St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright delivers a pitch to the Cincinnati Reds in the second inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on September 27, 2016. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright had to work out of two bases loaded jams in the first three innings and was up to near 70 pitches after the third. Amazingly, the Reds only led 2-0 and the St. Louis bats got going as the Cardinals pulled away for a 12-5 win Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals hit five-home runs including Aledmys Diaz’ emotional grand slam in the fourth inning. St. Louis has hit an NL-leading 218 homers this year.
Wainwright (13-9) gave up five runs and 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings.
With the victory, St. Louis remained one game behind San Francisco and 1.5 behind the Mets who also scored a dozen runs each in wins.
The Mets handled Miami 12-1 and the Giants took care of Colorado 12-3 with just five games remaining on the Cardinals schedule.
