Five homers back DeSclafani as Reds wallop Cardinals

[April 27, 2019]  Anthony DeSclafani tossed six shutout innings Friday night while his Cincinnati Reds teammates clouted five homers in a 12-1 rout of the streaking St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis.

DeSclafani (1-1), who entered the night with a 5.59 ERA, gave up four hits and three walks in his 91-pitch stint. Using a four-seam fastball to get St. Louis to chase pitches out of the strike zone, he fanned six.

The Cardinals entered the evening sporting a five-game winning streak, along with the National League's best record and its top run differential. But Cincinnati's power hitting and pitching belied the fact that it arrived in town early Friday morning after a rain-delayed Thursday night win over Atlanta that ended after midnight.

Eugenio Suarez gave the Reds the lead for good two batters into the game by bombing a homer off the facing of the second deck in left field. It was the first of three solo shots they pounded off Miles Mikolas (2-2).

Jesse Winker belted a leadoff homer in the fourth for a 2-0 lead, and Curt Casali added an RBI single later in the inning. Joey Votto made it 4-0 to start the fifth, crushing a hanging curve into the St. Louis bullpen in right-center.

Paul DeJong singled Matt Carpenter home in the seventh to pull the Cardinals within 4-1 and bring the potential tying run to the plate. But Michael Lorenzen quelled the threat by getting Marcell Ozuna on a popup to second.

Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (39) reacts after Cincinnati Reds left fielder Jesse Winker (33) hit a solo home run during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Yasiel Puig drilled a two-run homer to center in the eighth off Tyler Webb for a 6-1 lead. Jose Peraza's solo blast into the third deck in left started a six-run ninth against Dominic Leone that prompted St. Louis to bring infielder Jedd Gyorko to the mound to mop up the inning.

Gyorko fanned Phillip Ervin to provide the remaining crowd with one last highlight before Cincinnati polished off its sixth win in eight games.

Mikolas was charged with four runs off six hits and a walk over five innings, striking out four.

--Field Level Media

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