Photo: Getty Images
Reds 4 Cards 3
Elly De La Cruz reached base four more times, including an 8th inning walk that led to him scoring the go ahead run as the Reds beat the Cardinals 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium. The Reds took 2 of 3 in the series.
Then and now: The Reds are 31-35. A year ago they stood 23-43 through 66 games.
Elly: 2 for 3, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI, SB.
1st AB: Beat out one bounce chopper to 1B for an infield single. The 21-year old won a foot race with Wainwright to the bag.
That's 3 infield hits in a span of 4 hits. He's hit in all six games.
2nd AB: He waited on a slow curve, leaned out and slapped it, basically on one leg, into CF for an RBI single.....at 109.4 mph? OK. That's insane.
3rd AB: Walk.....SB....R
4th AB: Walk....R. He was running/avoided DP on Steer groundout. Advanced to 3rd on passed ball. Scored go ahead run on FC w/ head first slide.
5th AB: Fielder's choice
Elly in the field: He made a 96.6 mph throw. Per Baseball America, the hardest throw by any MLB infielder this year and the hardest of the Statcast era (2015). He threw two balls harder at Triple-A this season.
Hunter Greene: 5.1 IN, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 88 pitches/61 strikes. At 3-3 in the 6th, he was done after hitting a batter and walking a batter with one out.
After throwing a lot of pitches in the 1st and 2nd, he did a nice job of getting back on track.
He keeps hitting: 3 more hits for Will Benson. He is 13 for 36 (.361) since starting the season 1 for 25 (.040).
Need him: TJ Friedl snapped an 0 for 8 start off the IL with a one out double in the 7th.
Circle the sequence: The Reds had the go ahead run on 3rd with one out in the 7th after a Friedl double and advancement to 3rd on a wild pitch. But Matt McLain struck out and India flew out.
Got him! Casali threw out Paul Goldschmidt attempting to steal in the 7th inning. The first time Goldschmidt has been caught since May of 2019 (30 for 30).
The longest active streak in MLB.
Bullpen: 3.2 IN, 0 R. Gibaut stranded two runners at 3-3 and 1 out in 6th and then tossed a scoreless 7th. Sims worked around a leadoff walk in the 8th. Diaz picked up his 15th save in 15 tries.
Guile and Guts: 41-year old Adam Wainwright had the Reds off balance much of the afternoon with a slop combo of a 65 mph curve and 85 mph fastball.
India jacked a 1st HR (7) to straightaway CF (409 feet) in the 1st inning. But Wainwright took a 3-2 lead to the 6th before the Reds tied the game and knocked him out. 5.2 IN, 3 R.
How the Reds scored
1st: India HR, 1-0 Reds
3rd: De La Cruz RBI 1B scored Casali, 2-2
6th: Stephenson RBI 1B, scored De La Cruz, 3-3
8th: De La Cruz scored on fielder' choice by Stephenson, 4-3 Reds