DENVER -- If you could encapsulate the Reds’ entire season to this point in one game, it was Sunday’s 7-6 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field.

When they arrived at the ballpark on Sunday morning, things were looking up for the Reds. After all, they were coming off one of the young season’s best wins, a hard-fought 12-inning contest following two losses to open the series.

In terms of Cincinnati’s overall season so far, let’s call this part “setting sail” -- the Reds opened the 2021 campaign with six wins in their first seven games, averaging nine runs a game right out of the gate.

But then things went south -- both Sunday and at that juncture in the season. And then they swung back north. And at various points along the way, Cincinnati’s dugout was riding a rollercoaster.

Let’s call this next part of the season “stormy seas” -- the Reds lost 11 of their next 14 games.

The Reds fell behind on Sunday, 6-1, by the fifth inning due in large part to sloppy defense and the inability to solve Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela. In his return to Coors Field for the first time since Colorado traded him to Cincinnati, Jeff Hoffman pitched under gray skies that foreshadowed things to come. 

It was Hoffman’s throwing error to first base in the fourth inning that opened the floodgates for the Rockies, who scored three unearned runs to take a 5-1 lead. Overall, he gave up five runs (two earned) on five hits, walking three and striking out five.

But the inconsistent Reds defense would continue. In the bottom of the fifth, reliever Ryan Hendrix retired the first two batters that he faced, before Josh Fuentes singled. Yonathan Daza followed with a single to left, moving Fuentes to third. But a poor throw from Shogo Akiyama short-hopped second baseman Jonathan India and enabled Fuentes to score, making it 6-1.

“You just keep playing,” manager David Bell said of the defensive miscues. “That’s all you can do. … The key to it is to not let it affect you later in the game.”

Or the season. The Reds took their manager’s advice after falling to 9-12 on the year, going 10-7 through Sunday’s win to climb back to the .500 mark at 19-19. We’ll call this current portion of the season “swimming back to the surface.”

On Sunday, the lapses in the field didn’t affect Cincinnati’s resolve at the plate. In the eighth, the Reds scored four times thanks to a two-run single by Tyler Naquin, a sacrifice fly by Eugenio Suárez and an RBI single by Shogo Akiyama for his career-high third hit of the game. And down to their last out in the ninth, a passed ball enabled Tucker Barnhart to score the tying run. Later in the frame, a Jordan Sheffield wild pitch gave the Reds the 7-6 lead.

With a game, a series and a season like the one Cincinnati has been having, you knew the bottom of the ninth wouldn’t be easy. Connor Joe opened the inning with a double down the left-field line off Tejay Antone. But he got the next Rockies batter, Trevor Story, to pop out. Then a Ryan McMahon single put the potential tying run 90 feet away.

The batter was Garrett Hampson, whose premier attribute is his speed. Anything on the ground was going to be difficult to convert into a game-ending double play. And yet, the Reds pulled off a 4-6-3 twin killing thanks to a quick turn and strong relay throw from Suárez, who was back playing shortstop.

“With [Hampson] running, it took a perfect turn,” Bell said. “And they did it right.”

When the ball hit Barnhart’s glove at first base, he pumped his right fist in a cathartic release after a pair of tension-filled innings, much like the battle that the last 17 games have been.

“It was a [great] win for our team to finish off a road trip like this,” Barnhart said. “It’s huge to get to .500 with a couple big series at home ahead of us.”

The win salvaged a series split and a 5-4 road trip for the Reds, who open a series with the Giants at Great American Ball Park on Monday. What will the next segment of the 2021 season look like for Cincinnati? The Reds are hoping it will reflect the way that Antone described the club after Sunday’s win.

“When everything clicks,” he said, “we’re a tough team to beat.”