Cincinnati Reds Scott Schebler (R) is congratulated by Tim Adleman as he crosses home plate in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on September 26, 2016. Cincinnati scored seven times in the inning. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Cardinals only loss a half game in the Wild Card standings despite the 15-2 loss at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds, Monday night at Busch Stadium. In this final week of the season the objective is to just try to grind out as many wins as possible and hope you have one of the two playoff spots secured. There are no style points awarded, no penalty for giving up double-digit runs. The Cardinals will scrub this game from their memory and move on.
With the loss, the Cardinals are one game behind idle San Francisco with six to play and just 1.5 games behind the Mets who lost 7-3 to the Marlins.
While on paper it’s only one loss, but are the Cardinals crumbling?
Mike Matheny had seen enough of Jaime Garcia and it is clear that the crowd (less than 40,000 for the first time in three years) may have had their fill as well. He was booed after allowing Brandon Phillips to steal third unnoticed. Matheny yanked him after the first inning following two homers.
Matheny explains the quick hook
Matheny turned to Michael Wacha who gave up a homer to the first batter he faced in the second and then it all fell apart in the fourth.
Two singles and two sacrifices made it a 4-0 game. Wacha couldn’t get the third out as the Reds got four straight hits chasing Wacha and leading 8-0. Luke Weaver hit a batter and gave up two more singles and two more runs as Cincinnati tacked on seven for a 10-0 lead.
The Reds finished with 22 hits, including Joey Votto and Adam Duvall hitting three of Cincinnati’s four homers. Duvall’s three-run homer in the fifth gave him a career-high five RBI and it gave him 100 for the season. Steve Selsky went 5-for-5 including a homer, four RBI and scored three runs. Brandon Phillips had his 14th career four-hit game.
Matheny expects the team to battle back.
