CINCINNATI -- Maybe the Reds' luck is changing.
A team that has sent 11 players to the disabled list and has often seen masterful starting pitching go for naught certainly could use a break. Cincinnati received even more fine pitching, from Homer Bailey, as well as some timely help from visiting Colorado on Sunday to win, 4-1, at Great American Ball Park.
Cincinnati slowed Colorado's runaway-freight-train batting order often enough to win two of three games over the weekend.
Bailey (3-2) gave up only Charlie Blackmon's solo homer over 7 1/3 innings and eased over a potential fifth-inning speed bump.
 
Frazier, Bailey lead Reds to 4-1 win over Rockies
 
The Rockies put runners at second and third with nobody out, thanks to Justin Morneau's leadoff walk and Michael McKenry's ground-rule double that bounded into the left-field seats. Bailey then pulled himself together, striking out DJ LeMahieu and Juan Nicasio and getting Blackmon to pop up and end the inning.
After McKenry's double, Bailey sat down nine in a row before LeMahieu's eighth-inning single.
The Reds' batting order, meanwhile, got a bit of assistance from the Rockies.
Billy Hamilton, wielding the pink bat used by many players Sunday as part of the Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer initiative, led off the game by dropping down a well-placed bunt. Colorado first baseman Morneau's throw was wide of LeMahieu, covering from second base, and Hamilton scurried to third before the ball could be recovered.
Skip Schumaker followed with an RBI groundout to score the game's first run.
Nicasio balked Ramon Santiago from second to third, helping Santiago score on Schumaker's two-out single to center in the third inning. Todd Frazier widened a 2-1 lead to 3-1 with his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot that landed in the grass beyond the fence in center field.
Santiago doubled in the fifth and scored on Brandon Phillips' two-out ground ball with help from Nolan Arenado's throwing error.
Nicasio (4-2) was charged with four runs (two earned) over six innings.
Manny Parra finished the eighth inning for Bailey, and after getting hit in the face with a line drive during Spring Training, Reds closer Aroldis Chapman entered the game for his season debut. He followed a leadoff walk with strikeouts of Carlos Gonzalez, Arenado and Morneau.
Andy Call / Special to MLB.com
 

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