Reds Crushed By Cardinals To Lose Series.

Aug 4, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Sam LeCure (63) has a meeting on the mound with catcher Devin Mesoraco (39) and shortstop Zack Cozart (2) and pitching coach Bryan Price (right) during the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park. The Cardinals defeated the Reds 15-2. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

It was Friday night all over again for the Cincinnati Reds as they were handled by the Cardinals in the final game of the series 15-2 on Sunday afternoon at Great American BallPark as the offense continues to be not consistent.

For the third straight game in the series the Cardinals score in the first inning after getting the first two outs to start the game Reds starter Mike Leake allowed a single to Allen Craig then Matt Holliday doubled to left scoring Craig and a Cards 1-0 lead. David Freese doubled to center making it 2-0. Then Matt Adams hit a two run homerun to right to make it a four run inning in the first all runs occurring with two outs.

In the second inning Jay Bruce reached first on a single as Cards starter Lance Lynn was late getting to the bag. A batter later Zack Cozart hit a 425 foot shot to the upper deck in left for a two run homerun his 9th of the season to cut the Cards lead in half at 4-2.

Leake settled down after the first allowing only one hit through innings 2-5. But in the sixth inning it all fell apart he allowed four straight hits including a run with no outs. Logan Ondrusek came on and he wasn’t even better allowed three runs on three hits with out according an out and suddenly it was 9-2 deficit as the Cards scored five runs in the inning.

Final line for Leake 5IP,8H,7ER, 2BB, 3SO as he fall to 10-5 in the season and obviously it’s his worst start of the season no doubt.

Cardinals added one run in the seventh, one in the eighth, and four in the ninth to complete the thrashing of the Reds. With the loss Reds are 4-8 against the Cardinals this season and are a season high 6.5 games out of first place Pittsburgh Pirates. They still hold a 4.5 game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second wild card spot in the National League.

This team is flat out dead there’s no fight and time is ticking where’s the sense of urgency? They will have a day off tomorrow and will host the Oakland Athletics for a short two game series Tuesday night.