Throughout the remainder of June, the club struggled, winning only seven of their next 23 games, quickly falling to fifth place in the league. At the end of June, Cincinnati had a 39-33 record and was seven games behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals. In July, the Reds won eight of their first nine games to climb back into the pennant race, as they were in second place, cutting the Cardinals lead to 4.5 games. Cincinnati remained hot throughout the month, and by the end of July, the team remained in second place, but they could not close the gap on St. Louis, as they were five games behind.