Friday’s Game Report: Reds 4, Cardinals 2
By Rob Rains
The two biggest areas of concern recently for the Cardinals has been the lack of offense and the poor performance of the bullpen and that was the case agai on Friday night.
The offense was held to just two hits and the bullpen coughed up another lead as the Reds rallied to win the opener of their three-game series at Busch Stadium.
One of the hits for the Cardinals was a two-run double by Blaze Jordan in the fifth inning, but that lead disappeared when Eugenio Suarez hit a two-run bomb off George Soriano in the seventh inning. The Reds added an insurance run off Luis Gastelum in the ninth.
This was the ninth time in the last 15 games the Cardinals had five or fewer hits, and they came into Friday night’s game with the lowest batting average in the NL in July.
In the eight games since the All-Star break, the bullpen has allowed 17 runs in the seventh inning or later.
The loss dropped the Cardinals to 2-6 since the All-Star break and left them just one game above .500 at 52-51 for the season. They also have lost 11 of their last 14 games at home.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Jordan’s two-out double was the first hit for the Cardinals and followed Ivan Herrera being hit by a pitch and a walk to Nathan Church … Their only other hit was a one-out double by Jimmy Crooks in the eighth, representing the tying run, but JJ Wetherholt struck out and Jordan Walker, hitting second for the second consecutive game, popped out … The team was 1-of-8 with a runner in scoring position.
On the mound: Dustin May allowed one run over six innings while walking one and striking out eight. The run scored in the fourth on a two-out double by Tyler Stephenson … In the seventh, Soriano gave up a one-out single to Sal Stewart before Suarez launched his homer over the left-field bleachers with two outs … Gastelum walked the first batter he faced in the ninth, and he came home on a single by Stewart.
Key stat: It was the 27th home run in Suarez’s career against the Cardinals, the second most by an active player, one behind the 28 homers hit by Ian Happ. It was his 12th at Busch 3 in 65 games.
Worth noting: Quinn Mathews continued to show that he is ready for a chance to pitch in the majors as he allowed one unearned run over seven innings on Friday night in Memphis, striking out 10. In his last nine starts Mathews has a 1.55 ERA over 52 1/3 innings with 59 strikeouts, allowing only 22 hits … Also at Memphis, Joshua Baez hit his 30th home run of the season.
Up next: Andre Pallante will get the start on Saturday night in the second game of the series.
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