ATLANTA -- Following Saturday night’s heartbreaking extra-innings loss to the Braves, the Reds easily could have mailed it in Sunday and looked ahead to going home and regrouping.

It would have been even easier to do so following Sunday afternoon’s lightning-quick meltdown in the ninth inning, which saw a two-run lead with two outs to go nightmarishly morph into a tie, with the winning run 90 feet away, in a matter of three hitters.

But that’s not in the DNA of these Reds, who won 6-4 in 10 innings against the Braves at SunTrust Park.

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“They never give up,” acting manager Freddie Benavides said. “We’re always battling to the end.”

On Sunday, reliever Robert Stephenson, whose attempted pickoff allowed Ozzie Albies to sprint from first to third before he even threw a pitch, got a strikeout then an inning-ending groundout in the ninth inning.

The 10th saw more resilience, this time after a double play appeared to short-circuit the inning. Pinch-hitter Aristides Aquino and José Iglesias singled against Braves closer Shane Greene before Tucker Barnhart, playing his 20th inning in fewer than 24 hours, blasted a cutter over the right-center-field wall. David Hernandez then held on to gain a split of the four-game series.

The Reds are OK with the split with the National League East-leading Braves. Of course, it’s always nice to earn the split with a win, especially this one, even if it came in a manner more dramatic than they’d prefer.

“We really, really needed it,” said Barnhart, who, in addition to his sixth homer, walked twice and scored twice. “Last night was rough. Any way we could have gotten today -- whether it was play 20 innings and win, score 15 runs and win 15-0, win a nail-biter -- it doesn’t matter how you get it. You just have to get it. Today was a huge win for us.”

Sunday’s win was even nicer seeing the positives and potential positives that came out of the series. It starts with the rotation. Over the four days in Atlanta, the Reds got the kind of starting pitching they hope to see for years to come and the kind they’ll need the rest of the season, and especially over the next two weeks, if they want to make up ground in the NL Wild Card race or even hope to stay in it.

“It’s one of the best, if not THE best rotation in the National League,” Barnhart said. “It’s a group of guys that’s going to make it extremely difficult on opposing offenses every single day and night out. I’ll take my chances with all our guys that we’ve got on the mound.”

Sunday’s starter, Sonny Gray, continued his hot pitching, throwing seven shutout innings while allowing four hits, striking out seven and walking four. He is 5-1 in nine starts since June 16, with three no-decisions as a result of blown saves. Gray has given up two or fewer runs six times in that stretch. He threw 110 pitches against the Braves, one off his season high, and permitted only one runner past second.

Gray did it knowing the bullpen was short handed -- closer Raisel Iglesias was unavailable -- and after throwing 29 pitches in the first inning, most of them high stress following a leadoff double by Ronald Acuna Jr. Gray, who recorded his first career RBI on a fourth-inning squeeze bunt, got out of the first by inducing an infield pop and two of his seven strikeouts.

“This may be the first time in my career that I’ve actually tried [to strike guys out],” said Gray, who is averaging 10.1 per nine innings. “Going in I was like, ‘I want to strike guys out.’ After the past couple of years, I sat down this offseason and looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘What can I do? What can I do better?’”

The Sonny Express has become a key component of a rotation that got better in the past week gaining Trevor Bauer at the Trade Deadline and a healthy Alex Wood. The rotation looks as daunting as ever with Gray and fellow All-Star Luis Castillo at the top and Anthony DeSclafani starting to hit his stride.

The Reds have an opportunity immediately after the upcoming two-game Interleague set with the Angels. They’ll embark on a brutal stretch over the next 15 days, playing four against the NL Central-leading Cubs, three against the second NL Wild Card co-holder Nationals and four at the first Wild Card-holder Cardinals. Then comes three against the Padres, who sit 1 1/2 games behind the Reds.

Cincinnati will get manager David Bell back from suspension for the stretch, and he’ll not only have the luxury of knowing where he’ll be watching the game -- his customary spot against the rail in the dugout -- but also that his team is starting to put it together and is growing in confidence, especially the rotation, which is young, good and only getting better.

“We’ve got a great rotation,” Gray said. “We’ve got a great bullpen and we can do some damage with the bats. It’s just we’ve just got to click and get the train rolling. Time’s running out, but we’ll see what happens.”