The Cincinnati Reds capped off a strong road trip on Sunday by picking up a win in St. Louis. It wasn’t easy, though, as they needed multiple clutch hits in extra-innings to beat the Cardinals on Sunday by a score of 5-3.
FinalRHECincinnati Reds (49-55)5102St. Louis Cardinals (53-52)370W: Burke (4-4) L: Svanson (2-3) SV: GarciaStatcast | Box Score | Game Thread
The Reds 2nd inning got started out well as Nathaniel Lowe and Dane Myers both singled to put two men on. But what feels like happens far too frequently they came up empty as a force out was followed up by a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play to end the top of the frame. St. Louis also had their first two batters reach base in the 2nd with a leadoff double and a single to put two men in scoring position. Jose Fermin then came through with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
Cincinnati got that run back in the top of the 3rd when Elly De La Cruz hit a long home run to left-center. The game didn’t remain tied that long because Ivan Herrera hit a solo home run of his own in the bottom of the inning to left center to put the Cardinals back in the lead. The score remained 2-1 until the top of the 5th inning when Ke’Bryan Hayes turned on a fastball up in the zone and hit it into the seats down the left field line to tie the game up.
The next hitter was Spencer Steer and after fouling off the 0-1 pitch he began to shake his right arm. That led to a visit by the training staff and after some testing and talking he exited the game with what was later described as right wrist pain.
With the game still tied up at 2-2 the Reds found themselves in trouble in the bottom of the 8th inning as the Cardinals tried to get a rally going with two outs. Alec Burleson and Masyn Winn both singled and then Jose Fermin reached on catcher interference to load the bases. That led to a pitching change as Tejay Antone was replaced by Brock Burke with the game potentially on the line. Cincinnati’s lefty reliever got the job done, getting a fly ball out to strand the runners.
Both teams went scoreless in the 9th inning and the game headed into extras. With Tyler Stephenson as the free runner to begin the 10th the Reds opted to send Sal Stewart to the plate to pinch hit for Ke’Bryan Hayes and Stewart came through with an RBI single to put Cincinnati ahead. Elly De La Cruz then singled and Edwin Arroyo followed with a sacrifice bunt to move both runners up. After a pitching change to bring in a lefty, JJ Bleday struck out and then St. Louis intentionally walked Eugenio Suarez to face another lefty in Nathaniel Lowe. He then hit a blooper into shallow left and plated two more runs to extend the lead to 5-2.
With a 3-run lead the Reds turned the bottom of the 10th over to Julian Garcia. He got some help to start the frame from Elly De La Cruz who made a nice grab ranging to his right then fired across the infield for an out, all while holding the runner at second base. Ivan Herrera then singled just past a diving De La Cruz to put runners on the corners. Alec Burleson then blooped an RBI single into shallow left to make it 5-3 and bring the winning run to the plate for the Cardinals. Garcia then came through with a strikeout of Masyn Winn before getting JJ Bleday tracked down a fly ball in left-center to seal the win.
Key Moment of the Game
Nathaniel Lowe’s 2-run single in the top of the 10th inning that made it 5-2.
Notes Worth Noting
Two days after picking up the first win of his big league career, Julian Garcia picked up his first save.
Andrew Abbott’s turnaround continued. Over his last 16 starts he’s posted a 2.95 ERA and that’s lowered hit to 3.85 on the season after a tough start to the season.
Elly De La Cruz, Nathaniel Lowe, and Noelvi Marte all had multi-hit games.
The Reds went 6-3 on the road trip to Colorado, Seattle, and St. Louis. They won each series by taking two of three against each club.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians vs Cincinnati Reds
Monday July 27th, 7:10pm ET
Slade Cecconi (4-7, 4.60 ERA) vs Chase Burns (12-1, 2.42 ERA)
