ST. LOUIS – It was small ball vs. the long ball at Busch Stadium on Thursday.
Advantage, long ball.
The Cincinnati Reds weren’t as fundamentally sound as the St. Louis Cardinals to open their four-game series, but it didn’t matter. Jesse Winker crushed a go-ahead, two-homer in the second inning against Adam Wainwright and it was enough for the Reds in a 4-2 victory.
It was one of those games where the Reds couldn’t pull away despite outhitting the Cardinals, 10-6. 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. They added tension in the ninth inning when the first two batters reached base through a bloop single and a bunt single. José Rondón tried to bunt the two runners into scoring position, another small ball gamble, but he dropped the ball straight in front of the plate and catcher Tucker Barnhart pounced to begin a double play.
The Reds, who were swept in a three-game series in St. Louis in April, have won three of their last four games.
Wainwright carried a 19-inning home scoreless streak into Thursday’s start, but the Reds hit him around early. Winker and Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back singles in the first inning. Then Wainwright hit the next two batters, which allowed Winker to score.
Wainwright avoided further damage in a 27-pitch first inning, aided by a fielder’s choice out at the plate, as he stranded the bases loaded.
Winker came to the plate with two outs in the second inning after Eugenio Suárez grounded into a fielder’s choice. After working a 3-1 count against Wainwright, Winker belted a hanging curveball down the right-field line.
It was Winker’s 14th home run of the season, which is only two shy of his single-season, career-high. The ball traveled an estimated 425 feet after he completed his helicopter follow-through on his swing above his head.
The Reds’ offense had missed opportunities for the rest of the night against Wainwright, who completed seven innings. Jonathan India hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning, but Vladimir 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 second baseman Tommy Edman tossed a dart to the plate to throw out Stephenson.
Stephenson had already rounded third base by the time Edman caught Carlson’s relay throw in shallow center field, but it was one of those picture-perfect relays that coaches try to teach.
The Reds finally broke through for a run in the eighth inning against Cardinals reliever Daniel Ponce de Leon. Mike Freeman drew a four-pitch walk and Barnhart made Ponce de Leon pay for it. Barnhart, battling in a nine-pitch at-bat that featured four foul balls, hooked an RBI double down the right-field line.
Barnhart’s RBI double gave the Reds bullpen some extra breathing room, but it didn’t seem like they needed it. Tejay Antone and Lucas Sims combined to pitch four shutout innings.
Gutierrez, making his second Major League start, yielded two runs on three hits and three walks in five innings while striking out three.
He looked like a different pitcher after a shaky first inning. He retired 10 consecutive batters prior to a four-pitch walk to Rondón, the No. 8 hitter in the Cardinals’ lineup, in the fifth inning. Dylan Carlson added a two-out walk in the fifth before Gutierrez induced a pop-out against Tyler O’Neill in a 2-0 count.
There were moments where he looked dominant, throwing a first-pitch strike to eight straight batters. He made O’Neill look foolish on a three-pitch strikeout in the third inning. He landed his curveball for called strikes and his low-90s fastball seemed to sneak up on hitters.
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 single by O’Neill.
Yadier Molina added an RBI single to score O’Neill from second base, which gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead after the first inning.
Source link
