Reds rookie Sal Stewart talks hitting, power surge in NL playoff race
Cincinnati Reds rookie Sal Stewart hit an eye-popping home run for the second time in as many games Monday, part of a 3-hit game in the Reds’ win.
ST. LOUIS – The National League playoff field is starting to round into shape with less than two weeks to play.
And the Cincinnati Reds are starting to look like the square peg.
On a night they desperately needed a victory over the pedestrian Cardinals to keep pace with the New York Mets, the Reds came up empty against Cards starter Michael McGreevy in a 3-0 loss and now trail the Mets for the final playoff spot by three games with 11 to play.
“The stakes have been high for the last two weeks, frankly,” said Reds starter Andrew Abbott, the lefty starter whose high pitch count kept him from getting through the fifth. “It sucks when you don’t get the job done.”
The Philadelphia Phillies already had the NL East clinched before the day started, and the NL Central-leading Brewers had a playoff berth clinched as they try to close out the top seed in the NL field. After the Reds lost, the Cubs (who beat Pittsburgh) needed a Giants win over the Diamondbacks to clinch a berth (because they own the tiebreaker against Arizona).
Either the Dodgers or Padres are going to win the NL West. Which leaves the loser of that battle and the Mets in the driver’s seats for the final two spots, trying to hold off the Giants and Diamondbacks – both of whom were assured of being no worse than tied with the Reds regardless of the outcome of their game late Tuesday.
“We have 11 more. We still have time,” Abbott said. “A lot of things have to go right. I’ve got to pitch better in my next two or one, or whatever it is. Guys have got to step up.
“But we’ve had our backs against the wall for two weeks, so it’s just the right time to answer the call.”
A few days after shaking their heads over a 0-for-12 performance with men in scoring position in a 3-0 loss to the Athletics, the Reds had only three at-bats with men in scoring position all night in St. Louis, two of them with two out, and none after the third inning.
McGreevy gave up just two hits, walked three and struck out six, including five of the final six batters he faced in his 91-pitch seven-inning start.
The Reds didn’t reach base after TJ Friedl’s leadoff walk in the sixth.
Reds starter Andrew Abbott, who pitched an eight-inning gem in San Diego in his previous outing, labored through a long first inning in this one, and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning before expending 96 pitches despite not walking a batter.
“He had close to 50 pitches after two. That’s a lot,” manager Terry Francona said. “The first inning was really long. But he didn’t walk anybody, and he still missed some bats.”