It’s been a rough week-and-a-half for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Against two of the worst teams in the National League, they have struggled to find consistency and build a winning streak, as they attempt to keep pace with the first-place Chicago Cubs. They entered Wednesday night with a 59-54 record.
Starting for St. Louis for the evening was Jaime Garcia (9-8), while Anthony DeSclafani (6-1) started for the Reds.
It was DeSclafani’s first loss of the season and in his career in five appearances against St. Louis. The three earned runs he gave up in his five innings of work actually equaled the three total he gave up in his three previous starts against the Cardinals spanning 19 innings.
Matt Carpenter kicked things off by hitting a solo home run in the first inning, the first time since July 3rd a Cardinals player hit a home run in the first inning. It also was his 11th career lead-off home run.
In the fourth inning of the game, Jhonny Peralta hit a home run to make it 2-1 Cardinals. The home run gave Peralta 200 for his career, as the veteran is now hitting .345 in the month of August.
For the Reds, Eugenio Suarez hit a solo home run of his own, giving him his first hit since July 25th.
Also of note: Yadier Molina‘s single in the sixth extended his streak of reaching base safely to 23 straight games. It is the longest streak by a Cardinals catcher since Gene Tenace reached in 35 straight games between 1981 and 1982.
Seung-Hwan Oh entered the game in the ninth inning and was able to close out the game for his 10th save this season.
With the victory, St. Louis is now tied for the 2nd National League Wild Card spot. Meanwhile, within their own division, they are 11.5 games behind the Cubs.
