Bronson Arroyo bounced back from the worst start of his career and Adam Dunn hit a three-run homer to help the Cincinnati Reds beat the Cleveland Indians 9-5 on Sunday.

Arroyo (5-7) struck out six and gave up two runs over six innings for the Reds, who took five of six from their interleague and intrastate rivals this season.

The Indians went 6-12 against NL teams and have lost eight of their last 12 overall. Monday, they go to Chicago to open an eight-game trip _ all against AL Central opponents.

It will be the most crucial stretch of the season for the injury-riddled Indians, who have two starting pitchers and three position players from last year’s division champions on the disabled list.

More losses could lead general manager Mark Shapiro to decide to dump high-priced veteran players _ including free-agent-to-be C.C. Sabathia, the reigning AL Cy Young winner who is coveted by so many clubs.

Edwin Encarnacion’s two-run homer capped the Reds’ five-run fifth off Aaron Laffey (4-5). Dunn connected off Rick Bauer in the seventh, a 412-foot shot to right that was his 20th of the season and fifth against Cleveland.

Arroyo won for the first time in six starts since May 26. Tuesday in Toronto, the right-hander was rocked for 10 runs, including four in the second inning when he didn’t get an out. That dropped him to 0-3 with a 10.07 ERA in five starts in June.

Arroyo came in 1-10 with a 5.79 ERA in 14 career interleague starts, and had been 0-4 with a 7.36 ERA in six starts against the AL since joining the Reds in 2006.

Cincinnati broke open a scoreless game in the fifth, getting two singles, two doubles, a run-scoring wild pitch by Laffey and Encarnacion’s 13th homer to make it 5-0.

Encarnacion had missed five games with back spasms.

Grady Sizemore ruined Arroyo’s shutout bid by leading off the sixth with his 19th homer. Another run scored later in the inning when Reds center fielder Jerry Hairston Jr. kicked away a double by Shin-Soo Choo. The error enabled Ben Francisco, who had walked, to score from first base.

Kelly Shoppach had an RBI double in the eighth off Reds reliever Gary Majewski.

In the ninth, Encarnacion singled home Phillips, who had doubled off Rafael Betancourt. Phillips had three of the Reds’ 14 hits.

Ben Francisco hit his sixth home run, a two-run shot off Jeremy Affeldt with two out in the bottom of the ninth.

Notes:@ Reds DH Ken Griffey Jr., went 1-for-4 and is in a 2-for-23 (.087) slump. ... OF Jay Bruce, in a 5-for-23 (.217) slump, and 1B Joey Votto, in a 3-for-19 (.158) skid, were out of the Reds’ lineup. ... Javier Valentin, normally a catcher, started at first base for Cincinnati. ... Indians 1B Ryan Garko, hitting .118 (4-for-34) over nine games and OF Franklin Gutierrez, in a 2-for-30 (.067) slide, did not play.