Reds hope Brandon Williamson's July success spills over into the month of August

The Cincinnati Reds will look to get back on their feet this evening after a 20-9 thrashing at the hands of the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

The Reds still maintain a small lead atop the National League Central Division, though both the Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are hot on their tail.

David Bell will turn to Brandon Williamson tonight, and the Reds skipper can only hope that the left-hander's success from July spills over into the month of August.

Reds hope Brandon Williamson's July success spills over into August.

Prior to Brandon Williamson's start against the San Diego Padres last month, the rookie was coming off his worst outing of the season. A rain-plagued start on June 26th in Baltmore saw Williamson go just two innings and allow three runs on two hits while walking four batters.

But since that start, Williamson has been, arguably, the Reds best starter. The southpaw was 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA during the month of July. In those five starts, struck out 19 batters in 25.2 innings of work and allowed just two home runs; both came during his start against the San Francisco Giants.

Prior to his start on July 1st, it looked as though Williamson's time in the starting rotation would be shortlived. The 25-year-old, who was called upon to replace his former teammate at TCU Nick Lodolo, went 1-1 through his first eight starts and posted a 5.82 ERA.

While Williamson's walk-rate has remained about the same from the beginning of the season through last month, the lefty saw a slight uptick in his strikeout-rate. Williamson was punching out nearly 20-percent of opposing batters during July and will look to carry that over to the month of August.

Both Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo are expected to return to the Cincinnati Reds active roster this month. While his spot in the rotation may have been up for grabs prior to last month, Brandon Williamson seems firmly entrenched at the moment.