As the Manhattan skyline faded from view on their flight back to Cincinnati, the Reds could rightly have smiles of satisfaction if they so chose. They certainly earned it on Sunday.

A 5-2 Reds victory over the Yankees meant they took two of three games in the Interleague series at Yankee Stadium. That also secured a 4-3 road trip that included the final five games in New York playing the Mets and Yankees.

"To be able to come into their house and get two out of three, job well done," said Ryan Ludwick, who hit a home run in the seventh and had a big two-run double in the ninth as the designated hitter. "I feel like we can pat ourselves on the back a little bit leaving here. It was a good road trip."

A matchup of aces -- the Reds' Johnny Cueto and the Yankees' CC Sabathia -- certainly lived up to the billing for most of the game. But when Cueto finally blinked in the sixth by giving up a two-run homer to Raul Ibanez to snap a scoreless tie, making those runs up seemed like a tall order vs. Sabathia.