Much has been made about Eugenio Suárez’s move back to shortstop, but Mike Moustakas also moved back to his old position of third base in the Reds' infield shuffle. Judging by some recent defensive stops, Moustakas has transitioned well after he played mostly second base last season.

“I'm really comfortable over there,” Moustakas said on Tuesday. “Obviously, I spent almost all of my career at third base, so, the more I can get back over there, the more comfortable I'm going to feel. I feel good just getting the reps again.”

To end the second inning of Monday’s 3-0 Reds win over the Giants, Moustakas snagged a Maurice Dubón hopper near the third-base line. He had to make the long throw to first base across his body. The heave one-hopped hard to Joey Votto, who made a nice play himself receiving it with his foot on the back of the bag as he fell.

“Being able to come up down the line, throw the ball over there and just have the trust that he’s going to pick me up on the other side -- and he did,” Moustakas said. “It goes back to his work, his work ethic, everything he does. He made a phenomenal play to finish that. That’s a huge out for us getting back in the dugout and getting on the offensive side.”

According to Statcast, Moustakas has one out above average defensively and he leads his position with a 90 percent success rate.

Moustakas, 32, is a three-time All-Star who played third base for nine seasons with the Royals and Brewers before joining the Reds last season.

“He’s playing really well,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He’s playing like he feels really comfortable, and you can tell he’s at home playing the position. He made all the plays at second base last year, and I have no doubt that he’d continue to do that. I do feel that his level of comfort at third base has shown up and you can tell he’s played there for a long, long time. That goes a long way, and that’s what we’re seeing.”

Suárez, who moved from third base to shortstop, has committed four errors over his first nine games -- including two on Opening Day. But after five seasons away from playing shortstop regularly, he appears to be getting more comfortable, also.

On Monday, for the final out of the fourth inning, Suárez made a backhanded scoop of a Wilmer Flores grounder to his right and threw to first base on one foot while on the move for the out.

“More impressive was some of the plays Geno made last night,” Moustakas said. “He made some phenomenal defensive plays that swung the game and it was great to see him make those plays and he's capable of making a lot more plays too, it's going to be fun watching him the further we go.”

Winker back on track

Reds left fielder Jesse Winker missed four games last week with a stomach bug, returned Friday at Arizona and went 3-for-3 before exiting with cramps in both calves. Winker missed two more starts on Saturday and Sunday.

On Monday while going 2-for-4, Winker didn’t miss a beat. He slugged a two-out, two-run home run to center field in the third inning at San Francisco and legged out an infield single in the fifth inning. Credit for staying sharp was given to hitting coach Alan Zinter and assistant hitting coach Joe Mather.

“It’s a challenge, but I just try to go up there and be competitive and do what [I] can to help the club,” Winker said on Tuesday. “It’s really just keeping your body moving and keeping it active. When we were back in Cincinnati, the first couple of days I came back from my home, it was just kind of getting back swinging, getting your back loose, getting your body moving and getting your body hot. We kind of worked on little things every day.”

Gray set to return

Bell revealed that pitcher Sonny Gray is set to be activated from the 10-day injured list and make his 2021 debut. The club has yet to determine if Gray -- who missed the start of the season with a mid-back muscle strain -- would start vs. Cleveland on Friday or Saturday.