That total tied for the most at 11-year-old Busch Stadium, with the Cardinals doing it against the Cubs on July 21, 2012. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I’m not going to tell you I’m great and guys are just getting lucky. Brandon Moss’ two-run homer in the bottom of that inning cut into Cincinnati’s lead, and the Cardinals got the winning run to the plate before J.J. Hoover survived for his first save of the season. The Cardinals have piled up 66 runs during a 6-1 tear and have scored in double digits four times over their last six games.
Advertisement
Moss was sure that Holliday would eventually bounce out of his funk.
The Cardinals made it 7-3 when Aledmys Diaz rocketed his own three-run homer into the seats in left, his second of the year.
Growing up in the St. Louis suburb of Wentzville, Tim Melville always dreamed of pitching in Busch Stadium. Holliday had just four homers in 73 games during an injury-plagued campaign last season. “Not going to be the last time I throw a good pitch and someone hits it out”.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny didn’t seem overly concerned, noting Wainwright was getting swings and misses on his breaking ball and nice velocity on the fastball.
Moss and Matt Adams also homered.
Throughout his career, Wainwright has had four seasons where he’s had at least 19 wins, the last being 2014 his last fully healthy season. Joey Votto doubled to lead off the inning and after a walk to Brandon Phillips, a bloop single to left from Jay Bruce drove in Votto.
Carlos Martinez (2-0) cruised to the win, allowing six hits and three runs with a walk and six strikeouts in seven innings.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds Saturday, April 16, 2016, in St. Louis. He added a solo shot in the sixth. Following his warmup in the bullpen before the game, he tossed a ball to his high school coach, Joel Adam of Holt High. At times his signature curve dives vertically through the zone hard and fast. This past week, on Twitter, a fan wrote to him, and said: “Please get this bad thought out of my head that you are no longer an ace”.
St. Louis Cardinals’ Matt Holliday, right, connects for a three-run home run as Cincinnati Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart watches in the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 15, 2016, in St. Louis.
“There’s not a whole lot of good things I can say about it”, Wainwright said. “It was tough, any loss is tough”.
“That’s not the first time he’s not been exactly where he wants to be”, Matheny said. “It wasn’t a competitive effort”.
Reds: SS Zack Cozart returned to the lineup after missing five games with right quadriceps tightness.
Reds: LHP John Lamb (back surgery) was sent to Triple-A Louisville on a rehab assignment and scheduled to start against Toledo….
Advertisement
While more frustrating and costly, Wainwright’s first three starts feature a spillover from spring training, where the righthander groped for that precision feel of his pitches. Brandon Finnegan gets the ball, and he’s 0-0 with a 2.84 ERA and 14 strikeouts this season. Wainwright has started 3 games and surrendered 15 earned runs. Five of them came off Wainwright as the Reds reversed the Cardinals’ early 4-0 lead.
