Seven straight! Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds bats break out for 10-3 win over Astros

HOUSTON — Not so fast on those trade talks for starting pitching help.

On second thought, don’t stop now.

If anything, Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott before him and the rest of the current Cincinnati Reds’ rotation has just given the front office a weeklong glimpse into just how dangerous this team might be with good starting pitching over the next four months.

Behind Greene’s six strong innings Saturday in Houston, the Reds beat the reigning World Series-champion Astros 10-3 for their longest winning streak in five years.

Reds AstrosIf Cincinnati Reds keep winning like this, GM Nick Krall moves on deck to add at deadline

Reds AstrosAndrew Abbott sets Cincinnati Reds record for scoreless-inning streak to start MLB career

In fact, their seventh consecutive victory clinched a fifth consecutive road series victory for a team that lost 100 games last year and opened this season with 15 losses in its first 22 games.

But two months and a half-dozen significant big-league debuts later, the Reds have a winning record, have climbed into sole possession of second place in the National League Central and are just a half-game behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.

“And we’re not planning on stopping,” leadoff man TJ Friedl said.

If they’re going to keep this roll going into the late summer, it almost certainly will take more starting pitching than they have in-house.

Even after their first pair of back-to-back quality starts since June 1-2, the rotation’s ERA is a bottom-rung 5.73 this season.

But during that seven-game winning streak? It’s 3.05, and the starters pitched deep enough to record five of the seven decisions.

That included a pair of scoreless starts for rookie Andrew Abbott, whose third career start Friday night was his best yet — six four-hit innings to beat the Astros 2-1 in the series opener.

The last two games marked only the third time this season the rotation has had a "streak" at all of quality starts. The last one: a modest three-gamer May 25-26.

Graham Ashcraft, the second-year right-hander who opened the season with six strong starts before struggling, returns from the injured list Saturday or Sunday against Atlanta at home, manager David Bell said Saturday in Houston.

If the two-week break worked as an effective reset, it could help the rotation.

And Abbott certainly has been a big lift since his June 5 debut. He set a major-league record by starting his career with three scoreless starts of at least five innings — and looked Friday like he may never give one up.

“It’s bound to happen,” he said, “but I’m going to try to keep it going as long as possible, let’s put it that way."

Greene followed that with a powerful start that teetered in trouble in the third and fifth — in each case with men on second and third with one out and the dangerous duo of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman due up.

Greene gave up just a sacrifice fly to Tucker in the third, and he retired both on flies to right to end the fifth.

It was Greene’s second start back from a sore hip and underscored the kind of impact one effective starter added to the mix can make for a team that’s been on an offensive role for two months.

This seven game stretch of starting pitching is the rotation’s second-best weeklong stretch of the season — to the 2.76 ERA it produced May 24-31 (in 2/3 more innings than this one).

The Reds were 6-1 during that stretch.

On Saturday against the champs, the Reds scored quickly in the first on Jonathan India's two-run, one-out home run -- helped along by shortstop Jeremy Pena's throwing error on Matt McLain's grounder that immediately preceded the long ball.

And they piled on late with four in the ninth, on a one-out pinch-hit single for two runs by Kevin Newman and a two-out, two-run triple by McLain.

Along the way, rookie Elly De La Cruz returned to the lineup after a two-day rest that included the team's off day Thursday and a head-clearing extra day Friday -- and snapped his 0-for-13 skid with two hits, including a leadoff double in the seventh that led to a run after he stole third.