Cincinnati Reds defeat St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 in 10th inning walk-off

The Cincinnati Reds inched ever closer to regaining the coveted 4th position in the National League Central on Monday, walking off the St. Louis Cardinals in a 6-5 victory that took until the 10th inning to wrap up. The goods came on a Nick Senzel sac-fly that plated Spencer Steer, the Manfred Man who had begun the inning on 2B and moved up on a wild pitch to set the stage for Senzel’s ribbie.

It was a see-saw affair, one that saw early homers by Steer (off Cardinals lefty starter Jordan Montgomery) and Paul DeJong (off Reds lefty starter Brandon Williamson). DeJong’s was of the 3-run variety, a big blast immediately after a Williamson walk that did the biggest damage in the Reds rookie’s second career start. Williamson finished after 4.1 IP and 84 pitches, having allowed 4 ER on 4 H and 4 BB against 3 K - the kind of outing that has become the norm for him in AAA Louisville prior to his call-up.

Still, it was the beleaguered Cincinnati bullpen that kept things duct-taped together, even as Alexis Diaz battled wildness and Alex Young once again pitched into a jam. It was good enough for the Cincinnati offense to finally get itself together when presented with the chance, and that put a temporary halt to the surging Cardinals May run.

FINAL/(10): Reds 6, Cardinals 5

Tony Graphanino

[Link to interactive WPA chart and box score, via FanGraphs]

Other Notes

• Connor Overton is set for ‘exploratory’ elbow surgery tomorrow, and the move will likely end his season. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon has more on that, and I have even more questions on who the hell the Reds are going to roll out there to pitch games in August and September.
• The Reds and Cardinals will be back at it again tomorrow with yet another 6:40 PM ET start time scheduled. Adam Wainwright will be serving up meatballs for dinger consumption for St. Louis, while Graham Ashcraft will be looking to get his season back together as Cincinnati’s starter for the day.
• Tunes.