Reds Misery In St Louis Continues In Loss To Cardinals.

Aug 26, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher J.J. Hoover (60) looks on after giving up a grand slam to St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Allen Craig (not pictured) during the seventh inning at Busch Stadium. St. Louis defeated Cincinnati 8-6. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

The St Louis Cardinals capped off a five run seventh inning with a dagger grand slam by Allen Craig as Reds misery in St Louis continues as they fall 8-6 Monday Night at Busch Staduim.

Reds had a 4-0 lead after two pair of two-run triples by Zack Cozart and Todd Frazier in the second inning. They got an two out RBI double by Cozart in the sixth inning to make it 5-3 at that point.

Reds starter Mike Leake gave up a three run homerun to Matt Holiday in the third inning. Leake goes 6 1/3 innings of 5 earned runs allowed. In the seventh inning he got into trouble, allowed a leadoff single to David Freese to the start the rally, Carlos Beltran pinch hitting doubled to center with one out putting runners at 2nd and 3rd.

Manny Parra replaced Leake and he couldn’t throw strikes, walked Matt Carpenter to load the bases. Jon Jay grounded out to first base. Joey Votto touched the bag and headed for the dugout thinking there were three outs. With that it was unlikely there was any chance at an inning ending double play. Run scored for the Cards making it 5-4 Reds with two outs.

JJ Hoover came on for Parra to face Holiday, walked him to reload the bases. Then on the first pitch to Craig hit an opposite field to right for the grand slam blow to the Reds. Hoover has allowed two grand slams in a week after his 26 1/3 innings scoreless streak was snapped with a Paul Goldschmidt of the D’backs grand slam last Tuesday.

Jay Bruce leadoff the top of the eighth inning with a opposite field homerun to left to cut the lead to 8-6 but it didn’t matter.

The loss drops the Reds to 3 1/2 games out of new first place team in the National League Central the Cardinals, Pirates were idle tonight. Tomorrow it will be ace Mat Latos on the mound and Joe Kelly. First pitch is at 8:15pm.