KSReds Recap: Reds Lose Sunday, Win Series Over Cardinals

On3 imageby:Brandon Ramsey07/25/21

BRamseyKSR

via Twitter (@MLB)

A frustrating 10-6 loss on Sunday afternoon leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but perspective is important and winning the series is always the goal. Cincinnati did just that against the St. Louis Cardinals this week with wins on Friday and Saturday. However, the Reds have put themselves in a position where sweeping a couple series is going to be necessary if there is a playoff push to be made.

There was a valiant comeback attempt late in the game as the Reds cut it to 9-6 and had the bases loaded with nobody out in the eighth inning, but they would leave them loaded as St. Louis navigated their way out of the inning. Sticking with the theme of perspective, let’s just dive in to Friday and Saturday night’s wins and just mostly ignore Sunday’s loss.

Friday night’s win was a slugfest that went back-and-forth until the bottom of the eighth inning. Paul Goldschmidt put the Cardinals on top in the first inning with an absolute bomb of a home run that travelled 448 feet into the left field bleachers at Great American Ball Park. The two-time MVP runner-up would be outdone in the bottom of the inning by 2010 MVP Joey Votto who drove in two runs with a double to give the Reds a 2-1 first inning lead.

After a Harrison Bader home run in the second inning quickly tied the game, Kyle Farmer would answer with a long ball of his own in the fourth to once again recapture the lead.

The Cardinals would come back to build a 5-3 lead off of reliever Edgar Garcia who gave up three runs on four hits without recording a single out. Luckily from that point forward the bullpen was excellent turning in four no-hit innings to allow the Redlegs to stay in the game.

Cincinnati’s offense came through in the seventh inning via a double by Eugenio Suarez and then a wild pitch that scored Votto for the tying run. They then manufactured a run in the bottom of the eighth with a sacrifice fly from Tyler Stephenson providing the go-ahead run and set the eventual final score of 6-5. Heath Hembree pitched the ninth to record his seventh save.

Turning the page to Saturday’s game, you have to really give Luis Castillo on the way he has bounced back from a horrendous start to the season. In the months of June and July, Castillo has posted a 1.71 earned run average and has struck out 65 batters in in 63 1/3 innings.

Saturday night Castillo turned in a spectacular performance going seven innings on the mound allowing just one run on five hits while striking out nine batters. Brad Brach allowed a couple of runs in the eighth inning, but luckily there were some insurance runs to play with.

Those insurance runs were provided by Jesse Winker who went 3-4 with 4 RBI on the night. The National League All-Star knocked in two runs with a double in the second inning and then hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh. The only other run was provided by a home run off the bat of Joey Votto.

The Reds will hit the road this coming week beginning with a four-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. They then will travel on to New York for three games with the Mets. Again, taking the big picture into perspective, the Reds gained one game in the wild card this weekend. Keep chipping away and this could be a really exciting August and September to be a Reds fan.


@BRamseyKSR

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2024-03-28