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 "Don't get beat with the fastball, and hit the ball hard," he said.
One could say Wong accomplished both objectives.
Cracking the second grand slam of his career, Wong supplied all of
St. Louis' offense in a 4-1 win Monday night at Busch Stadium.
It was the latest in a growing list of clutch homers for the
second-year major-leaguer. In last year's postseason, he belted a
seventh-inning tiebreaker in Game 3 of the National League Division
Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and a game-ender against the
San Francisco Giants in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series.
Wong also owns two regular-season walk-offs against the Pittsburgh
Pirates, the second coming May 3 to settle a 14-inning tussle.
"He doesn't shy away from any situation," Cardinals manager Mike
Matheny said. "When you have some success in those big spots, you
get more confident."
Nursing a 1-0 lead to that point, Iglesias was one pitch away from
escaping his most serious jam. After allowing a leadoff double to
catcher Yadier Molina and a single to left fielder Stephen Piscotty,
Iglesias got a popup from first baseman Dan Johnson, hit center
fielder Peter Bourjos with a pitch and whiffed pitcher Lance Lynn.
Iglesias fell behind Wong 2-0 and couldn't tempt him with high
fastballs, as he did while striking him out an inning earlier.
"He made the adjustment," Iglesias said, speaking through an
interpreter. "Being behind in the count, I had to come in with a
fastball (over) the middle, and you saw the consequences."
Iglesias (1-3) gave up six hits and four runs over six innings with
no walks and seven strikeouts. He and Lynn combined for five hit
batters, and plate umpire Marty Foster doled out warnings after
Bourjos was plunked with a slider in the sixth.
While St. Louis (64-35) made the most of its opportunity with the
sacks packed, Cincinnati (43-54) didn't do enough damage to Lynn
when it loaded the bases with no outs in the third.
Right fielder Jay Bruce produced the Reds' run with a sacrifice fly,
but catcher Brayan Pena rapped into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double
play, enabling Lynn to escape a potentially big inning down just
1-0.
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"Where they were in the lineup, to give up just the one run was
huge," Matheny said. "Lance didn't have his best stuff tonight, but
he was battling."
Lynn (8-5) gave up five hits and a run over seven innings with three
walks and five strikeouts, upping his career record against
Cincinnati to 7-3. His 115th pitch of the night induced a foulout
from third baseman Todd Frazier with two men on to end the seventh,
causing a frustrated Frazier to slam his bat.
Relievers Kevin Siegrist and Trevor Rosenthal mowed through the last
two innings in 1-2-3 fashion, with Rosenthal bagging his 31st save.
The Cardinals upped their home record to 37-13 and hiked their
National League Central lead over idle Pittsburgh to 6 1/2 games.
St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina left the game for a pinch hitter in
the bottom of the fifth inning because he wasn't feeling well.
Molina, who was hit in the mask by a foul ball in the first inning,
passed concussion tests.
NOTES: St. Louis CF Randal Grichuk (groin) and 1B Mark Reynolds
(hand) didn't play Monday, though they were available to pinch-hit.
Grichuk was injured Sunday in the Cardinals' 3-2 loss to Atlanta,
while Reynolds was drilled by a pitch Saturday night. ... Cincinnati
recalled C Kyle Skipworth from Double-A Pensacola to take the roster
spot of RHP Johnny Cueto, who was traded to Kansas City on Sunday.
Skipworth was batting .237 with nine homers and 19 RBIs with the
Blue Wahoos. ... The Cardinals activated RHP Mitch Harris (right
groin) from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A
Memphis.
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