MILWAUKEE -- When Reds first baseman Joey Votto hit his first home run since June 25 during Tuesday’s 14-6 win over the Brewers, there was something different happening.

Votto wasn’t choking up on the bat when he pulled a first-pitch fastball from Brewers right-hander Burch Smith to right field for his ninth homer of 2019. For most of his career, he would choke up with two strikes to shorten his swing and have more bat control. But Votto started choking up all the time the last few seasons.

The last few games have seen Votto with his hands down by the knob of his bat.

Entering Wednesday, Votto was hitting .235/.278/.373 since the All-Star break and .263/.349/.406 overall.

“He continues to make adjustments,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He's going to stick with it, he's going to keep doing what he believes is going to work. It's nice to see the results for him, and just trusting that and staying with what he's trying to do right now, because I see the same thing that you said. He looks to be in what looks to be a really good, strong position to hit.”

The exit velocity on Votto's homer was 103.3 mph, according to Statcast. In his first at-bat of the night, he lined a double to left field against starter Zach Davies.

Injury report

The Reds have decided that left-handed starter Alex Wood (lower back spasms) will get at least one more rehab assignment start. Wood is scheduled to pitch Saturday for Triple-A Louisville.

With Double-A Chattanooga on Monday, Wood worked six innings with one earned run, four hits, no walks and four strikeouts while throwing 85 pitches. He is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in four rehab outings overall.

Utility player Kyle Farmer was eligible to be activated from the seven-day concussion list Wednesday, but he remains out.

“He’s been going through all the workouts. Everything seems fine,” Bell said.

Farmer, who took a hard foul ball off his mask on July 16 vs. the Cubs, has an appointment to see the doctor during Thursday’s team off-day.

“If everything gets cleared there, he would probably go play a game or two just to get back out there,” Bell said. “He’d probably catch, too. Tucker [Barnhart] is going to be catching in Triple-A.”

Romano the long man?

Right-handed pitcher Sal Romano completed the final three innings in Tuesday’s win and picked up his first career save. But he had no idea of what he had accomplished.

"I totally forgot about the three-inning rule,” Romano said. “Sonny [Gray] told me when he came out to shake hands. Pretty cool."

Romano, who was recalled from Louisville on Monday, gave up one earned run and three hits with one walk and two strikeouts in his 2019 debut for Cincinnati. He came in on a roll, after he went 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA over his last four games (three starts) with Louisville.

“It was great to get back out there with everybody and just enjoy the moment, take it all in again,” Romano said. “It's been a while for me. I took a second to realize it's the same game. I've been here before. My job was to go out and finish it for the team. I was able to do that."

Bell has not really used a long reliever most of this season, nor have the Reds often carried one in their bullpen. Could Romano be that type of option?

“It was nice because he had been built up to four or five innings, 80 pitches,” Bell said. “He was on his normal rest. If you have a guy in your bullpen, it’s to only use him like that. It worked out perfectly [Tuesday]. We certainly try to take advantage of him being built up like that. 

“With Sal, who knows long-term? He could be a starter. When I watch him, he looks like a power pitcher. He could be a back end of the bullpen guy with the body type and the power arm. He threw really well. It looked a little different to me than it did in Spring Training -- a little more downhill. It just looked powerful. There might be more in there, which is pretty exciting. We just have to see how it all works out.”