What a weekend for the local nine….that’s two weekends in a row where the red legs pull off a series sweep. Last week they outscored the white sox 27-5….this week they sweep the angels out of town, outsourcing that bunch, 17-6. On friday night, — Elly De La Cruz hit a three-run homer, Nick Lodolo pitched 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball for his second quality start since coming off the injured list and the Cincinnati Reds snapped a three-game skid with a 7-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night. Besides the three-run shot in the eighth. De La Cruz manufactured another run with two outs in the second inning when he singled, stole second and third and scored on the errant throw to third by Angels catcher. Lodolo (2-0) allowed a run and seven hits while striking out six after giving up just one hit in 5 2/3 innings against the White Sox last Saturday in his first big league start in nearly a year. The 26-year-old left-hander exited in the seventh Friday with one out and runners on second and third. Fernando Cruz came on and struck out Jo Adell and Zach Neto to end the threat. Saturday night, tyler stephenson clubbed his first career grand slam…stuart failrchild knocked in two in a 7-5 win. Graham ashcraft gave up five runs in six innings but nick martinez was lights out, firing three shutout innings…..alexis diaz closed it out. So that brought us to yesterday…..scary moment when frankie montas took a comebacker off the right elbow and had the leave the game in the first inning…..turns out he’s okay, just s bruise. Brent sutter was fantastic over 3 ⅓ innings and the reds bullpen goes 8 ⅓ frames of six-hit shutout baseball in a 3-0 victory. In the nl central, the reds are a half game back of chicago for second-place. The white hot brewers, who swept the cardinals over the weekend, are two and a half games ahead of cincinnati. The pirates free fall has begun. Theyve lost six straight. The hottest team in the national league comes to town tonight to open a four games series. The philadelphia phillies have ripped off six straight and will send 3-0 lefthander ranger suarez to the mound against hunter greene. The reds right hander is still in search of his first victory of this young season. In the nba playoffs, winners in game one of four series were played yesterday….the winners were the clippers, celtics, the bucks wirth no Yannis, and the oklahoma thunder held off the Zion-less pelicans by two. In soccer, Luciano Acosta recorded one goal and one assist to help FC Cincinnati rally for a 2-1 victory over the host Atlanta United on Saturday night. The win puts fcc at 4 wins, two losses and three draws on the year and ends a three-game winless streak.