KSReds: Cincinnati Reds Sweep the Rival St. Louis Cardinals

In our last KSReds update we discussed the Cincinnati Reds having one final shot at making a playoff push. After losing the first two games of their series against the Milwaukee Brewers the outlook was incredibly bleak. The record sat at 56-61 after a frustrating 1-0 loss. However, the Reds avoided the sweep on Sunday with a 4-3 win before heading home to Great American Ball Park to face the rival St. Louis Cardinals. A sweep would bring the two teams to a tie in the standings.

Sure enough, the Reds delivered a sweep and are showing some real signs of life. The pitching staff dominated and the offense launched 10 home runs. Now, they sit just one game below .500 at 60-61. Pending the outcome of Wednesday night’s game between the Braves and Giants, the Reds will be either 3.5 or 4.5 games out of the final wild card spot. However, more importantly, they have now passed the Cubs and drawn even with the Cardinals. It is much easier to pass just a couple of teams as opposed to the six that the Reds trailed a week ago.

Reds’ fans have been in this spot before. Getting within a game or two of the .500 mark has happened a handful of times over the last couple of months. What they haven’t done yet though is get over the hump. With time running out, they will need to make their push now or never. It won’t be easy though as the 66-55 Kansas City Royals come to town next. After taking Thursday off, Nick Martinez will take the mound at 6:40 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday evening. Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott will also start against the Royals. A series win would get the Reds to .500 on the season.

Spencer Steer Powers Reds to Series-Opening Win

It has been a frustrating, up-and-down season for Spencer Steer. After a breakout rookie season with the Cincinnati Reds where he hit .271 and drove in 86 runs, Steer has cooled off significantly in year two. May was a downright ugly month that saw him go well below the Mendoza line at .176. However, he responded with a big month of June hitting .280 before reverting back to .213 in July. Here in August he has bounced back up to a .270 average. The fluctuation between hot and cold reached a boiling point on Monday evening as Steer came through with his first multi-home run game and a career-high five RBI.

Steer ended up being the star of the show, but it was Nolan Arenado who struck first. The veteran third baseman drove in a run with a single to left field giving the St. Louis Cardinals a 1-0 lead in third inning. However, that advantage was quickly erased as Steer belted a two run home run in the bottom half of the frame. Then, Elly De La Cruz made it back-to-back bombs with a solo shot to increase the Reds’ lead to 3-1. In the fifth, Steer added a three-run home run which proved to set the eventual final score of 6-1.

While Steer powered the offense with his two home runs and five runs batted in, Andrew Abbott earned his 10th victory of the year on the mound. The left-hander turned in six and two-thirds innings of work allowing just one run on five hits while striking out six batters. He is now 10-9 on the season with a 3.59 earned run average. Abbott has really settled in as a reliable middle of the rotation arm. In relief, Jakob Junis threw two and one-third perfect innings.

Hunter Greene Pitching Like a Cy Young Candidate

Don’t look now, but Hunter Greene is becoming a Cy Young candidate before our eyes. Chris Sale is likely the favorite in the National League and it’ll be tough to surpass him, but the Cincinnati Reds have a young superstar in Greene. He was dominant against the rival Cardinals on Tuesday evening tossing seven innings of one-run, four-hit baseball while striking out eight batters. Greene is now 9-4 with a dazzling 2.83 earned run average. Tony Santillan and Alexis Diaz slammed the door shut in the eighth and ninth innings respectively. Diaz, who recorded his 24th save of the season, converted his 17th consecutive opportunity in the 4-1 win.

At the plate, Spencer Steer stayed hot getting the game started with a RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. Ty France then connected on a solo home run in the second inning. Jeimer Candelario added a two-run shot of his own in the sixth that made it a 4-0 Reds lead. Nolan Arenado drove one into the left field seats in the seventh, but that is all the offense that St. Louis could manage. The Cincinnati Reds clinched the series victory, and pulled a game closer to the Cardinals in the standings, with the victory.

Reds Get the Brooms Out at Great American Ball Park

The Cincinnati Reds have swept the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park for the first time since early June of 2017. This wasn’t just a sweep though, it was a domination. In three games the Reds won by a combined score of 19-4 to move to 60-61 on the season. The pitching was excellent and the ball flew out of GABP. That certainly was true on Wednesday evening as both Jonathan India and TJ Friedl turned in multi-home run games.

India struck first in the third inning with a three-run shot to build a nice early cushion. Tyler Stephenson added a solo shot making it 4-0 Reds after three innings. Then, India went deep a second time in the fifth followed by TJ Friedl’s first blast. Jake Fraley chipped in a RBI in the fifth which blew the game wide open at 7-0. St. Louis got a couple back in the sixth, but Friedl responded with another long ball in the seventh. Elly De La Cruz capped off the scoring with a RBI double in the eighth setting the eventual final score of 8-2.

It was a bullpen game for the Cincinnati Reds on the mound. Emilio Pagan was used as the opener and pitched two shutout innings. Sam Moll and Carson Spiers pitched clean third through fifth innings, but Spiers was tagged with a pair of runs in the sixth. Then, down the stretch, Justin Wilson, Buck Farmer, and Fernando Cruz secured the victory. The Reds’ pitching staff should be at full strength following a day off heading into their weekend series against the Kansas City Royals.