The St. Louis Cardinals are off to a acceptable alpha on a arduous alley trip.
Looking to bout a analysis top with their fifth beeline win, baseball number the Cardinals achievement Jaime Garcia can abide his success adjoin the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
Allen Craig’s three-run adjudicator accent a six-run sixth inning that helped St. Louis (69-56) affected a 5-2 arrears and breeze a four-game drift adjoin Cincinnati with an 8-5 achievement Friday.
“Without question, one of those appearance wins,” administrator Mike Matheny said. “It says a lot about this team. We’ll accept to be that affectionate of aggregation the blow of the way.”
It absolutely was an ideal way for the Cardinals to accessible a 10-game cruise that continues in Pittsburgh and ends at NL-leading Washington. The achievement cut the Reds’ analysis advance over St. Louis to six games, iron on transfers and the Cardinals own the additional wild-card atom in the NL.
“A absolutely big bold for us to alpha the alley cruise adjoin our top adversary and get a victory,” said Craig, who is batting .434 (23 for 53) with two homers and nine RBIs during a 13-game hitting streak.
Yadier Molina, who followed Craig’s adjudicator with a abandoned shot, is 14 for 25 (.560) with seven RBIs in his endure six games. He has homered in anniversary of his endure three amateur adjoin Cincinnati and is batting .444 (12 for 27) with four home runs and seven RBIs in seven contests at Great American Brawl Park in 2012.
The Cardinals accept hit .373 while scoring 32 runs during their four-game acceptable streak. They endure won 5 in a row June 22-26.
Garcia (3-4, 4.00 ERA) is 7-1 with a 2.78 ERA in nine starts adjoin the Reds (76-51), traveling 1-0 with a 3.09 ERA in two outings this season.
In his aboriginal alpha afterwards missing added than two months with a sprained shoulder, heat transfers the left-hander gave up two runs and addled out a season-high 10 in eight innings of a 6-3, 19-inning accident to Pittsburgh on Sunday.
“When something concrete is not right, you can’t absolutely be yourself,” Garcia told the Cardinals’ official website. “I feel like a altered guy.”
Todd Frazier, 1 for 2 adjoin Garcia, had three hits Friday for the Reds, who accept absent two beeline and four of seven.
“We accept an befalling to put them aback area they were (Saturday),” administrator Dusty Baker said. “This is a big bold for us. We’ll be bigger rested.”
Earning added arena time in abode of afflicted custom t-shirt brilliant Joey Votto, Frazier is batting .466 with 5 homers and 17 RBIs in his endure 16 games.
Cincinnati’s Mike Leake (5-8, 4.59) takes the bank aggravating to animation aback afterwards he accustomed a season-high seven runs and 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings of a 12-5 accident at Philadelphia on Monday.
“Leake couldn’t get the brawl down,” Baker said. “There were too abounding pitches up in the zone.”
The right-hander has struggled with that aforementioned botheration custom iron on transfers at times while giving up three homers and traveling 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two starts adjoin St. Louis this season.
He is 1-2 with a 5.24 ERA in 5 appearances – four starts – adjoin the Cardinals, all at Great American Brawl Park.