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The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
The entire Cardinals offense showed up today, rapping out a total of 17 hits. Matts Carpenter and Holliday led the way, and Allen Craig hit a home run. Adam Wainwright was pretty sharp, facing one over the minimum through his first five innings. It was a butt-whompin', folks. No two ways about it.
The best effort your Reds could muster was a solid relief outing from Sam LeCure. He threw 1.1 scoreless, giving up only one hit while striking out two.
Key Plays
The Cardinals struck first in the third inning, tallying a double and four singles off of Homer Bailey.
They put up two more in the top of the sixth, as Matt Holliday led off the inning with a line drive to CF. Chris Heisey made an ill-advised dive for it, and it skipped passed him and rolled to the wall. Holliday earned a triple for his efforts, and Homer cursed out loud. Allen Craig then brought him home with a big home run to left field.
The Redlegs rallied in the bottom half, as Ryan Hanigan and the pinch-hitting Wilson Valdez began the inning with singles. Heisey and Ludwick added singles of their own, knocking out Wainwright, but Jay Bruce's laser line drive to left field was right at Holliday for the third out.
The Cardinals would add two more in the seventh off of Sean Marshall, who did not look sharp. Three singles and a double made it 7-2 in their favor. They added one more in the ninth to make it 8-2.
Source: FanGraphs
Other Notes
The Reds' lead in the National League Central Division is now six games. The Cardinals took two of three over the weekend and picked up a game. Six games seems enough to be positive, but not enough to be comfortable.
The Reds now head out west to face the Diamondbacks for three, and then to Houston for three. The good news is that Joey Votto may be back with the team for that Astros series.
Music, huh? How's 'bout this one?