Reds rally late to clip Cardinals, 6-5

[July 24, 2021]  Kyle Farmer homered and scored the go-ahead run on a Tyler Stephenson sacrifice fly as the Cincinnati Reds rallied to beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5, on Friday night.

The Cardinals grabbed a 5-3 lead, thanks to a three-run sixth, before the Reds came back with two in the seventh and an unearned run in the eighth to make a winner of Brad Brach (1-1), who pitched the eighth.

Heath Hembree closed the game out by pitching a scoreless ninth for his seventh save.

Farmer and Joey Votto had three hits for the Reds, who won for just the second time in seven tries in their nine-game homestand coming out of the All-Star break. The Cardinals fell for just the third time in eight games since the break.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a tape-measure homer to the second deck in left by Paul Goldschmidt, a ball that traveled an estimated 448 feet.

The Reds came back with two runs in the bottom of the first when Votto drilled a line drive down the right field line, just beyond Goldschmidt, scoring Jonathan India and Stephenson, giving the Reds a 2-1 lead.

The two-run double helped Votto reach another milestone in Reds history as the two RBIs gave him 1,010 for his career, one more than Frank Robinson and good for fourth on Cincinnati's all-time list. Only Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Pete Rose have driven in more in a Reds uniform.

Another massive home run, this time by Harrison Bader, tied the game at 2-2 in the second. Bader's first home run since July 4 and seventh this season traveled 409 feet to left.

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (46) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Farmer's line-drive home run with one out in the fourth gave the Reds a 3-2 lead but starter Tyler Mahle had trouble protecting it. He walked the bases loaded in the fifth but managed to get out of the jam by striking out Tyler O'Neill and Paul DeJong.

After the Cards retook the lead in the sixth, Eugenio Suarez doubled home Stephenson and Votto scored on a wild pitch to even the score 5-5 in the seventh.

The Reds went ahead in the eighth when Farmer scored on Stephenson's sacrifice fly with one out off Giovanny Gallegos (5-3), whose throwing error to second base on a certain double-play comebacker by Tucker Barnhart set the stage for the winning rally.

--Field Level Media

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