The key to the Reds' success? Votto's TikToks

CINCINNATI -- In a TikTok posted on Friday, Joey Votto appeared wearing the costume of one of the Reds' mascots, Mr. Redlegs. Votto declared, "It's time to win a ballgame, let's go Reds," before putting on the character's head and walking out of the shot.

The Reds would soon heed their first baseman's call to action with a strong offensive display -- including a third-inning homer for Votto and four RBIs from Tyler Naquin -- during a 9-5 victory over the Cardinals. A statistic you won't find in any official listing is Cincinnati's record this season in games after Votto posts on TikTok.

"I know, 5-0 huh?" Votto said. "I’m doing it plenty. I actually hesitate to put them out because I’ve got to focus on work."

Although the win was dampened by Tyler Stephenson suffering a broken right clavicle from a foul tip in the first inning, the Reds did a nice job of picking up for their injured catcher and rookie pitcher Graham Ashcraft.

Ashcraft, who threw 112 pitches over 4 2/3 innings, fell into a 2-0 deficit during a 33-pitch top of the second inning that featured a hit off his glove, two walks and Tyler O'Neill's two-out, two-run single.

The Reds responded with four runs in the bottom of the second inning against venerable St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright. With two on and one out, Naquin lifted a soft two-run single into left field that scored Stephenson's replacement, Michael Papierski, and Kyle Farmer. Donovan Solano followed Naquin with a two-run homer to left field.

"I can’t explain it, but there’s a lot to be said for the momentum in a game. It shifts. It takes a lot of energy to shift it back around," Reds manager David Bell said. "When you keep playing, no matter what happens, you can fight through those things. It’s nice when you can go do what we did tonight."

There were two outs in the bottom of the third inning when Votto lifted Wainwright's 2-2 pitch to left-center field for a solo homer and 5-2 Reds lead. Wainwright is 0-5 with a 6.30 ERA in his last seven starts vs. the Reds, and he's 10-17 with a 5.46 ERA against them lifetime.

Votto, who has seven homers this season, joined social media on multiple platforms for the first time this offseason. He had taken a roughly two-month break from posting on TikTok but returned on July 12 with another video involving Mr. Redlegs. That night, the Reds emerged with a thrilling 4-3 win over the Yankees after scoring all of their runs in the top of the ninth inning.

"Maybe I’ll put them all together in the offseason and put them out every other day and get to 100 wins," Votto joked.

Since returning from back tightness that caused him to miss seven games, Votto has a six-game hitting streak. Batting .217 with a .709 OPS in 68 games overall, he struggled throughout the first half, but he wasn't ready to say he found a groove to carry him through the second half.

"A game like this isn’t predictive," Votto said. "I’ve got to keep tinkering, keep working, plugging away."

Paul Goldschmidt's two-run homer in the fifth inning against Ashcraft trimmed the Reds' lead to one run, but they responded again in the sixth when Naquin hit a two-run triple past diving center fielder Dylan Carlson. Solano added a sacrifice fly that scored Naquin to give the Nos. 7 and 8 spots in the lineup a combined seven RBIs.

"I think the break just resets the mind. I felt good tonight and I plan on riding that out," said Naquin, who came in batting .176 in 12 games since returning from a quadriceps injury that put him out for 31 games.

Jonathan India helped put the game away by leading off the seventh inning with a homer to left field. It extended India's hitting streak to eight games.

"You need contributions from everyone, and it takes the pressure off other guys where maybe they go through a stretch where they’re not swinging it as well," Bell said. "That’s what a team is all about as well. Getting contributions from throughout the lineup has been a big part of our success over the last few weeks, and it’s pretty exciting too when you know the other guys too, they have a long track record of doing really good things. Pretty exciting for our whole order when we can get help at the bottom like that."