Friday night was not Dustin May’s best start of the season, but it was solid. What was not solid was the St. Louis Cardinals offensive approach as their bats were completely silent for most of the game which allowed the Reds to walk away with a depressing Friday night victory.
The eye test for Dustin May as he took the mound for St. Louis Friday night was positive for the first 3 innings as many of his pitches had nasty movement. The Reds did have a couple of singles in the top of the 3rd inning, but no runs to show for it. That changed in the top of the 4th as JJ Bleday led off with a single. Three batters later, Dustin walked Spencer Steer. Tyler Stephenson made him pay for that lack of control as he punished a 97 mph sinker sending it bouncing over the right-centerfield wall for a ground rule double giving the Reds a 1-0 lead.
The best St. Louis Cardinals threat happened in the bottom of the 5th inning starting without a hit. Feel free to insert your own sarcastic impatient St. Louis Cardinals fan remark here. It started when Cincinnati Reds starter Rhett Lowder hit Iván Herrera with a pitch. He would receive double punishment as he would be hit by the throw attempt when he stole second base, too. Three batters later, Nathan Church drew a two-out walk. That set the stage for Blaze Jordan to make the Reds pay dearly for that walk as he crushed an 85 mph slider into the left-centerfield gap for a two-run double which eliminated Lowder’s no-hit bid and gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead after 5 innings.
The Cincinnati Reds did not sit on their hands after the Cardinals took the lead in the bottom of the 5th as they answered with a threat of their own in the top of the 6th inning. Suarez and Lowe both singled to lead off the Reds 6th giving Cincinnati two runners on with no outs. However, Steer was unsuccessful with his bunt attempt that Dustin May made a nice play on to catch the pop-out running toward the third base line. May would end up loading the bases, though, as he plunked Stephenson on the left shoulder. There was still hope of keeping the Reds from cashing in on the scoring opportunity after Myers popped out to Burleson for the second out. Edwin Arroyo flied out to Nathan Church in center to leave the Reds disappointed which is the way it always should be.
Dustin May pitched 6 full innings and, overall, it was a strong outing. Dustin allowed 7 hits, struck out 8 and only walked 1 while allowing only 1 run. That’s the kind of start any contending team would want. Am I right contending trade deadline buyers?
What would the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen do? Stop me if you’ve heard me say this a lot lately, but they almost immediately lost the lead. George Soriano, who has been one of the more reliable arms for St. Louis, gave up a one-out single to Stewart. Two batters later would be the real damage as Eugenio Suarez destroyed an 87 mph Soriano slider launching it 435 feet into the left field stands giving the Reds a 3-2 lead. It pains me to use the words “Reds” and “lead” in the same sentence.
After the Cardinals did nothing in the bottom of the 7th inning, Ryne Stanek took his turn in the St. Louis bullpen merry-go-round in the top of the 8th inning. The highlight (or lowlight depending on your viewpoint) was an umpire’s call of catcher’s interference which replay showed Crooks glove was not even in the same zip code as Myers bat. As a matter of fact, the ball glanced off of his bat for the second strike which was proven when the Cardinals challenged the call.
Hard to believe the St. Louis Cardinals didn’t get their 2nd hit of the game until the bottom of the 8th inning when Jimmy Crooks ripped a ball into the right-centerfield gap for a one-out double. That gave two of the most dangerous bats in the Cardinals lineup a chance to be a hero. JJ Wetherholt failed in his effort with 3 very poor swings at 3 consecutive 85 mph sweepers. Jordan Walker didn’t fare much better as he unintentionally fouled off the first pitch he saw and then popped out weakly to second base to end the Cardinals 8th. Very disappointing.
Luis Gastelum was tasked with holding the Reds close in the top of the 9th inning, but he was not successful. He walked De La Cruz on 5 pitches. That brought up Sal Stewart who (no offense intended) looks like he walked out of a 1930’s gangster movie. After De La Cruz stole second base, Luis threw a ball past Stewart advancing De La Cruz to third who then singled him in to add to the Reds lead making it 4-2. This has been the St. Louis Cardinals fan experience lately. Fortunately, Gastelum was able to escape the top of the 9th with no further damage as he got Lowe to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Reds bullpen is not known to be a force of nature, so many of us held onto a glimmer of hope that the St. Louis Cardinals could rally against Cincinnati’s Emilio Pagán. Alec Burleson tried, but ended up flying out to deep center to lead off the Cardinals 9th. Herrera struck out with little fanfare for the second out leaving the Cardinals hopes in the hands of Lars Nootbaar. He struck out, too, and there’s no way to sugarcoat how awful the St. Louis offensive efforts have been lately.
It’s game 2 of the St. Louis Cardinals weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds Saturday night. The Cardinals will hand the ball to Andre Pallante while the Reds will have Hunter Greene to make the start. First pitch is set for 6:15pm central time and the TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.
