The St. Louis Cardinals were able to close out their homestand with a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday afternoon, thanks to a Stephen Piscotty double in the bottom of the eighth. By winning 4-3, the Cardinals lowered the magic number down to 20, and avoided a sweep by Chicago at Busch Stadium.
On Thursday night, they opened a 10-game road trip by facing the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Ballpark.
And it was a brutal start to the road trip as the Cardinals fell 11-0 to the Reds.
For the evening’s game, the starters were Jaime Garcia (8-4, 1.89 ERA) and John Lamb (0-3, 6.11).
Cincinnati’s first run of the game was scored in the bottom of the second inning. With Lamb at the plate, Jay Bruce at third, Eugenio Barnhart on second, and Tucker Barnhart on first, Lamb grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Bruce to make it 1-0. A fielder’s choice by Brandon Phillips in the bottom of the third inning scored Jason Bourgeois and gave them a 2-0 lead.
But that was just the beginning for the cellar-dwellers of the National League Central.
In the bottom of the fifth, with two runners on, Joey Votto doubled to score Billy Hamilton to increase their lead to 3-0. A sacrifice fly by Phillips next gave them another run. Todd Frazier hit a double of his own to score Votto as it suddenly was a 5-0 game. By the end of the inning, it was 6-0 Reds, and Garcia looked worse than he had all season long.
Things only got worse for the Cardinals.
With Mitch Harris pitching in the seventh inning for St. Louis, Phillips hit a solo home run to make it 7-0. Later that same inning, former Cardinal Skip Schumaker hit a two-RBI double that scored both Frazier and Suarez as it was now 9-0. The following inning, Frazier hit a two-run home run to make it 11-0 Cincinnati.
And that turned out to be the final score of the game, as the Cardinals dropped to 88-52. Garcia lost his fifth game of the year (all of which have been shutouts), but due to the Pirates losing to the Brewers, the magic number dropped to 19.
Tomorrow, John Lackey will get the start for St. Louis.
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
