photo: Dakota Hudson via Zoom (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Friday, August 21, 2020 – Cardinals 2, Reds 4
In the second installment of the four-game home series, the St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 on Friday evening. The Cardinals led 2-0 through five innings, but defensive errors snowballed into a four-run sixth for the Reds that the Cardinals didn’t overcome.
St. Louis’ offense got on the board in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Harrison Bader took a free pass and Kolten Wong followed with an infield single. Tommy Edman was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Matt Carpenter drew one of his two walks on the evening and Bader scored.
In the fifth, Wong, Paul Goldschmidt, and Carpenter walked. With the bases loaded, Brad Miller grounded into a force out and Wong scored to increase the lead to 2-0. So in the two bases-loaded situations, the Cardinals were able to bring in just one run each time.
In the top of the sixth, with two outs, Harrison Bader failed to catch a fly ball in center off the bat of Eugenio Suarez. Suarez advanced to third on a missed catch error by Tommy Edman on the throw in by Bader. Reliever Genesis Cabrera walked the next batter and hit the subsequent batter with a pitch to load the bases. Tyler Webb relieved and gave up a grand slam to pinch hitter Matt Davidson to give the Reds a 4-2 lead, despite having just two hits in the game.
The Cardinals offense was also sparse, managing only three hits, singles by Wong, Goldschmidt and Dexter Fowler.
Dakota Hudson made the start for St. Louis. The right hander pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed one hit, struck out six and walked two before reaching his pitch count. After the game, Hudson said he had a good curveball and moved it around well.
Cabrera finished the fifth and returned to start the next frame. Three of the Reds runs in the sixth were charged to Cabrera, all unearned, and he was tagged with the loss. Webb, who went 1 1/3 innings, was charged with the other run, which was earned. Jake Woodford tossed the final two scoreless frames.
The Cardinals fell to 7-8 on the season, four games behind the Cubs. St. Louis is 1-1 on the current homestand and 5-5 since their return.
Saturday’s game: vs. Reds at 7:15 pm. Kwang-Hyun Kim (0-0, 3.86) vs. Wade Miley (0-2, 16.20). FOX Sports Midwest /KMOX/WIJR/Cardinals Radio Network
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During Friday’s game, the Cardinals announced a player transaction affecting both the 40-man roster and the 60-man player pool.
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