Close But No Cigar, Cincinnati Reds Fall To Cardinals

Apr 3, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds right fielder Jay Bruce (32) hits a two-run home run off St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn during the first inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Last night’s rain delay wasn’t long enough for you? Thursday’s game started with a rain delay of over three hours before the first pitch.

A 12:35 first pitch was turned into a 4:15 first pitch in the rubber match between the Cincinnati Reds (1-1) and the St. Louis Cardinals (1-1). A soggy GABP came to life around 4pm when the tarp was removed, the teams took the field for warm ups and the fans finally were able to settle into the seats.

Reds pitcher Homer Bailey (0-0) took the mound to face the Cardinals and pitcher Lance Lynn (0-0). Both pitchers looked to continue the trend of dominating pitching that has dominated the first two games of this series.

The first inning saw the Reds break out of their offensive slump as Joey Votto reached base on a double, his second double in back to back days. With Votto on base Jay Bruce came up and absolutely destroyed a Lance Lynn pitch sending it six rows from the top of the moon deck in right field. A massive 450ft home run that nearly left the park. With the bases clear and a 2-0 lead Todd Frazier came to the plate and took Lynn deep again, this time for 474ft deep into the bleachers in left field. Back to back home runs gave the Reds a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

In the second inning St. Louis got on the board thanks to a two run home run by Johnny Peralta to left field. Cincinnati still led 3-2.

Homer Bailey started strong for the Reds, by the fourth inning he started to struggle. After giving up the game tying run on a John Jay double Homer got out of the inning. The fifth inning saw Homer struggle once again. He would only last 1 out before Bryan Price would remove him. Having given up the game tying run Homer was replaced with Nick Christiani.

With a 4-3 lead the Cardinals entered the 7th looking to blow the game open. They did just that. Trevor Bell relieve Christiani, he would load the bases with no outs. History was made a GABP as instant replay review was used for the first time after the ball appeared to bounce off the wall and Jay Bruce caught it. The play was called a single, loading the bases. Bell was pulled and replaced with Logan Ondrusek who gave up three runs in the inning allowing the Cardinals to skate out to a 7-3 lead.

Cincinnati would not go quietly as Todd Frazier would hit his second home run of the game. This time a three run blast to right field to pull the Reds within one at 7-6.

That would be all for the Reds though as they failed to score in the next two innings ultimately losing 7-6.

While two losses in the first series of the season isn’t great but the Cardinals went to the World Series last season, for this team to compete this closely with them it is a pleasant surprise.

The Reds now travel to Queens, New York to face the Mets in a three game series this weekend.