The best thing that could have happened to the Reds was playing the Brewers in Cincinnati, especially with Jay Bruce in right field and Travis Wood on the mound.

That was the formula the Reds used to win 7-3 Monday night at Great American Ball Park.

Bruce hit a three-run homer and finished a double short of the cycle, enhancing his candidacy for the National League Player of the Month award, while Wood went six innings to improve to 3-0 in four career starts against Milwaukee.

The win extended Cincinnati's recent dominance of the Brewers, especially in Cincinnati. The Reds are 17-4 overall against Milwaukee over the last two seasons, including 6-1 this year. They are 11-1 against the Brewers in Cincinnati over the past two seasons. That was just the tonic for a Reds team opening a 10-day, nine-game homestand after completing a woeful 2-8 road trip.

"It's not like we had that much time in between (the road trip and homestand)," manager Dusty Baker said. "We were in a little spin there."

That little spin had cost Cincinnati 4 1/2 games in the standings during the trip. The Reds actually had lost 10 of their last 12 games and 6 1/2 games in the standings, a slump that started with being swept by the Pirates in a two-game series in Cincinnati just before hitting the road. Bruce was happy to see the skid start to slow, especially since division-leading St. Louis lost Monday.

"When you get a chance to try to catch the teams ahead of you and you do it, it's nice," he said. "We did a good job tonight."

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