But Reed didn’t get the win, as the Reds’ bullpen melted down in the ninth inning, surrendering a 4-0 lead and ruining Reed’s shot at the win when Ross Ohlendorf walked in the tying run and then hit Yadier Molina to force in the winning run. That brought up Matt Carpenter, who singled in two runs, cutting the lead to 4-2.
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Jhonny Peralta, SS-3B: He has hit safely in five of his last six games since his latest comeback from thumb problems.
Matt Adams, 1B: He off the bench to make another out Monday, leaving him 2 for 14 in his last seven games and 5 for 30 over a longer span. Adams was hitting.305 on June 28 and now he is batting.250. “And in the ninth inning we got a lot of pitches to do it with”.
The inning started out as more of the same for a team which was 0-for-11 with men in scoring position over the first eight innings.
It looked like the Reds would waste another opportunity against a struggling Michael Wacha in the second after back-to-back singles by Suarez and Tucker Barnhart to start the inning.
“You trust in each other and that was one of those next men up”, Matheny said.
Edwin Encarnacion hit his 299th career home run as the Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak against the Rays. Reed’s final line – six innings pitched, four hits, one walk and four strikeouts. Diekman struck out Nick Hundley and got Cristhian Adames to ground into a game-ending double play to earn his third save.
Molina then finished what he started the painful way, the first win for the Cardinals via a hit batter since Jon Jay took one for the team on August 14, 2014, against, coincidentally, the Reds. “I felt like I was able to settle in and throw some good pitches down in the zone”.
“It’s miserable”, Reds manager Bryan Price said.
The rally spoiled what had the makings of Cody Reed’s first major league victory. “We didn’t get the win, whatever, it’s going to happen”. Cozart, who had two hits, scored when Joey Votto followed with a triple. “That’s just how it goes”. He gave up just four hits and a walk while striking out four.
Seth Maness (2-2) worked a clean ninth as St. Louis moved within a half-game of Miami for the National League’s second wild-card spot, pending the outcome of the Marlins’ extra-inning game with the San Francisco Giants.
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Cody Reed’s 100th pitch struck out Yadier Molina looking, an 86 miles per hour slider that broke hard, broke hearts, and showed an eyes wide open look at just why he’s been so lauded by prospect evaluation despite the rough start to his Cincinnati Reds career.
