ST. LOUIS – The Cincinnati Reds got a much-needed pitcher back from the injured list and got two home runs from a struggling hitter in the series finale.
But what they didn’t get was enough to beat the Cardinals even once during a Cards’ three-game sweep that included back-to-back game-winners in the eighth inning – including errors that allowed the decisive runs to score in St. Louis’ 5-3 victory over the Reds on Sunday, June 7.
After a pair of singles to open the eighth put Cards at first and second, reliever Sam Moll fielded No. 9 hitter Victor Scott’s bunt and air-mailed it past third base for the run-scoring error. He then walked JJ Wetherholt to load the bases with nobody out and exited.
“It was one of those ones where I just had to react quick, and obviously didn’t make a good throw,” Moll said.
Shortstop Matt McLain, the struggling hitter with two homers in that finale and three in the final two games of the series, followed the eighth-inning pitching change with a backhand muff of Ivan Herrera’s hopper to the drawn-in infield for an error that allowed the insurance run to score.
Just like that, the Reds fell two games under .500 (31-33) for the first time this season, took a four-game losing streak to San Diego for their next series, and dropped to 2-13 against National League Central rivals (without having seen the first-place Brewers yet).
Manager Terry Francona said he met with the team briefly after the game for a rare team address.
“When it’s the hardest to believe, you have to. And when there’s doubt you’ve got to believe in each other and pick each other up,” he said, describing his message. “What I don’t want is for this to be a morgue. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. Because it’s hard for us right now. There’s a lot of things that aren’t going right. We can make it better. And we will.”
That last time Francona had a team meeting during the regular season last year, the Reds won nine of their final 13 games to clinch a postseason berth on the final day of the season.
“It’s about us,” McLain said. “Not a good series as a whole. So you know we’ve got to come together, play the game the right way and lean on each other. And keep playing hard.”
Said Moll: “We’ve got enough talent to win ballgames. At least from my perspective, it just hurts a little more that I was on the end of it where it cost the team a couple of, hopefully, wins when we needed them (including allowing game-winning homer Saturday).”
Until the eighth, McLain had given the Reds the lead in the third and later tied the game in the seventh with a pair of solo home runs. Catcher Tyler Stephenson followed McLain with his own solo shot in the third to make it 2-0 at that point.
That’s when the Reds’ beat-to-hell bullpen was needed for a long day of relief because of rookie Rhett Lowder’s labors to navigate heavy traffic in his return engagement from the injured list.
He lasted just three innings and needed 70 pitches to do that.
Lowder, who hadn’t pitched since exiting his May 7 start with shoulder discomfort, faced 16 batters in his three innings. Only six put the ball in play, with Lowder walking five, hitting one and striking out four – accounting for the high pitch count on a humid, 85-degree afternoon at Busch Stadium. He didn’t allow a run.
“Early on, he was 2-0 on almost everybody. To his credit he fought back and kept them from scoring,” Francona said. “We were hoping to get a little more as far as pitch count, but it’s his first time back, and when you throw that many pitches that early, to me that’s harder than having lower-pitch innings.”
The Cardinals scored three quick ones off Chris Paddack in the sixth, leading off the inning with back-to-back doubles before Bryan Torres delivered a tying, two-run homer off Paddack with one out.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds swept by Cardinals, take 4-game skid to San Diego
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
