SAN DIEGO –– Just over two weeks ago, Alex Blandino went from the mound to shortstop, and Mike Freeman then went from shortstop to the mound.
On June 1, in the ninth inning of a 17-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cincinnati Reds needed two position players to pitch and finish the ninth inning. With the loss, the Reds fell to 24-29 and 6 1/2 games back in the NL Central.
Since then, the Reds have won 11 of their last 13 games and closed within two games of first place in the division. As Reds manager David Bell acknowledged after the Reds 2-1 win against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, going on a run like that and turning around a season is extremely difficult.