Finnegan allowed two hits with no walks over six innings and Brandon Phillips had a pair of doubles and scored three times as the Reds cruised to a 7-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
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Playing for the first time since fracturing his elbow June 16, Martinez hit for James McCann leading off the inning and launched Chris Sale’s first pitch into the shrubs above the centerfield fence.
Finnegan (7-8) allowed only a pair of singles, and then left after throwing 79 pitches on a humid, 88-degree afternoon.
The win gives the Reds the series, just the fifth series win for the Reds in the last 23 between the two teams.
The Reds have won all six of their series since the All-Star break, the first time since July and August of 1999 that they’ve won as many as six consecutive series. Much of that was on the arm of Finnegan, who didn’t allow a walk for just the second time this season. The outing lowered his season ERA to 4.45, and by game score it was his best start of 2016. “He was good; he pitched great”.
“I didn’t have my best command”, Finnegan said. They hit some balls hard. “My big thing is to throw strikes, when I do that, they’ve been hitting balls to our position players. (Today) was a confidence boost, definitely”. My velo wasn’t as high as it usually is, but I had a lot of movement and they hit it straight up to somebody. His first season in a Cardinals uniform has been no different. He held the Cardinals scoreless in his first two strong innings. Donaldson led off the fourth with a home run to right field before hitting his 27th home run of the season in the sixth.
The Reds didn’t use the long-ball in the homer-happy park that Leake had been known to bemoan in his time as a Red. In the second he led off the inning with a single. He was 3-5 AB/1 HR/1 RBI/1-2B with two runs and a single. It ended when Adam Duvall walked on a full-count pitch to open the sixth.
Billy Hamilton also stole a base and enjoyed a multi-hit game for the Reds but it was Eugenio Suarez and Ramon Cabrera who were the unlikely heroes in the matinee game, combining for five RBIs despite hitting out of the seventh and eighth spot in the order. This was the first start in which Finnegan did not allow a walk since May 18 against Cleveland, and comes on the heels of Finnegan allowing no runs on four hits against the Padres last week. Schebler was hit on the right side of the knee in the sixth but stayed in the game.
The Cubs scored three runs in the inning to sweep the three-game series. Afterward, he said he was fine and would be ready to play Friday night in Pittsburgh.
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“Sometimes a pitcher has to pass a smell test and after six on a hot day for a kid who has started stockpiling innings, I thought he was done”, Price said.
