Adam Duvall was debilitating the lineup. Then Joey Votto went on the disabled list Friday.
Alas, it was proven during this weekend's series that the well of offense is not dry after all. A seven-run bottom of the third inning pushed the Reds to a 17-hit day and an 11-4 victory over the Giants at Great American Ball Park for a three-game series sweep and 5-4 homestand.
"[Injured players are] a pretty bad loss for us, but I think we've got a really good opportunity to play well with the guys we have right now. We do our best," said Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who hit a two-run home run during the big inning. "Jose Peraza hit it well. Billy Hamilton started it being on base, Scooter Gennett [is] hot, I'm doing my best. When we've got guys like that on base, we've got a chance to win games."

It was the top three of the Cincinnati lineup -- Hamilton, Peraza and Gennett -- that combined to go 7-for-12 Sunday with four runs scored.
• Castillo on target in dominant outing vs. Giants
"We had good at-bats," said Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman, who has made use of fill-ins like Dilson Herrera, Mason Williams, Preston Tucker, Curt Casali and more lately. "Sometimes the left-handed pitching can really stifle you, and we've made improvements there. I think our guys have done much better against left-handed pitching in the last several weeks than we did earlier in the year. Good competitive at-bats, driving in runs, good situational hitting, and it turned into a win."

After the Reds won Friday's series opener, 2-1, in 11 innings, they outscored the Giants by an 18-5 margin for the final two victories. San Francisco's pitching staff came in with the best ERA in the National League since June 1 at 3.43.
"Sometimes you get clubs when they're a little bit down and the combination of how well we pitched and a couple of guys struggling with the bat, you can string some wins together," Riggleman said. "We're swinging it very well, we hit a very hot Cleveland club and the Giants will leave here, and I'm sure they'll get it going again. But we kind of got them at the right time."
Defensive miscues by the Giants opened the door to the big bottom of the third. Cincinnati trailed by a 1-0 score when Herrera notched a leadoff single to left field for the team's first hit against pitcher Andrew Suarez. Casali followed with a double to the left-field corner. Gorkys Hernandez let the ball scoot by him along the wall to allow Herrera score easily from first base.

After Reds pitcher Luis Castillo laid down a sacrifice bunt, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt couldn't field the ball for an error that left everybody safe and set up Hamilton's sacrifice fly that scored Casali. After Peraza kept the rally going with a single, Gennett came through with a two-run triple to the right-field corner.
"He just made too many two-strike mistakes," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Suarez. "He got ahead, and some of those hits are 0-2, 1-2. Now granted, some of them were not hit very well. They had their way with the placement of hits. Now, the one that really hurt was Gennett. We're somewhat still in the game, and the 0-2 pitch, he hung."
In total, 12 Reds batters came to the plate for seven hits and seven runs -- with five unearned.

During the bottom of the sixth inning following Hamilton's one-out triple, Peraza clubbed a two-run homer to left field to make it a 9-1 game.
"We feel like we're back again to start hitting good, taking good at-bats," Suarez said. "It's good for our offense. I think the hotter guys we have right now help everybody. Right now, everybody has got a comfort. Everyone feels good at the plate, and everybody is helping the team win. That's the most important thing."
Castillo had a nice day on the mound for the Reds with three runs (one earned) and six hits allowed over 6 2/3 innings with no walks and nine strikeouts.

MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Career-high for Suarez: Suarez made it a 6-1 game in the third when he slugged a 1-1 pitch to center field for a two-run home run. That gave him a new career-high 27 homers for the season and extended his career-high RBI total to 91.
"That's great for me," Suarez said. "I tell everybody, my goal is to be better than last year. I broke my career high in homers and RBIs, and now my goal is to be better and better and finish as strong as I can."

SOUND SMART
Hamilton had two hits in the game with triples in back-to-back at-bats in the sixth and seventh innings. Amazingly, it was the first time the speedy Hamilton tripled twice in a game. The last Reds player to have two triples in one game was Jay Bruce on Aug. 2, 2015. Other Reds to achieve the feat in recent times were Dmitri Young (2000), Barry Larkin (1998), Willie Greene ('96) and Jeff Branson ('96).
"We want him on base, period," Riggleman said of Hamilton. "He creates havoc when he's on base, and he's a guy that if he hits the ball and he happens to hit it to the lines the way he did those two, it's going to be a triple. Just a good performance."

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
With two outs and a runner on second base, a would-be third out on a routine grounder to shortstop was missed when first baseman Tucker Barnhart couldn't catch Peraza's throw. It turned out the ball broke through the webbing of the glove, which allowed a run to score against Castillo. Barnhart, who is filling in for the injured Votto, has been among many players borrowing Brandon Dixon's first baseman's glove.
"It was weird," Barnhart said. "When you flush a ball, if you hit an iron and you hit it really pure, or you hit a ball right on the barrel, you don't feel it. I didn't feel it go through my glove. I looked down, and I didn't have the ball in my glove, and I saw the web was gone. It was just a freak accident for sure." More >

UP NEXT
The Reds head on the road for seven games, beginning with the opener of a three-game series vs. the Brewers at Miller Park at 8:10 p.m. ET Monday. It will be a chance for Homer Bailey to right the ship after he's allowed 10 earned runs and 21 hits over his last two starts, totaling 8 2/3 innings. Bailey is 7-10 with a 4.79 ERA in 27 career starts vs. Milwaukee. Right-hander Chase Anderson is the Brewers' scheduled starter.