Reyes powers Indians to rout of host Cardinals

[August 29, 2020]  Franmil Reyes drove in five runs to power the visiting Cleveland Indians to a 14-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Friday night.

Reyes hit a three-run homer, a two-run single and a double. The Indians pounded out 20 hits and drew seven walks in the blowout.

Indians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie allowed two runs on three hits and three walks in four innings. He needed 84 pitches to get 12 outs.

Cam Hill (1-0) relieved McKenzie for one inning and earned the victory. Adam Plutko pitched the last four innings to earn his first save.

Cardinals starting pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon (0-3) suffered a disastrous start. Only 17 of the 41 pitches he threw were strikes.

He retired just two batters and allowed four runs on two hits and issued four walks. That forced the pitching-strapped Cardinals to go to their bullpen in the first inning.

Jose Ramirez drew a one-out walk, moved up on Francisco Lindor's single and scored on a throwing error to get the Indians started.

Carlos Santana walked, then Reyes launched his homer to push the Indians' lead to 4-0.

Santana poked a two-run homer in the second inning to push Cleveland's lead to 6-0. The Cardinals cut the lead to 6-2 in their half of the inning when Tyler O'Neill drew a one-out walk and Dexter Fowler yanked a two-run homer.

Louis Cardinals right fielder Dexter Fowler is congratulated by St. Louis Cardinals third base coach Ron Warner after hitting a two run home run against the Cleveland Indians during the second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Puetz-USA TODAY Sports

Reyes hit a leadoff double in the fifth inning to greet reliever Junior Fernandez, then Tyler Naquin hammered a two-run homer off the right field foul pole to make it 8-2.

The Indians scored four more runs in the sixth. Reyes hit a two-run single to chase Fernandez. Roberto Perez hit an RBI single off Ricardo Sanchez and Delino DeShields followed with a run-scoring double to expand the lead to 12-2.

Yu Chang's run-scoring groundout and Jordan Luplow's RBI single in the seventh made it 14-2.

The Cardinals turned to infielder Max Schrock to close out the ninth inning.

--Field Level Media

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