The Reds won Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco, 2-1, and one of the runs came on something that's been quite common this season -- a Jay Bruce home run.

That marked Bruce's sixth home run in the past five games, which is a career-best run. It's not just the run of late, though, as Bruce already has 25 home runs this season. His career high is 34. He leads the NL with 79 RBI as well.

The timing of this one couldn't be much better for at least two parties.

For Bruce, He finished 10th in NL MVP voting in both 2012 and 2013, but was absolutely dreadful in 2014 and not a ton better last year. In 2014-15 combined, Bruce hit .222/.288/.406 while his defense in right field rated out as pretty poor as well. He entered the season with one year left on his contract and a $13 million club option for 2017 that the rebuilding Reds surely won't pick up.

Maybe they will now, but the hunch is that there's no reason to keep him around in the midst of a rebuild. Meantime, he's hitting .271/.323/.572 with 22 doubles, six triples and the aforementioned HR/RBI tandem of goodness. He's one of the best power hitters in baseball this season. No hyperbole. He really is.

For the Reds, this is beautiful. There aren't any other big-time power threats (such as Yoenis Cespedes last season) on the market, so any teams looking for a big power boost in front of the Aug. 1 deadline can hit them up. Perhaps the option for next season makes Bruce more attractive to a potential buyer as well.

And notice that I said "at least two parties," because we could well see a third beneficiary of this power surge and it is whatever team acquires Bruce in front of the deadline. We've seen him connected to the Dodgers, Orioles, Giants, Nationals, Mariners and Rangers.

Heading into Wednesday, Bruce rated out as a negative-12 in Defensive Runs Saved, meaning he's cost his team 12 runs more than an average right fielder and that is, needless to say, awful. So the acquiring team being in the AL could mean DH duty.

Some might wonder if Bruce is partially a product of the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park, but he's actually hitting .290/.333/.608 with 11 homers in 176 at-bats on the road this season. His homer barrage in AT&T Park this week provides some nice little anecdotal evidence that he's not really a guy who needs a hitter-friendly environment to go deep with frequency.

Envisioning Bruce on a contender in the five- or six-hole just makes any lineup all the more imposing. Picture him after Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager in Seattle. Or how about after Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo with Baltimore? It's not quite murderer's row, but it's absolutely formidable and would terrify opposing pitching staffs on a nightly basis.

The other big bats on the market appear to be Jonathan Lucroy (a catcher), Josh Reddick (a superb defensive outfielder with good power and on-base chops) and possibly a few players saddled by huge contracts (Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp).

Overall, it's starting to look like Bruce might be the best raw power hitter who is dealt this season. The timing of his career-best surge couldn't have possibly come at a better time.