The Cubs went nearly two weeks without a victory but then picked up a pair of wins in under 24 hours.

More proof that you can’t predict baseball.

Following a 12-game losing streak, the Cubs beat the Reds in back-to-back games, including a 7-1 victory Wednesday afternoon.

That gave the Cubs a series victory against the playoff-hopeful Reds after losing the first game 14-5 Monday night. It was the Cubs’ first series victory since July 23-25 against the Diamondbacks.

Wednesday in Cincinnati, the Cubs got exactly what they needed from Adrian Sampson, who was called up to start in place of the injured Adbert Alzolay. Sampson allowed 1 run on 5 hits in 4 innings and did not walk a batter.

“It feels nice, definitely,” David Ross said. “When you go into any series, that’s the goal. You want to win every game and if you can come out of there with a series win, you feel really good.

“…Our pitching showed up — Kyle [Hendricks] last night and then Adrian followed by the bullpen worked really nicely against a really good offensive club. Kept them to 2 runs the last 2 games is pretty impressive from our pitchers. All the way around, it’s nice to win a series.”

The offense continued to show encouraging signs as Ian Happ homered again, recently promoted Michael Hermosillo went deep and Rafael Ortega and Frank Schwindel won’t stop hitting.

After a 3-hit game Tuesday night, Happ homered in the top of the 1st inning Wednesday. Hermosillo hit a 2-run shot in the 2nd and then Ortega drove home a run on a bloop hit and Schwindel followed with an RBI double. It was the 7th straight game with an extra-base hit for Schwindel.

As a whole, the Cubs racked up 12 hits and 3 walks against Tyler Mahle and the Reds pitching staff, including multi-hit games by Ortega, Schwindel and Matt Duffy.

The Cubs bullpen picked up where Sampson left off, as Manny Rodríguez tossed 2 scoreless frames while Rowan Wick, Adam Morgan and Trevor Megill added shutout innings of their own.

Over the two days, Cubs relievers combined to throw 7 scoreless innings.