Despite heat, Cardinals go ice cold in finale vs. Reds

Whatever spillover momentum or percolating offense the Cardinals had coming out of their rousing walk-off win Saturday went ice cold Sunday.

Before the game, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was asked about the old chestnut that momentum is only as strong as the next day’s starter, and that proved prophetic as the next day’s starting pitcher for the Reds, Andrew Abbott, quashed anything the Cardinals tried to muster Sunday.

At one point, he retired 18 consecutive Cardinals, and the Reds would retire 24 of the final 25 Cardinals on the way to a rather dull 4-1 victory.

The Cardinals did not have a hit after the second inning.

With a first-pitch temperature of 93 degrees and the heat index even hotter on the field, the Cardinals’ latest hot streak of wins halted. They had won five consecutive, rolling out of a road trip and into a visit from Cincinnati just ahead of the first Cubs-Cardinals series of this season. The Cardinals (42-36) welcome their archrivals and the division leaders for a four-game series that starts Monday with lefty Matthew Liberatore leading the Cardinals.

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Some of the decisions and availabilities Sunday as the Cardinals covered the four innings after their starters’ work were about setting up a fresh bullpen for the Cubs.

Reds lefty Abbott (7-1) confounded the Cardinals throughout the middle innings, finishing his seven-inning gem with five consecutive perfect innings. Abbott held the Cardinals to one run on three hits, and he did not complicate is innings with any walks.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas mostly matched him zero for zero until one middle inning and a pair of doubles gave the Reds their tie-breaking runs.

Mikolas (4-5) allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits through five innings.

Reds closer Emilio Pagan retired the three batters he faced in the ninth for his 18th save.

Abbott quelches Cards’ lineup

There was a brief burst of offense from the Cardinals to tie the game in the second inning before they an eyeful of how Reds starter Abbott brought a 1.84 ERA into Sunday’s finale.

The start was Abbott’s 13th of the season, and in 10 of them, he allowed one or no earned runs. His most recent start was a no-decision against Minnesota that included five runs against, but that was muddied with errors and only one of those runs was earned. Abbott maxed out Sunday at 94.1 mph with his fastball, but he defied and mystified the Cardinals with the mix of pitches he can use that hover and dart in that 81 mph to 86 mph range. They fade like a change-up, turn like a sweeper or drop like a curveball — often at some speed in that mix.

In his seven innings, he got 13 swings and misses.

And that is how he retired the final 18 batters he faced. Following the RBI single in the second that tied the game for a bit, Abbott did not allow a runner to reach for the remainder of the game. He struck out only two in that stretch, and he was helped by a lunging catch in center field in the seventh inning. Otherwise, he got the Cardinals to put the ball in play and often in the air for his defense to work behind him.

Mikolas quells with a K

There were pockets of the Reds lineup that gave Mikolas areas he could find favorable matchups.

After No. 3 hitter Elly De La Cruz and his 5-for-13 career against Mikolas, there was cleanup hitter Tyler Stephenson, who has struggled to 1 for 11 against the Cardinals’ veteran right-hander. At the back end of the lineup loomed Will Benson with his 7-for-10 success against Mikolas, but just behind him, batting No. 9, was Jake Fraley with his 0 for 12 vs. Mikolas.

Still, Mikolas carved his own holes.

Matt McLain, the second batter of the game, put the Reds ahead with a solo homer. Mikolas would allow two more batters to reach base in the next four innings. In his second look at the top of the Reds order, Mikolas struck out the side in order, and he would extend that streak to four consecutive batters, including back-to-back Reds caught looking at his sinker.

In the third inning, Mikolas struck out McLain on a 1-2 breaking pitch that veered out of the zone as McLain’s bat chased in.

Mikolas ended the inning a front-hip sinker that caught the edge of the plate on De La Cruz. De La Cruz was caught looking at the 93.2 mph fastball.

Mikolas carried the 1-1 tie into the fifth inning when the matchup flipped against him. A one-out double by Jose Trevino brought Fraley to the plate hitless in his 13 chances against Mikolas. Fraley had struck out in five of those at-bats. This time, he connected for a double that split the gap and brought home Trevino to break the tie.

A passed ball and a sacrifice fly later, the Reds had three runs on Mikolas.

They widened the lead with a run off reliever Kyle Leahy in the sixth.

Pozo delivers again

Backup catcher Yohel Pozo singled home the winning run in extra innings Saturday for his first career walk-off hit in the majors, and he singled again Sunday to bring home the Cardinals’ first run of the series finale.

In the second inning, the Cardinals did early what they had to do late Saturday against Cincinnati: stack hits. It was a lot of familiar swings involved in the rally. Nolan Arenado, who tied Saturday’s game with a solo homer, roped a single to right field to lead off the second inning. Thomas Saggese reached via error. With no outs and two on, Pozo poked his single to right field to score Arenado.

Pozo entered Sunday as one of the four .300 hitters in the lineup, joining recent call-up Saggese and regulars Alec Burleson and Brendan Donovan.

The RBI was his ninth of the season and knotted the game, 1-1.

St. Louis Cardinals notch series win with a 6-5 victory in the second of three with the Cincinnati Reds