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 The opportunities arrived for both teams in the eighth inning.
Cincinnati couldn't capitalize, while St. Louis could.
After the Reds left the bases loaded, Cardinals second baseman
Kolten Wong delivered a one-out sacrifice fly to plate the decisive
run as St. Louis completed a three-game sweep with a 2-1 verdict
Sunday night at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis (8-3) finished a 5-1 homestand, winning the last five
games, and upped its National League Central lead over the Chicago
Cubs to two games.
"A great finish to a good homestand," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny
said.
Wong's deep liner to left field scored center fielder Jon Jay, who
led off the inning with a double and moved to third on an infield
out by catcher Yadier Molina.
The rally made a loser out of Mike Leake, who pitched well enough to
win on most any other night. Leake (0-1) gave up only four hits in a
complete game, walking none and whiffing three. In throwing 66 of 86
pitches for strikes, Leake ran just one three-ball count all night.
However, the few mistakes Leake made cost him and Cincinnati (5-7),
which ate its seventh loss in eight games.
"I think Jon Jay's a better hitter late in games than early," Leake
said. "I tried to get a fastball in on Wong and stayed over the
middle of the plate. It made me unhappy."
The sacrifice fly also assured St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright (2-1)
of a reward for maneuvering out of a tricky spot in the Reds' half
of the eighth. Throwing 67 of his 102 pitches for strikes,
Wainwright scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out four in
eight innings.
Wainwright got two quick outs in the eighth but gave up singles to
third baseman Todd Frazier and Brandon Phillips, then pitched around
right fielder Jay Bruce, walking him on a full-count curve in order
to face shortstop Zack Cozart.
The move paid off when Cozart bounced into a force play on the first
pitch.
"We had a game plan for that," Matheny said. "Even if Bruce walked,
we had a right-on-right matchup. Waino and Yadi wanted him to finish
up the inning."
Cardinals reliever Jordan Walden, giving closer Trevor Rosenthal a
game off, pitched around a leadoff single by center fielder Brennan
Boesch in the ninth for his first save. Walden induced a game-ending
groundout by left fielder Skip Schumaker with Boesch at second.
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Until Wong's tiebreaking sacrifice fly, the Cardinals' only
meaningful offense happened four pitches into the first inning. That
was when third baseman Matt Carpenter launched the fifth leadoff
homer of his career, a 416-foot bolt onto a grassy incline behind
the center field wall.
"I didn't think I had that in me," joked Carpenter, who collected
two hits and an extra-base hit for the seventh consecutive game. "I
got a good swing on it, and I guess the ball was carrying there a
little bit."
Leake dominated from that point until the eighth, retiring 15
straight hitters at one point and doing so economically. He picked
up nine first- or second-pitch outs in the first seven innings and
worked from the stretch in only three innings.
Outside of Phillips' two-out bloop single that scored Votto with the
tying run in the third, though, Cincinnati failed to crack
Wainwright. The right-hander mowed down 12 straight at one stage and
required only 23 pitches to work innings five through seven.
And when it came down to the eighth, St. Louis, as it usually does
against Cincinnati -- the Cardinals won their 14 straight three-game
series against the Reds -- came up with the right answers.
"It's early, but it's nice to get off to a good start," Carpenter
said. "Our pitching gives us a chance to win every night."
NOTES: St. Louis placed OF Randal Grichuk (back strain) on the
15-day disabled list and called up INF Dean Anna from Triple-A
Memphis. Grichuk was injured during a workout in the weight room.
... Cincinnati CF Billy Hamilton (sore right groin) didn't play but
was available off the bench. Hamilton left Saturday's game in the
eighth inning after getting injured while beating out an infield
hit. ... Cardinals LF Matt Holliday (mid-back tightness) was back in
the lineup Sunday night and went 1-for-3. Holliday departed
Saturday's game after one inning. ... The game was played in 2
hours, 2 minutes.
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