Premium pitching matchups punctuate Reds road trip to St. Louis

Matt Reynolds is earning his spot in the Reds lineup.

Safe to say that Nick Krall and the Cincinnati Reds front office will be having some in-depth conversations in the the coming weeks as the team looks to welcome back Jonathan India, Donovan Solano, and Max Schrock.

But one player who cannot be on the chopping block at this point in time is infielder Matt Reynolds. The Reds acquired Reynolds from the New York Mets earlier this season and the 31-year-old has been one of the team's best performers of late.

Reynolds is hitting .308/.333/.654 in his last 26 at-bats. Over that seven game stretch, Reynolds has eight hits, including three home runs, and six RBIs. Reynolds is also a very versatile defender as he's seen time at all four infield spots as well as some spot appearances in the outfield.

When India and Solano return, Reynolds playing time will undoubtedly take a hit. But, after Cincinnati optioned Jose Barrero to Triple-A Louisville earlier this week, there's a chance that Reynolds could stick around until some trades are made later this summer. Schrock also has minor league options remaining.

Prediction: Reds pitching leads series-sweep over Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are in the bottom-half of the league in terms of OPS. The Cardinals have also been swinging freely of late and have the second-most Ks in the NL over the last week. If Luis Castillo and Hunter Greene can command the strike zone, the Reds have a good shot to take the first two games of the series.

Graham Ashcraft isn't necessarily a strikeout pitcher, but he induces a lot of ground balls. The Reds lead the league with a .311 batting average over the last seven days. While losing Tyler Stephenson certainly hurts, very few players are swinging a better bat than Joey Votto right now.

I'm going bold here! Look for the Reds to sweep the Cardinals this weekend in St. Louis. That may seem a bit fool-hardy after watching the Cincinnati bullpen implode this past week, but I think the Redlegs are looking forward to this challenge. By the way, the Cardinals' bullpen hasn't been much better.