MILWAUKEE -- Once the Trade Deadline came and went and the Reds shed five key veteran players, it was easy to envision their season careening off the rails over the final two months.

Not only has that not happened, the Reds are instead surging. A 4-2 victory over the Brewers in 10 innings on Sunday gave Cincinnati two of three games in the series. The club has won six of its last eight games and 16 of 25. The Reds are 6-1-1 in their last eight series, and since the disastrous 3-22 start to the season, they have a 41-41 record.

"The guys in the clubhouse, no matter what, they go out and do everything in their power to find ways to win games," Reds manager David Bell said. "They love that, they enjoy it. It's really nice to have some success and see our team enjoy what's happening. It's good motivation to keep it going and finish out strong."

How are the Reds getting it done? A variety of ways.

Starting pitching
Six games into the road trip -- all without Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle -- Reds starters are 2-2 with a 3.18 ERA. The rotation is more vulnerable now with rookie Hunter Greene on the injured list with a shoulder injury, making Sunday's starter, Graham Ashcraft, all the more valuable.

Ashcraft had one earned run and four hits allowed over 5 2/3 innings as the Reds improved to 10-4 in games in which he starts. With muggy conditions that forced him to change jerseys four times, the right-hander lacked his best stuff but still powered through.

"Everything was out of whack. It was a grind today. That was for sure," said Ashcraft, who has a 3.94 ERA in his 14 starts. "It was a great team win. We ended up doing what we needed to do, locking in and shutting the door."

The bullpen
Hunter Strickland's blown save naturally stands out after he opened the bottom of the ninth giving up Keston Hiura's game-tying homer to right field. But it's been a good stretch for a bullpen ranked 29th in ERA across the Major Leagues.

Reds relievers have a 2.47 ERA in the second half after sporting a 5.42 ERA in the first half. Alexis Díaz has a 0.77 ERA in 13 appearances since he came back from the injured list. Díaz pitched a scoreless eighth inning vs. Milwaukee as Bell used him against the heart of the lineup.

"Once one guy starts doing well, the other guys will try to compete with him and try to do well. Not that we don’t always try to do well, but the competitor in us really steps up and wants to do better than the other guy," said lefty Ross Detwiler, who recorded the save on Sunday.

Offensive contributions
Reds hitters are batting only .178 on the road trip with five homers, including the first in the big leagues for catcher Michael Papierski on Sunday. They are getting unique contributions of late, however. Rookie Jose Barrero slugged two homers in Saturday's win.

One of the players expected to be traded that wasn't, infielder Donovan Solano, has continued to be a key contributor while batting .298 in 36 games after he missed the first 67 games of the season with a hamstring injury.

The Reds were trailing, 1-0, in the eighth inning when Solano -- filling in at second base for the rested Jonathan India -- delivered a game-tying RBI double. It scored India, who reached on a pinch-hit single.

"I think if you’re here, if we’re here -- and I’m here -- I need to help in any way to my teammates inside or outside the game," the nine-year veteran said. "I can help Barrero. I can help Indy. Something can help them with what happened in my career, so I think it’s valuable, especially for me, to try to help people get better."

Doing what it takes to win
In the 10th inning, Aristides Aquino hustled for an infield single to third base and never stopped running when an errant throw allowed him to reach third base as automatic runner Austin Romine scored.

"The awareness and desire to get to third right there, and the aggressiveness and not being afraid to make an out. Getting to third was big," Bell said.

Aquino scored the key insurance run on Solano's sacrifice fly to give Detwiler more room to work with.

"At the end of the day you just have to accept what's going on," Ashcraft said. "We're going to go out there and grind every day and try to play the best that we can. All we can ask is that everybody gives everything they've got and that's what we're doing right now. It's going to be a fun second half."