The 4-6 Reds (their L10) ran into a very hot Cubs team that roughed up their pitching pretty thoroughly. They'll turn to Ashcraft to right the ship against Corbin and the Nationals on Friday. Ashcraft is back in the groove with a sparkling 1.84 ERA in July. He hasn't given up more than 2 runs in his last 6 starts, while pitching into the sixth or more. He held the Nats to a single run over 6 innings the last time he faced them. His counterpart, lefty Patrick Corbin struggled in July with a 5.83 ERA and a .314 Op BA for the month. The Reds are the wrong team to face with that kind of an average; they're hitting .265/.820 OPS in the last week, much better than the Nationals. The Nationals' bullpen is one of the league's worst, with an ERA of 6.23 on the road this season. The Reds' bullpen has been heavily used and ineffective in their last series, but is still the better of the two.