Willson Contreras and Pedro Pagés homered, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 on Saturday night for their third straight win.
Michael McGreevy (6-2) allowed one run over six innings for St. Louis (68-69). The rookie right-hander gave up five hits and two walks without a strikeout. Kyle Leahy recorded the final four outs for his second career save and first this season, working out of trouble after the Reds put two on with none out in the ninth.
Cincinnati (68-68) has dropped five in a row and eight of nine, falling five games behind the New York Mets for the National League’s final wild-card spot.
The Reds struck first in the opening inning when Elly De La Cruz singled and scored on Gavin Lux’s double. Andrew Abbott (8-5) limited the damage after a shaky first inning and pitched five frames, allowing two runs on three hits with four walks and seven strikeouts. He has surrendered a season-high six earned runs in his previous outing.
St. Louis went ahead in the fourth when Abbott loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter before Nathan Church delivered a two-run single. Contreras added his 20th home run in the seventh off Connor Phillips to make it 3-1, and Pagés hit his 11th of the season in the eighth against Zach Maxwell for a 4-2 lead.
Matt McLain homered for Cincinnati in the seventh, his first since July 18.
The Reds dodged a first-inning rally on a bizarre sequence. With one out and the bases loaded, Jordan Walker’s pop fly invoked the infield fly rule. After hesitation on the basepaths, Iván Herrera tried to score and was thrown out by second baseman McLain to end the inning.
Up Next
Cardinals look to clinch a sweep as they send RHP Andre Pallante (6-12, 5.44 ERA) to face Reds RHP Brady Singer (11-9, 4.06) in Sunday’s series finale. First pitch at the Great American Ballpark is set for 11:10. Sunday’s game will broadcast live on KTLO AM 1240 beginning at 10:15 with Ameren Total Access.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI