Trade Deadline winds are blowing stronger with moves starting to happen around Major League Baseball the past couple of days. For the Reds, the time is ripe for catching a breeze to both stay in the postseason hunt and position themselves for dealing before Thursday.

Six games were played on Friday for the Cincinnati Reds Minor League affiliates. Here is how their top prospects performed: Hector Rodriguez went 3-4 with a double, a walk, a run scored and a RBI. The Reds number 10-ranked prospect is batting .458 with a 1.164OPS since his promotion to Triple-A.

The Cincinnati Reds (53-50), now at two games back of the third National League Wild Card spot entering play of July 25, haven't made a move yet. It remains to be seen if and how the Reds might involve themselves in the trade-deadline activity.

Nick Lodolo went the distance and kept the Cincinnati Reds as the only team in the majors that hasn’t been swept this season.

After losing a series to the Washington Nationals earlier in the week, the Reds are 53-50 and sit 2 1/2 games out of the third and final National League Wild Card spot. The Reds desperately could use a right-handed power bat as well as bullpen help.

This was not a playoff team in October. Or a contender in September. This was the bad-bullpen, meh-lineup Nationals playing for nothing in July.