ST. LOUIS – Jesse Winker stood in the batter’s box and held the finish of his swing. He watched as the ball sailed toward the right field wall, almost trying to will it into the seats by holding his swing as long as he could.
Once the ball landed in the seats, there was no containing his emotions.
He pumped his fist as he ran up the first-base line. He skipped after touching second. He shouted to his teammates after crossing third. He clapped his hands after reaching home plate and broke into a smile as he approached Nick Castellanos.
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After the Cincinnati Reds bullpen blew a seven-run lead in the sixth inning, this wasn't just another go-ahead home run. It was one of those hits that can save a season.
Winker's homer, his third of the game, was the difference as the Reds completed their four-game sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals in an 8-7 victory at Busch Stadium.
"The best part of this whole thing is watching him run around the bases and be in the moment, play with emotion, play just enjoying it," Reds manager David Bell said. "He’s always like that. It’s not just when he goes out and has a big game. He’s into it and doing everything he can to help this team win."
It was the first time the Reds swept a four-game series in St. Louis since 1990. Tom Browning ended that series with a complete-game shutout. Winker, who drove in six runs Sunday, wasn’t even born yet.
Winker’s phenomenal performance – he became the first Reds player ever to have multiple three-homer games in one season – was the difference between a sweep that may have resuscitated their season and, perhaps, a season-defining loss.
"I’m going to remember this day for the rest of my life," said Winker, who will save his jersey and bat. "I love this team. I love these guys in here."
There was nothing easy about the Reds' win in their series finale. Not when they raced out to a 7-0 lead in the third inning. Not when Winker hit his 18th homer of the season with one out in the top of the ninth.
St. Louis had two runners in scoring position with no outs in the bottom of the ninth after back-to-back hits by Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Lucas Sims, the team's closer, found a way to pitch out of it with a pop-out and two strikeouts.
Sims celebrated with a yell on the mound after the final out. Players were jumping around in the post-game handshake line. Winker hugged a media relations staffer after completing an on-field post-game interview.
"That was such a big series for us to go out there and prove that we’re coming," Sims said. "We’re confident that we’re ready to roll. We’ll take on anybody."
The Reds carried a 7-0 lead into the sixth inning when after Wade Miley pitched five scoreless frames and 92 pitches. Miley matched a season-high with eight strikeouts, permitting four hits and two walks.
Asking the bullpen to cover 12 outs with a seven-run lead shouldn't be a chore, but the Reds have the worst bullpen ERA in the Majors (5.60). Miley felt he could've pitched another inning. Bell said there were a few factors, notably Miley throwing 35 pitches in the fourth inning when he stranded the bases loaded.
"I lobbied for it a little bit but at that point in the game David was like I’m not going to push you today," Miley said. "I can respect that decision. At the end of the day, we won a baseball game."
The Reds won, pulling within a game of .500, but the sixth inning was a disaster for the bullpen. Michael Feliz and Brad Brach failed to record an out between the eight batters they faced.
Feliz allowed four hits and a walk. Tyler O'Neill, the second batter of the inning, ended the shutout with a two-run homer to straightaway center, giving some life to the crowd of 21,152.
Brach entered with the bases loaded. He was squeezed from a potential called third strike against his first batter, pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter, and he paid for it when Carpenter hit a two-run double to center field. Shogo Akiyama collided with the wall as the ball deflected off his glove.
Another run scored on a chopper over the mound that tipped off Brach's glove and a walk loaded the bases. Tejay Antone emerged from the bullpen for his third appearance in the last four days.
Antone's situation: a two-run lead, bases loaded and no outs. He nearly pulled a rabbit out of his hat when he induced a double play on his second pitch – a broken-bat line drive back to the mound that he caught and then doubled off a runner at first base.
Arenado followed with a game-tying, two-run single when he hit a first-pitch slider to center. Arenado, who began the inning with a leadoff single off Feliz, pumped his fist from first base and the crowd roared with approval.
By the end of the sixth inning, the Reds no longer had a lead and used their best reliever just to keep the game tied.
"That’s what Rob Manfred and all the MLB wants," Miley said. "They want runs scored, so there you go."
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Four years to the exact date that Scooter Gennett put his name into the record books with a four-homer night, another Reds left fielder nearly did the same.
Winker and Gennett both homered twice off Cardinals starter John Gant. They are the only hitters who have hit multiple homers in the same game against Gant, a pitcher who had allowed only one homer in 50 2/3 innings this year before Sunday.
Gant had already surrendered a homer to Winker in the first inning when he consulted the cheat sheet in his pocket for a 0-2 count in Winker's second at-bat.
No scouting report was stopping Winker on this day.
Winker belted a three-run homer over the wall in right-center, a 429-foot blast that was just four feet shorter than his two-run homer in the first inning.
"He is something special," Miley said of Winker. "He’s fun to watch. The man gets his 'A' swing off a lot and does a lot of damage. He talks a lot after he hits homers, comes in the dugout and he may talk more than I do in the dugout. Man, he sure is fun to be around."
There were several people, including Joey Votto, who predicted if Winker started to hit for power, he’d become one of the best hitters in the National League.
Winker has proven that this season. He's tied for second in the Majors with 17 homers, surpassing his single-season career-high – and he accomplished it in 50 games.
"We know he can hit," Bell said, "but he just continues to get better."
The Reds gained three games in the divisional standings this weekend, an important sweep to keep pace with other teams in the playoff mix.
The bullpen will remain an issue for another day. This day belonged to Winker.
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