St. Louis Cardinals Kolten Wong swings, hitting a grand slam home run in the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 27, 2015. St. Louis won the game 4-1. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Kolten Wong knew on a humid night inside Busch Stadium, to get any lift on the ball, he’d have to hit it hard. Wong delivered on a 3-2 offering from Cincinnati starter Raisel Iglesias in the fourth inning. His grand slam and 11th homer of the season was all the scoring the Cardinals needed in their 4-1 win over the Reds on Monday night.
“He’s an exciting player. Everything we’re seeing from him offensively and defensively,” said manager Mike Matheny after his club improved to 64-35. “Just a few people in the league at that position have that skill set that he has. He’s exciting to watch. Just seeing more consistency.”
Wong made a great adjustment during the at-bat. After Iglesias made Wong look bad in his second at-bat with a strikeout, the Reds rookie pitcher tried getting Wong to take the bait again, but he didn’t bite. On 3-2, Iglesias had to come after Wong and he came through in the clutch. Wong talks about keeping himself under control in those situations.
Watch Wong’s grand slam (video/MLB)
Lance Lynn picked up his 8th win over the season and limited the damage to the just one run over seven innings. That one run could have been much more in the third, but Lynn worked himself out of a bases loaded jam. After a single, hit batter and a walk, Lynn gave up a sac fly to Jay Bruce, then got Brayan Pena to ground into a double play.
“My fastball command was terrible tonight, all night really,” Lynn said. “But I was able to make pitches when I needed to.”
Trevor Rosenthal earned his 31st save in 33 chances after getting two days off.
