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MILWAUKEE -- Joey Votto contorted his body in the batters box as if he was trying to will his towering fly ball to stay fair as it sailed down the right field line. It did. Barely. The ball bounced off the foul pole for a two-run homer, helping the Cincinnati Reds keep pace in the NL Central race with a 7-3 victory Saturday over the Milwaukee Brewers. Maybe Vottos drive will be the spark that gets some of the Reds best hitters going down the stretch of a tight pennant chase. The Reds had lost three of their previous four. "Every game, from my perspective, its as important in April as it is in September," Votto said. "But, weve got a pretty good idea of whats happening around you. You have an idea of whos behind you and whos ahead of you, how many games you need to make up." The Pirates won Saturday night to draw even atop the division with the Cardinals, who lost. The Reds are 2 1/2 games behind both teams. Cincinnati is also trying to fend off Washington in the wild-card race. The Nationals fell 5 1/2 games back after losing to the Phillies. Homer Bailey (11-10) allowed three runs over seven innings in winning his career-best sixth straight decision. Votto and leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo each finished 2 of 3 with three RBIs and two-run homers. "We scored enough runs and got a win," Bailey said. "We needed it." Driving in runs has been a challenge for four of the Reds big bats in September. Brandon Phillips, Ryan Ludwick, Jay Bruce and Votto had combined for 13 RBIs in 12 games this month entering Saturday. Manager Dusty Baker met privately with some hitters before the game. The Reds skipper declined to give details. Regardless of who was in the meeting, and what was said, the bats broke through. Fifth-place hitter Ludwick was 2 of 5, while No. 6 Todd Frazier went 2 of 4 with an RBI. Votto said he waited at the plate during his homer only because he wasnt sure if it would go foul. Too bad for the Brewers. "I was hoping that ball had a lot of hook in it," manager Ron Roenicke said. "But it got up there and stayed there." The homer travelled an estimated 470 feet, tied with a long ball by Rickie Weeks in 2011 for the fourth-longest in the 11-year history of Miller Park. The Brewers had a shot in the eighth after Jeff Bianchi was walked by Sam LeCure to load the bases with two outs for pinch-hitter Jonathan Lucroy. Baker responded by bringing in All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman in the eighth. The last time he faced the hard-throwing closer, on Aug. 16 at Miller Park, Lucroy hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give Milwaukee a 7-6 win. Same ballpark, different result. This time, Lucroy swung at a 100 mph heater in the dirt. The ball skipped past the plate and bounced off the backstop, though catcher Devin Mesoraco retrieved it in time to throw out Lucroy at first. "To repeat something like that, really tough," Roenicke said about Lucroys chances of success again off Chapman. "At a 101 mph, its tough." Chapman walked two in the ninth, but struck out the last two batters to finish off his 36th save. Brewers rookie Johnny Hellweg (1-4), making his fifth career major league start, allowed eight hits and four runs, and hit three batters over five innings. Carlos Gomez had two hits and an RBI for the Brewers, while Jean Segura stole his NL-leading 43rd base of the season. They got outmuscled by Choo and Votto at the plate. Choo reached on a walk with one out in the sixth. One out later, Votto turned on a fastball from reliever Michael Blazek for his 23rd homer and a 6-3 lead. Bailey allowed five hits, with the Brewers causing all their damage in the fourth. Khris Davis, back in the lineup after missing more than a week with a sore left wrist, doubled home Scooter Gennett. Gomez singled home Davis. The speedy Gomez then stole his 36th base before advancing home on two consecutive sacrifice flies to get Milwaukee to 4-3. Vottos homer two innings later gave the Reds a three-run cushion again. NOTES: Brewers 3B Aramis Ramirez (left wrist) was unavailable after being hit by a pitch Friday night. He was considered day to day ... Milwaukee is testing different tinting and shading on windows near the roof down the right-field line in an effort to help reduce glare during day games. The team hopes to have its chosen option in place for next season. Nate Thurmond Warriors Jersey . With Bernard hurt, the second-round pick has emerged.Hill ran for 152 yards during a 27-10 win at New Orleans on Sunday, his second big game. He also ran for 154 yards against Jacksonville earlier this season. Omari Spellman Warriors Jersey .? It was his second straight start for the Jets; he suffered a 1-0 loss against Minnesota Monday. So this season Hutchinson has now won games in the ECHL, AHL and NHL. He was perfect three- for-three in the shootout to nail down the win. https://www.warriorsrookiesshop.com/Wilt...Edition-Jersey/. Hamels threw seven sharp innings to earn his 100th career victory, Domonic Brown had a career-best five RBIs and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 12-1 on Saturday night to end a four-game losing streak. Alen Smailagic Warriors Jersey . Sure, Josh Browns 45-yard field goal on the third drive of overtime lifted the New York Giants to a 23-20 win over Detroit on Sunday. But the Lions (7-8) dropped themselves out of the NFC North race by losing five of their last six games, blowing fourth-quarter leads in each setback. Nick Young Jersey .Y. -- Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff had an opportunity to experience an entire range of emotions in his first trip back to Buffalo to face his former team.(SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders will try to strengthen their lead atop the Metropolitan Division on Monday afternoon in their final game before the All-Star break as they host the rival Philadelphia Flyers. The Islanders hold a three-point lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the division after seeing a four-game win streak come to an end with Saturdays 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The Pens are idle before visiting the Flyers on Tuesday, while the Isles arent back in action following today until after this weekends All-Star game. All-Star Jaroslav Halak had a rare poor performance on Saturday, tagged for six goals on 33 shots faced before getting lifted late in the game. Halak had made 21 saves in a win over the Penguins the previous night. John Tavares and Kyle Okposo each notched a goal and an assist for the Islanders. Okposo scored four goals in the 6-3 win over the Pens. We mismanaged the puck in two periods, had 17 giveaways, said Islanders coach Jack Capuano. We didnt have our transition game tonight, but I give them credit, they moved the puck well tonight and their power play executed as it should. The Flyers hope to secure a big win today and keep their offense on track following a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Philadelphia was shut out in consecutive ggames going in and snapped a scoreless streak of 168 minutes and 50 seconds with R.ddddddddddddJ. Umbergers second-period tally 3:51 into the frame. It was Philadelphias first goal since the second period of last Mondays 7-3 win over Tampa Bay. Mark Streit also scored and Chris VandeVelde and Michael Raffl scored third- period tallies. We have a group of guys here that love scoring goals and some of the guys do it often. To go a couple of games without scoring, it definitely feels long, Umberger said. Rob Zepp came up with 24 saves, as he made his third start and fourth appearance in four games since No. 1 Steve Mason went down with a sprained right knee. Zepp, a 33-year-old rookie, is 3-1-0 with a 2.38 goals against average and .904 save percentage in five games (4 starts) on the season for the Flyers, who are 11 points out of a wild card spot. Halak is 5-2-0 in his career against Philadelphia with a 1.91 GAA, .936 save percentage and two shutouts in seven meetings. He made 21 saves in a 1-0 shootout victory at home over the Flyers on Nov. 24, which was the first of four meetings between the clubs this season. Mason made 46 saves, but yielded shootout goals to Frans Nielsen and Tavares as the Isles beat the Flyers for the third time in the past four encounters on Long Island. ' ' '