On a night after they needed only a single run to get past the Cubs thanks to a Hunter Greene shutout, the Cincinnati Reds turned the power on on Friday night and hit a barrage of home runs to take a 7-4 victory in another much needed win. Spencer Steer led the way for the Reds, reaching base 3 times and hitting 2 of the Reds’ 5 home runs on the evening, joining Miguel Andujar, Matt McLain, and Elly De La Cruz who also homered tonight.

The firepower was needed tonight, as Reds’ starter Nick Lodolo labored through his outing tonight. He dealt with base runners all night and had trouble with the long ball himself, as the Cubs scored all 4 of their runs via the long ball. Lodolo, however, was able to limit the damage enough to allow the offense to come back and take the lead for good. In all, Lod0lo threw 4.2 innings and allowed 4 runs on 9 hits with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He exited the game in the top of the 5th with 2 runners on, but Connor Phillips was able to get Dansby Swanson to line out on his first pitch to end the inning.

The big inning for the Reds came in the bottom of the 6th. With the game tied 4-4, Austin Hays hit an infield single with 1 out. That brought up Spencer Steer, who hit his second home run of the night over the wall in left-center to give the Reds a 6-4 lead. The Reds weren’t done there, as Elly De La Cruz mis-hit a ball over the wall in left to end his 43(!) game homerless streak and give the Reds a 7-4 lead.

Enough can’t be said about the performance of the bullpen tonight. After Lodolo’s night ended early, Connor Phillips, Nick Martinez, Tony Santillan, and Emilio Pagan combined to allow only 3 base runners over the last 4.1 innings to preserve the victory. Those are exactly the performances the Reds need at this point of the season to keep their playoff hopes alive, especially on a night where the ball seemed to be flying out of the park.

Tonight’s win, at worst, keeps the Reds 2 games back of the New York Mets for the final Wild Card spot. At the time of this writing, the Mets lead the Washington Nationals 8-6 in the 7th inning. The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants have yet to start their games tonight. Isn’t it fun to watch scoreboards at the end of September?

The Reds and Cubs go at it again tomorrow. Zack Littell (9-8, 3.86 ERA) starts for the Reds and will face off against Javier Assad (3-1, 4.23 ERA) with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 PM EDT. Go Reds!