Thursday’s Game Report: Cardinals 7, Reds 4
Three-run homers, in the opinion of Cardinals’ manager Mike Shildt, are “everybody’s best friend.”
Shildt saw on Thursday night that grand slams are even nicer.
Rookie Tommy Edman’s grand slam in the sixth inning helped the Cardinals overcome an early 3-0 deficit and beat the Reds in the opener of a four-game series in Cincinnati.
Paul DeJong’s two-run homer in the fifth and RBI single in the sixth tied the game before Edman unloaded his fourth homer of the year and the Cardinals’ first grand slam this season.
The win moved the Cardinals to 5-2 since the All-Star break.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: Matt Wieters led off the fourth with a single before DeJong, dropped to seventh in the batting order, hit his 14th homer of the season but first since June 16 … In the fifth, Dexter Fowler drew a one-out walk before Wieters’ singled and DeJong delivered his RBI single. A single by Kolten Wong loaded the bases and after Yairo Munoz flied out, Edman hit his grand slam to cap the five-run inning … Tyler O’Neill had two more hits and is now 12-of-24 since moving into the starting lineup six games ago … Paul Goldschmidt struck out in all four of his at-bats, the first time he had done that since May 18 of last year when he was with the Diamondbacks … Edmundo Sosa recorded the first hit of his career with a pinch-hit single in the eighth but was thrown out at second trying to advance on a throw to third.
On the mound: Dakota Hudson battled through five innings and earned the victory despite allowing three runs on six hits, two walks and a hit batter … The other Reds run scored against John Gant in the sixth before Giovanny Gallegos, John Brebbia and Andrew Miller combined to close out the game, allowing 2 hits over the final 3 1/3 innings. Miller earned his second save.
Key stat: DeJong’s homer broke a streak of 92 consecutive at-bats since his last home run, the longest drought of his career. Over that stretch he had a total of three RBIs, which he matched in two at-bats on Thursday night.
Worth noting: Edman’s grand slam was the first by a Cardinals’ leadoff hitter since Wong in 2015, also against the Reds, but in a game in St. Louis on July 27 … The homer by Suarez was the 15th allowed by the Cardinals in the first inning this season and the third allowed by Hudson.
Looking ahead: Adam Wainwright will get the start on Friday night in the second game of the series.
