Coming into Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals needed to beat their NL Central rival, and with a Brewers loss, they would clinch at least a wild card spot in the playoffs.
While they haven’t clinched a playoff spot yet, their road to clinching the division is two games closer.
With a crowd of over 40,000 once again filling the stands at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-4, cutting the magic number to win the division at six. With the Brewers’ 1-0 defeat of Pittsburgh later in the night, the magic number dropped to five with seven games left to play this season.
Before the game, both Matt Adams and Matt Carpenter were scratched from the lineup, due to a stomach illness. Manager Mike Matheny decided to start Tony Cruz at catcher, Daniel Descalso at third base, and at first base…Yadier Molina.
On the mound for St. Louis was Michael Wacha, while Mike Leake started on the mound for the Reds.
For the first inning, the action was slow for both teams, as their respective pitchers pitched well, with Wacha only allowing a single hit.
In the bottom of the second inning, however, things started to heat up for St. Louis.
After a Molina double, and a Descalso walk, Cruz stepped up to the plate, in his 100th career home game. And with his 100th at-bat at home, he hit his first career home run at Busch Stadium, a three-run shot to left field, making it 3-0 St. Louis. In the bottom of the third inning, after Jon Jay got hit by a pitch, Kolten Wong stepped up to the plate and launched a ball into the right field stands, giving the Cardinals a 5-0 lead over the Reds.
The following inning, Brandon Phillips got a hit that scored Todd Frazier, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 5-1, which was later cut to 5-2.
In the top of the fifth, Matheny pulled Wacha in favor of Jason Motte, after 4.2 innings of work. Wacha had a decent outing, allowing six hits, two runs, no walks and one strikeout on 78 total pitches.
The Reds’ defense struggled badly on Saturday night, despite only committing one error. Matt Holliday originally singled to deep right during the bottom of the fifth, and Wong scored on the play due to a miscue by Jay Bruce. Later, in the top of the sixth, Marco Gonzales relieved Motte on the mound, but a sacrifice fly by Bruce cut the Cardinals’ lead to three once again.
Leake was relieved in the sixth inning by Ryan Dennick, who allowed a home run by the first batter he faced, Randal Grichuk, who had hit a home run the day prior, giving St. Louis the 7-3 lead.
Zack Cozart homered, making it a 7-4 game. Gonzales continued to pitch until Seth Maness came in to relieve him. Grichuk would once again produce a run for the Cardinals, scoring Jhonny Peralta, to put St. Louis ahead by four, a lead which would remain for the rest of the game.
After a strong appearance by Sam Freeman in the eighth, the Cardinals, in a non-save situation, put in Carlos Martinez for the ninth inning. Martinez shut down the Reds, to give the Cardinals the 8-4 victory.
St. Louis is now 87-68 on the season, and 51-29 at home, with just one home game remaining on the season. The Reds, who won over 90 games three out of the past four seasons, drop to 71-84 on the season.
The race for the NL Central crown is still intense, but the Pirates are now 3.5 games behind the Cardinals, while the Brewers are seven games out, with slim chances to even clinch a wild card spot.
Tomorrow, Lance Lynn will get then nod on the mound against Alfredo Simon.
(Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
