Elly De La Cruz brought home the winning run with a full-count single, allowing the Cincinnati Reds to down the St Louis Cardinals 6-5 in extra innings Monday, Aug. 17 in Cincinnati.
De La Cruz’s single bounced off Blaze Jordan’s glove and into left field, allowing leadoff runner Tyler Stephenson to score the winning run. The run capped a back-and-forth second game of a day-night doubleheader that saw the Reds load the bases to start the bottom of the first, but only get De La Cruz home on a sacrifice fly by Eugenio Suárez. The Cardinals avoided more damage with a double play to end the inning, but didn’t respond on the scoreboard until Iván Herrera opened the fourth inning with a solo home run. The Cardinals pivoted to small ball, with two singles and a forceout setting up Masyn Winn’s RBI single to take the lead. In the sixth, the Cardinals would add to the lead with RBI singles from Jordan and Nathan Church.
The lead went away in the bottom of the sixth, when Michael Toglia doubled home JJ Bleday, and Héctor RodrÃguez singled in two more runs to tie the game. RodrÃguez was tagged out at second to end the inning, with a Reds challenge unsuccessful. Bryan Torres put the Cardinals back out in front with two outs in the eighth, only for Dane Myers to tie the game with a solo home run in the ninth.
Justin Bruihl took the loss by giving up the game-winning hit to De La Cruz, the only batter he faced, while Emilio Pagán struck out two Redbirds in the tenth for the win, allowing one walk. Andre Pallante started the game for the Cardinals, allowing four runs on ten hits and a walk while striking out five across six innings.
The split doubleheader allowed the Cardinals (64-62) to pick up a half-game on San Diego, who remain three games ahead of the Cardinals for the third wild card spot. Kyle Leahy takes the mound for St Louis on Tuesday against Andrew Abbott. First pitch from Great American Ball Park is at 5:40 p.m.