MILWAUKEE -- Baseball is considered by some to be a slow, plodding and often boring affair, but a game sure can change direction in a hurry.

The Cincinnati Reds proved that point Saturday, using an eight-run sixth inning to quickly turn a tight contest into a rout -- and still had to hold on down the stretch -- in an 11-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

"They don't happen often in this sport, eight runs and going from a 1-0 game to a 9-0 game," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "That was really big. And we had to weather some storms after that. We weren't mowing them down after that. They came on themselves and swung the bat well, hit some homers and hit some balls really well. We never felt like we had really secured the game completely until the last out. But that was big. Certainly there's a bunch of guys that had big games."

Few guys had a bigger night than Joey Votto, who continued his recent turnaround by going 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored, including two hits in the decisive sixth inning.

Votto was sitting on a .252 average at the All-Star break but has been red-hot ever since, batting .442 with four home runs and 15 RBIs.

After his performance Saturday, his average moved above .300 for the first time this season.

"The first couple of months were really frustrating," Votto said. "I felt like I dug myself a pretty big hole. I still feel like I am coming out of it."

He had plenty of help Saturday as the Reds combined for 16 hits. Seven of those came in the sixth, as the first seven batters reached safely.

Brewers starter Zach Davies (9-5) had been cruising along to that point, holding Cincinnati to a run on five hits with four strikeouts but Votto opened the inning with a base hit while Adam Duval and Brandon Phillips followed with singles to make it a 2-0 game.

A walk to Adam Duvall brought Davies' night to an end but Michael Blazek didn't fare much better, hanging a 2-1 slider that Eugenio Suarez sent to left for his 19th home run of the year.

Two Brewers errors in the inning made things more difficult.

"Defensively we've got to play better," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "There are times in the game when we need to make plays to cut a big inning off or to cut a rally off. The last two nights we've had a chance to squash those innings and then we made a mistake to keep it going."

The big inning took some pressure off Reds right-hander Dan Straily, who held Milwaukee to two runs on 10 hits while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings of work.

He, too, ran into trouble in the sixth when Ryan Braun put the Brewers on the board with a one-out homer to straight-away center. Straily went on to load the bases before giving way to Jumbo Diaz, who let another run score when Scooter Gennett scored on a fielder's choice by Keon Broxton to make it 9-2.

"They hit some pretty good pitches," Straily said. The Braun home run was right down the middle ... good for (him). The other guys hit some pretty good pitches. It was just one of those things where the offense tonight really carried the team and we did just a good enough job pitching to win the game."

Gennett finished the game with four of Milwaukee's 14 hits while Martin Maldonado cut into the deficit with a two-run homer in the eighth but it wasn't enough.

"A lot of veteran guys over there in that lineup, so it's tough," Davies said. "If you don't execute and do your job they'll make you pay for it."

NOTES: Brewers RHP Junior Guerra played catch for the first time Saturday as he works his way back from right elbow inflammation. Guerra last pitched Aug. 3 and is eligible to come off the disabled list next Friday. ... OF Domingo Santana will need somewhere between 20 to 30 at-bats before he's ready to return to the Brewers, manager Craig Counsell said. Santana has been out since June 10 with soreness in his right elbow and began a minor league rehab assignment earlier this week with Class A Wisconsin. ... Reds CF Billy Hamilton began the day leading the National League with 51 steals, putting him three ahead of Brewers SS/3B Jonathan Villar. ... The series concludes Sunday with Cincinnati LHP Cody Reed (0-8, 8.36 ERA) facing Brewers RHP Wily Peralta (4-8, 6.38).