ST. LOUIS – Tucker Barnhart built a reputation as one of the best defensive catchers in the sport and his play in the ninth inning Thursday was just another story in his legend.
In an instant, he changed the entire complexion of the game and left his teammates in awe. There were runners on first and second with no outs. The Cincinnati Reds were clinging to a two-run lead and approaching dangerous territory.
Then Barnhart pounced on a bunt in front of the plate, started a double play and the Reds survived with a 4-2 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals in their series opener at Busch Stadium.
"That's the game right there," Jesse Winker said.
The Reds couldn't capitalize on many of their offensive opportunities despite producing 10 hits. They stranded 10 runners and were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. There was an out at the plate. A wasted leadoff double.
The Cardinals kept hanging around inning after inning. In the ninth, Matt Carpenter hit a leadoff bloop single into right field and Edmundo Sosa dropped a picture-perfect bunt single down the third-base line.
Lucas Sims was on the mound for his second inning, a tall ask, and now he was tasked with pitching out of trouble. José Rondón, the No. 8 hitter in the Cardinals lineup, showed bunt with Paul Goldschmidt and Tommy Edman hitting behind him.
Sims' first pitch to Rondón was a called strike on a curveball. Barnhart threw behind Carpenter at second base.
"Myself, I have to get a big jump from second base to get to third for there not to be a play made on me," Barnhart said. "Whenever you’re able to kind of throw behind them and get them to maybe feel like they can’t get as far off the base, it gives you a little more room for error as far as being able to make a play there at third base."
Rondón bunted the next pitch in front of the plate. Barnhart moved so quickly that he had the ball in his hand before Rondón left the batter's box – "Cat-like reflexes," Winker said. Barnhart fired a strike to third base and Eugenio Suárez completed the double play with a throw across the diamond.
Jonathan India, backing up first base, pumped his fist. Barnhart clapped into his own mitt.
"It was a fun one to be a part of – kind of stressful at times," Barnhart said. "Those are the most fun. I don’t have much hair on my head. It makes me lose what hair I do have on my head, for sure.”
"I was just watching the whole thing," Winker said, "I was like, 'Whoa.' 'Wow, we've got two.' That's my reaction, 'Whoa.' "
That was just the second act of Barnhart's game-changing plays. After Mike Freeman drew a four-pitch walk in the top of the eighth inning, Barnhart made Cardinals reliever Daniel Ponce de Leon pay for it.
Barnhart, battling in a nine-pitch at-bat that featured four fouled fastballs, hooked an RBI double down the right-field line. It doubled the Reds' lead to 4-2.
"When you face a guy like Ponce de Leon, the fastball has that extra gear where it’s not rising but it feels like it is almost," Barnhart said. "I just couldn’t get on top of it, couldn’t get on top of it and everything was upper third or half of the strike zone. I was able to get one down and put a good swing on it.
"You’d be amazed by the feeling – not stress-free by any means – but the ability to kind of take a deep breath when you have a two-run lead versus a one-run lead. It’s huge."
For most of the night, it was small ball vs. the long ball.
Advantage, long ball.
The Reds, who were swept in a three-game series in St. Louis in April, weren't as fundamentally sound as the Cardinals, but they did enough to win. Winker crushed a go-ahead, two-run homer in the second inning off Adam Wainwright, who carried a 19-inning home scoreless streak into Thursday’s start.
It was Winker’s 14th home run of the season, which is only two shy of his single-season, career-high.
"(Winker) was locked in on my curveball that at-bat and I gave it to him," said Wainwright, who threw 50 pitches over his first two innings and 56 pitches in his final five innings.
Vladimir Gutierrez, who earned his first win in his second Major League start, yielded two runs on three hits and three walks in five innings while striking out three.
Gutierrez needed 31 pitches to navigate the first inning, allowing two runs. Enter small ball. Edman hit a leadoff single to center and stole second. He advanced to third on a groundout to the right side of the infield and scored on a Tyler O'Neill single.
He retired 10 consecutive batters after a shaky first inning and didn't give up another hit.
"It’s one thing when it’s easy," Reds manager David Bell said, "but when it starts off like that, and then you’re able to do what he did, to me, that’s way more impressive."
The Reds' offense had missed opportunities all night. There was an out at the plate in the first inning on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded.
Jonathan India hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning, but Gutierrez’s attempted sacrifice bunt didn’t advance him. India moved to third on a deep fly ball to center – which would’ve scored him if he was able to advance on the bunt – but he was stranded at third.
In the fifth inning, Tyler Stephenson hit a one-out double to left field. Tyler Naquin followed with a screaming line drive to center field, which flew over center fielder Dylan Carlson’s head. Stephenson tried to score from first, but Carlson played the ball well off the wall and Edman tossed a dart to the plate to throw out Stephenson.
As much as the Reds spoiled their opportunities, their pitching and defense stepped up.
"It’s a tough place to play, a tough place for us to win," Barnhart said. "To get the first one of a series is huge.”
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