Wednesday’s Game Report: Cardinals sweep doubleheader from Reds
By Rob Rains
After going just 2-12 on the road to begin this season, the Cardinals matched that win total in about nine hours on Wednesday in Cincinnati.
They found out it’s a lot easier to win games when they hit a lot of home runs.
The Cardinals hit six home runs between the two games of their day-night doubleheader, including going back-to-back-to-back in the ninth inning of game one that completed a 6-0 victory over the Reds.
Willson Contreras started the night game with a three-run homer in the first inning, sending the Cardinals to a 9-1 victory.
Masyn Winn had his first two-homer game in the major leagues and the other homers came from Victor Scott II and Lars Nootbaar in the ninth inning of game one and Pedro Pages in the second inning of game two.
In their first 14 road games, the Cardinals hit a combined eight home runs in 497 at-bats. Five of their six homers on Wednesday came in the span of 11 at-bats over three innings.
Here’s how Wednesday’s doubleheader broke down:
At the plate: With the three-run homer from Scott II and the blast from Contreras, the Cardinals have now hit eight three-run homers in the first 31 games of the season. They hit 10 all of last year … Winn was moved into the second spot in the batting order for the first time in his career and went a combined 4-of-9 with four runs scored and the two RBIs … The Cardinals had just two hits between the second and eighth inning of game one before exploding for five runs in the ninth … They saw the Reds retire their last 20 batters in a row in game two after their five-run third inning … Brendan Donovan had one hit in the doubleheader to finish April with 38 hits, the second highest total by a Cardinal before the end of April behind Paul DeJong’s 40 hits in 2019 … The two five-run innings were the biggest innings for the Cardinals since a seven-run outburst on April 2.
On the mound: Miles Mikolas worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings in game one, allowing three hits, before Steven Matz worked four scoreless innings in game two. He left with a 9-0 lead, one inning shy of qualifying for the win, but had thrown a season-high 73 pitches … Gordon Graceffo, called up from Memphis to be the 27th man for the doubleheader, worked the final five innings, allowing one run on two hits with five strikeouts to earn his first career victory … Kyle Leahy also turned in a key relief appearance in game one, protecting the 1-0 lead by stranding two runners he inherited from Mikolas.
Key stat: The Cardinals had hit a combined five home runs in their previous 13 games coming into the doubleheader over a span of 426 at-bats.
Worth noting: The consecutive home runs from Scott II, Nootbaar and Winn in game one marked the 10th time in franchise history they had gone back-to-back-to-back, but it was the first time they ever did it in the ninth inning. It was the first time they hit three homers in the ninth inning since Sept. 6, 2016, but those homers were not consecutive … Manager Oli Marmol was ejected in the eighth inning of game one for arguing balls and strikes. It was his second ejection of the season … Ivan Herrera is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment on Thursday with Triple A Memphis.
Up next: The Cardinals will complete the four-game series against the Reds on Thursday with Matthew Liberatore the scheduled starter. First pitch is set for 11:40 a.m. St. Louis time.
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