Jay Bruce hit a two-run single in the first inning and Johnny Cueto made it stand up with seven-plus strong frames to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep.

The Reds finished with 13 runs in the three games - two more than their previous six games combined and 12 more than they managed while getting swept by the Seattle Mariners last weekend.

Vin Mazzaro started for the A’s and got two quick outs in the first before running into trouble. He walked Joey Votto and allowed a single to Brandon Phillips before hitting Jonny Gomes with a pitch to load the bases. Bruce, who went 7-for-10 in the series, made Mazzaro pay with his two-run single to right to give Cincinnati the early lead.

Cueto had little trouble with Oakland’s offense, allowing seven hits and walking a pair while striking out four to improve to 7-2. The right-hander dropped his ERA from 4.30 to 3.97 against the punchless A’s.

He allowed the first two runners to reach in the eighth but Nick Masset came on and got Kurt Suzuki to ground into a double play and struck out Kevin Kouzmanoff to keep Oakland off the board.

Francisco Cordero tossed a scoreless ninth for his 19th save.

Mazzaro (2-2) allowed the two runs on six hits over seven innings.