Reds Fall to St. Louis Again, 4-0; Lose Series Two to One
By Jordan Hiser
May 25, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mike Leake throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during the sixth inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
CINCINNATI- Ten of eleven.
Ten of the last eleven series that pit the Cincinnati Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals have had bad results for Reds supporters: St. Louis won each of those ten mentioned series.
Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright played lights-out baseball Sunday night. He fanned a career-high 12 batters, and allowed only five hits, and one walk through eight scoreless innings. The Reds were outscored in the three-game series 13-8, as their scoring woes continue. The 3.6 runs scored per game leading into today’s contest are the lowest for Cincinnati since 1983, and the goose egg the Reds put up tonight did nothing to help their cause this season.
Notables for the series:
Todd Frazier: 3 for 13, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 strikeouts
Devin Mesoraco: 2 for 12, 1 HR, 3 strikeouts
Brandon Phillips: 4 for 12, RBI, 3 strikeouts
Brayan Pena: 4 for 11, RBI, 3 strikeouts
Ryan Ludwick: 4 for 12, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 4 strikeouts
The Reds struggled to produce anything in this series in the runs department. Three runs were scored in 18 innings of baseball against St. Louis in the games on Saturday and Sunday. The Redlegs wasted another good outing from Mike Leake, in a game in which he sacrificed only 2 runs in six innings, and struck out 8 Cardinal batters. Manny Parra gave up two hits and an earned run, and also had a bad throw that was dropped by Zack Cozart that truly should have gotten an important out for Cincy.
Overall, this series left Reds fans with a lot to desire, and one must wonder how long Cincinnati will continue to perform a disappearing act in the batter’s box. Or rather, how long general manager will Walt Jocketty be satisfied with this underwhelming line-up? Only time will tell how long this team will be stuck in this funk, but one thing is for sure: the Reds cannot continue blaming their problems on injuries. Injuries happen to every baseball team on the planet. The great ones are the ones who play through pain, and find ways to win when players can’t play through their injuries.