Tuesday’s Game Report: Reds 4, Cardinals 1
By Rob Rains
This three-game series in Cincinnati was supposed to be the breather in a month-long stretch of games for the Cardinals against teams fighting for a spot in the playoffs.
Instead, the Cardinals have had their breath knocked out of them.
For the second night in a row, the Cardinals managed only one run and lost to the Reds on Tuesday night, a loss that dropped their season record back to .500 for the first time since June 20, when they were 37-37.
The odds of making it into the playoffs are growing longer by the day for the Cardinals especially considering that starting on Friday, after one more game against the Reds, they won’t play another team with a losing record until Sept. 10.
The Cardinals are now 4-8 in August, and have not won more than two games in a row since a four-game streak from June 20-24.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The only run for the Cardinals came on a home run from Nolan Arenado leading off the seventh inning, when Cincinnati already was ahead 4-0 … Before the homer the Cardinals had been held to three baserunners, doubles by Willson Contreras in the first and Victor Scott II in the sixth and a walk to Lars Nootbaar in the fifth … When they had a runner on third base, the Cardinals were 0-of-3, with all three at-bats ending with a strikeout … Nolan Gorman was 0-of-3 with two strikeouts against Hunter Greene, and is now 1-of-14 against Greene in his career with 10 strikeouts.
On the mound: A two-out single led to the Reds first run in the first off Erick Fedde, before home runs by Ty France in the second and Jeimer Candelario in the sixth increased their lead … Fedde recorded only two strikeouts over his six innings … Matthew Liberatore pitched around a hit batter in the seventh and Shawn Armstrong worked a 1-2-3 eighth.
Key stat: The Cardinals 0-of-5 night with a runner in scoring position dropped their average in those situations in their 12 games in August to .146 (13-of-89). Since July 27, a span of 17 games, they have hit one home run with a runner on second or third – the pinch-hit grand slam by Tommy Pham on July 30.
Worth noting: For the month of August, the Cardinals have a .233 team batting average (94-of-404) and have scored 40 runs, an average of 3.33 runs per game … Reliever Nick Robertson, who had been designed for assignment earlier this week, was claimed on waivers by the Angels on Tuesday. He was one of the players acquired from the Red Sox last winter for Tyler O’Neill.
Looking ahead: Kyle Gibson will get the start on Wednesday night as the Cardinals try to avoid a series sweep that would drop them below .500 for the season.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
